Video editing suggestions

[Stealer]

Hi All,

I have a JVC camcorder that does not have any output jacks for video or audio. I would like to transfer the video to my computer. I thought about buying a cheap VCR and also a video capture card. That way I could go from the VCR to the capture card. Then I can burn the video ono cdr's or dvd's in the future. I am just not sure my computer is fast enough to do video editing. Please keep in mind this project is not for professional use. Just videos of the family and kids.

Here is my computer..

MICRO-STAR MS-6330 Main Board
1100 megahertz AMD Duron CPU
384 Megabytes PC-133 Memory
431 Watt Enermax Power Supply
NVIDIA GeForce2 MX 100/200
Linksys Ethernet Adapter
Generic Floppy Drive

Primary IDE Controller

Trios Hard Drive Selector
HD #1 Maxtor 9.5 GB with Windows XP Pro, SP1
HD #2 Maxtor 8.0 GB Dual Boot Windows XP Pro / Win98se
HD #3 Quantum Fireball 6.03 GB Dual Boot with Windows XP Pro/ME

Secondary IE Controller
Master
LITE-ON LTR-12101B CD Writer 12x10x32

Slave
WD 55GB Hard Drive


I am looking for other suggestions also about how to get the video into the computer. Does not seem to be many options since the camcorder does not have video out.

Thanks for the suggestions

 

[wookalar]

Dazzle makes some great DV recording products. I have been doing research lately too. I am looking at burning DVD's so I wanted a device that will rip the video at the highest quality possible. They seem to have something for everyone. I especially like the external units because then your computer wont matter so much, other than the hard drive space and the firewire/usb2.0 interface.

http://www.dazzle.com/products/selector.html

P.S. The one I will getting soon is the Digital Video Creator 150

 

[Stealer]

Hi wookalar,

Thanks for the response. I looked at the Dazzle link. I have heard of Dazzle but have never used one before. Any idea how that compares with just getting a video capture card.

Thanks

 

[wookalar]

You will have to look at the specs of both. The ones I was looking at encode in MPEG2 which is the DVD standard. I know that they have video capture cards that can do everything that a dazzle bridge can do. I don't have much experience with those other than my research. I just know that the dazzle came highly recommended for ease of use and compatability. They usually have them at Compusa to look at and compare wiht the other capture cards that they have there.

 

[Stealer]

Hi again wookalar,

Thanks for the info. I'll check out CompUsa tommorrow. Hopefully someone else on this board will have some more suggestions or ideas.

 

[Stealer]

Hi wookalar,

I wanted to see if you ever purchased any of the Dazzle products to make your own DVD's.
I was ready to buy the Dazzle DVD Creation Station 200 but I have seen quite a few bad reviews. Just wondering how satified you are assuming that you did buy the Dazzle product.

Thanks

Stephen

 

[Newposter]

I'd suggest at least a 60GB HD. You'll need lots of space for the buffering of the capture. I used 1.7GB for 6 minutes of video. Newposter
"Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment."

 

[Kocky]

My advice:

get a Pinnacle DV500+ capture card and at least a 40gb 7200rpm hard-disk.

 

[cinclema]

I have a DVD500+ and 80GB(20GB and 60GB Hard Drives.) with 933 Mhz PIII and 512 MB Ram and a HP DVD200i DVD+RW drive.

The key to video editing is the software to capture and edit the videos. Adobe Premier comes with DVD500+, and other software. Premeier is a great package, but may be to complicated for some users. HP's DVD+RW drives comes with DVD creation software as well.

Two hard drives are recommended so the source video can be on one, and the production of the final video can go on the other. The more RAM, the less caching on the hard drive that takes place which is very important in video editing.
Processor speed will help as well.

There are several Video Editing/Linear Editing Magazines out there that can help make the decision to what product to go with.


Good luck

 

[Stealer]

Thanks for all the suggestions. While I still am unsure about which product to get I have eliminated any Dazzle product. I have read nothing but bad reviews about them.

Thanks again

Stephen