Please help me get started with video editing????

[SIS3970]

HARDWARE: Canon UC-X45 HI8mm camcorder; ASUS V7700 GTS 32MB DLX; Computer specs see below; DVDBURNER

SOFTWARE: I have it all.

Hi, I bought a camcorder second hand a few days ago so i could do some amature video editing, but now i'm running into quite some problems.
Capturing goes fine so that's not an issue. But i can't figure out in
what format i should capture in order to get the best editing possibilitis,
the fastest rendering etc...
I dicovered that my second HD(D is wasted, by this i mean that it is only good for data storage.

*first of all, what software should i use for editing?
should i use the same program to encode to dvdmpeg or
do i have to do this with other software?

*wich codecs do i need for best quality?
How do i install them flawless(!)

*should i do a clean install of WindowsXP?
or should i use W98 instead?

*When i start capturing; do i have to capture as much as possible at once
or do i have to capture small number of clips?What is the easyest for editing?

*what resolution should i use for playing on TV with DVDplayer?

PLEASE, if you know an answer on even one of the above questions, please reply. Its highly apreciated.(sorry for the spelling,i'm don't speak english).

Regards
Sis

[q1aqza]

Looking at how long you have been a member on this site and the number of posts you have made I would have thought that you should have already been able to find many of the answers to your questions by now.

I am not being unhelpful or rude but its just that you could obtain much more information from all the How To guides and forum topics than by pople trying to answer all your questions here. Then post a smaller or more specific set of questions.

[EricB]

How about some generic answers:

I would capture in the least compressed format that I can reasonably stand. If your end target is DVD then using 720x480 NTSC makes good sense. I use DV because it is very lightly compressed.

Pick an editor that makes sense to you. Premiere 6 is very powerful but has quite a learning curve. To me, once you get familiar, it is actually a lot easier to use than the budget ones because it is so capable. If not Premiere, I would recommend ULEAD VideoStudio which also has good mpg and DVD support.

Capture, edit, save in the same format. If you are using a 720 x 480 avi, then use that throughout. This will minimize your rendering times, and keep the quality high. When you get your final edit, encode with TMPGenc or CCE.

Beyond this, use the guides and your eyes....

[SIS3970]

Thanks for your reply,

It is a fact that i should have to know already how to do this but....
Everithing works for me if i use short clips(15 sec max).
So i was going to do the real thing then and try to make a movie
of 40 mins, but then everithing that can go wrong does go wrong.
Premiere hangs or just renders the fitst imported clip and the rest turns
black. Or when i get lucky with premiere, it is TMPGenc that lets me down like not encoding in a/v sync.

In theory i know all these things but i must do something wrong here.
Is it my computer that lets me down? I sure don't know.

regards