Starting from scratch - problems

[Olneyslim]

Windows XP,Adobe Prem. 6.5, ADVC-100(adaptec fire card generic). Goal capture,edit and
create projects DVD, later mpegs2 for promotional CD roms.
What type is my avi.? I can't edit my voice tracks(leveling and muting
foreign sounds.) without recompressing avi. from 3mps to 23mps.
Picked up some type1 to type2 converter but the prompt says
I don't have type 1. What is the use with Virtual Dub with ADVC-100?
I'm unhappy with Prem. 6.5( no chroma, luminance settings.) Any help?
I'm 58 years old and need some help. Unfortuntalely hand held.
I built this computer but didn't know what a mouse was 6 years ago.
Fred
[/b]

[rcb]

Fred - you have a lot of questions, so let' me limit this reply to capturing.

You have the basic hardware for capping and a great asset in the advc100... which either transfers dv data from a camcorder or converts analog input to dv and then sends it on to your computer via firewire.

You ask about type 1 or 2 dv-avi.. the defintion for them can be found in the glossary. But, most video processing apps look for type 2 dv-avi. Your capturing software should let you select either.
If what you have doesn't, look at DVIO (freeware) or ScenalyzerLive (trialware-$30).
Virtualdub doesn't do well with dv capture, but is useful for a variety of things with an already captured dv-avi file.
You have adequate hard drive space, but keep in mind that dv-avi takes about 13gigs/capture hour.
Also moniter your CPU loading via taskmanager or such whilst capturing - as your CPU is not that fast. Constant 100% loading during capture can lead to frame droppage which will make for various problems later.

As to editing/encoding/authoring, I can't speak to Premiere - not that familiar with the app.
Perhaps some of the other posters can help you there with either fine tuning what you have or reccomending other approprite software.

M/w, keep digging and browse the help sections over on the l/h column - there's a wealth of video info there.