I am just about to buy a digital video camera with the intention of making amateur home vids (spare me the humor on that), do some basic editing to make them presentable and worth keeping for a long time. I need some advice about a few things and if anyone can help I would appreciate it. 1. What features should I "not be without" in a camera? I am leaning towards getting a JVC Mini DV cam right now. 2. In order to edit the video on computer, I think I need to buy both a special video card and some editing software. Correct? 3. If I want to upload the video to my computer, how long does it take and how much hard disk space will a 30 min video take (assuming normal TV quality). Currently I have a 13 Gig HD with about 8 gig spare. 4. Is editing and subsequent transfer back to the video tape very difficult? 5. I want to store some of the video (preferably in 30 min increments) onto a CD in MPEG format so I can send it back to my family in Australia. Is this possible? (I have a CD burner) The CD issue is critical, because I can't record onto a tape and send it to Australia due to the difference in TV systems (Australia is PAL, USA is NTSC), plus a CD is cheap and easy to post. ------------------ Maybe all the rulers are wrong. Current Rocket's Salary & Contract Info
davo, I remember reading somewhere that 1 hour of digital video requires somewhere between 11 and 13 GB of hard drive space. You still may want to inquire about that, though as that's just from my feeble memory. Here are some links that may help you out in at least some of your decisions : http://www.shortcourses.com/video/index.htm http://www.digitalorigin.com/learn/camera-criteria.html Here's a good site that seems to review independent cameras and compare a few of them (including a JVC MiniDV) : http://equip.zdnet.com/digitalimaging/index.html You may also want to go to the rec.video or rec.video.desktop Usenet newsgroups for quicker and better information. I want to purchase one as well, but just haven't been able to justify it yet. Good luck! ------------------ I got nothin'. [This message has been edited by Dr of Dunk (edited October 17, 2000).]
Be sure the camera you want has a Firewire port. This is the digital interface that you use to hook to the computer. It is also sometimes called i.Link or IEEE1394. Pretty much every MiniDV camera has this these days, but some don't, so it's good to check and make sure. (I'm pretty sure all the JVC models do.) Anything else is really a preference thing. You are correct. You will need a Firewire card to connect to your computer. These can actually be relatively cheap to purchase these days. Under $100 for one that will get you what you want. As for software, there are many titles out there. Adobe Premiere is the Gold Standard, but it's $600 or so (If you're a student, you can get it for $350), but there are cheaper products that will let you edit video and add titles and wipes and all that for far less money. Like DOD said, you'll use most of that space for a 30 minute video at full screen. Digital Video is very memory and hard drive space intensive. Not at all. It's actually quite easy, but that depends on the program you use, I suppose, too. You can burn video files onto a CD-ROM, but you'll have to compress them so they can fit on the CD. You can't put 30 minutes of full screen video on a CD-ROM, but you can compress it into a slightly smaller picture with slightly lower quality and get it on the CD with no problem. You'll just have to play with the files to see what you can actually get on there. ------------------ Houston Sports Board DFW Sports Board
Davo, Two points: 1. Home videos, yeah nice try and sending hom to your family, now thats sick. 2. You can send tapes home and we can watch NTSC over here as long as your family has a decent video player, as most version above the basic level now all have NTSC playback. Smeg ------------------ www.NOPostCount.com
Smeg - you didn't spare me as I requested Yeah - I know about the video tapes, I actually had an NTSC VCR in Australia but it didn't work unless it was connected to a TV with Vertical Hold (which are rare these days). Maybe the new NTSC VCRs are better. Plus, sending a CD home is a little more convenient than a big VHS tape. This is the digital age my friend!!! ------------------ Maybe all the rulers are wrong. Current Rocket's Salary & Contract Info
Well why are you posting it to them (thats digital) why don't you just email them the Mpeg/Avi or post it on your web site, smart arse ------------------ www.NOPostCount.com
