from movie cam to hard drive via firewire, and then to cd-r

[nerie]

A family member has a canon optura 100 mc camcorder, which is able to connect to a computer via firewire. This is my question: if I installed a firewire card into my dell dimension xpsd 333 (333 megahertz pentium 2, 192 mb ram, 6.4 gig hard drive, prehistoric, I know), could I transfer from the cam to my hard drive, and then onto cd-r (vcd or svcd, mpeg-2) using nero express? Please note, I am not interested at this point in editing (I know I don't have near enough horsepower). Will the transfer of video from the cam to hard drive require special software? and if so, what type of software is best in this case? I am not looking to spend thousands at this point......... please, some advice. thanks!

[Tommyknocker]

could I transfer from the cam to my hard drive

Absolutely.

Once you get your fire wire card and cable, you may want to try DVIO (see Tools section at left). It is freeware that can put your camera video on your computer. You may want to make sure you get an extra large hard drive (at least 80 GB) if you want to make this a hobby, but is not necessary at this point.

and then onto cd-r (vcd or svcd, mpeg-2) using nero express?

To put it on a CD-R, you may want to read the articles in the convert section for converting DV to VCD MPEG and DV to SVCD MPEG. Do not let Nero convert to any MPEG format (SVCD, VCD, or MPEG-1 or -2). Use it for burning only. I would suggest a trial ware version of TMPGEnc for this part.

After you convert your video to MPEG, read up on Authoring to get the basics on burning to your CD-R(W)s. And yes, Nero Express does do a very good job at this.

Stick with trial ware and freeware at this point, until you decide what programs you like. Also use CD-RWs as they can be reused as beginners tend to make a few mistakes as they start out. And since you are a beginner, please read the beginners articles as well, to save you time and answer most of your questions.

Do not be scared to try your hand at editing. It is not as hard as you think it is.

P.S. And keep away from Tgpo. I do not trust that kid!