I'm a newbie, a few basic questions

[JM_OBRIEN]

Hello, as my first post I would like to say that this forum was a great idea, I'm glad to be a part of it and look forward to your advice!!

Ok, I am selling my Sony TRV-85 Hi-8 camcorder AND Mavica FD-88 for the purpose of buying a new digital camcorder(probably Sony TRV-840). Now, I understand that the still pictures may not look as good as the FD-88 and I mostly use the digital camera for ease of uploading and sharing via e-mail or internet anyway. I am however interested in editing video on my pc, into dvd,vcd or just cd-r.

My question is what capture card or software would best suit me for >$200??

I now have a dinosaur computer(PII 350, 256mb ram, 10g etc. ), lame huh?? I will be building my next pc primarily for video editing.

Second question is what type of setup am I needing?? I understand hard drive space is a neccessity, memory and processor speed are also important. Can you explain how important these are??


I thank you for any help you can provide, I've tried to search the forum for any topics that may have explained this but I found nothing, thanks again!!

Jon

[rsuave5]

ill give a go , if your looking for digital editing and video then firewire is the way to go and youll get that in a newer computer. i love sony products and all my equipment is sony but there is other just as good.
the transfer of digital video from cam to comp. is easy enough but ub=nderstand now that digital media creates huge files and is burdensome on a computer but transfer via usb is mediochre at best, firewire is 1394 or i link.

your basic computer for optimum performance i would recomend is at least 512sddram, 60 gig (i like 100), pentium 4 1.8 or equivalent, the dvd burner is a great addition for around 300 more. the most used is pioneer a04.

i bought the sony vaio because with it i got photoshop and premiere as well as movieshaker and dvdit se. all great titles and if you shop youll see software is expensive so getting included is great!.

read the guides your video experience is what you make of it win xp comes with movie maker that is a great basic tool for capture edit burn,(wont do vcd or svcd) but i do simple captures, edit, save, convert with tmpgenc, and burn with nero to vcd or svcd, youll hear people using those alot! thats pretty easy and basic

i do more complex dvd by gathering all my clips capturing via fire wire with moviemaker saving as dv avi. once i have this hi res huge file i edit with premiere adding chapters, titles and effects. i then export in dv avi maintaining the quality i then encode to dvd compliant mpeg 2 with tmpenc and i add menus and bckgroun music to those menus with ulead dvd moviefactory or sonic dvdit which has cool button features . i then burn with dvdit or ulead and i fit about 3 hours of good hi quality movie on a dvd-r. of which i only use memorex (about 3 bux a pop) but never had a compatability issue with any dvd players in my family or to my customers and ive got over 200 made! hope i helped

[musher70]

minimum requirements i would say

1500mhz chip under 100 bucks now
120 gig hd around 175 bucks get the 8mg buffer one
512 ddr memory get the cl2 stuff from a perf maker
64mg vid card get one with a vivo input
dvd burner every1 like the sony _r/-r
dvd rom so u can rip at 16x not 2 or 4x
win xp pro no thoughts needed here

just for fun get a case with a cool window
some cool lighted fans by coolmaster or antec
big power supply,upwards 430 watts
just for kicks but a cool lightstick

[musher70]

dont buy a company built system,cause youll
regret it later, bought a h/p system last year
and im only using the cool keyboard now