The Steel Guitar Forum

I have a camera that records to video digital cassette . What sort of computer + software will I need to be able to edit and transfer these tapes onto DVD ?

Brendan,
There was a discussion a while back,but I can't find it. I use Dazzle digital video creator80,with Studio 9 software,works ok but takes a loooong time to render,and record to dvd after you get a final composition.There was mention of a better/faster unit, but don't remember the name.Do a Google search for dvd transfer programs.

Tip..whatever program you decide on, do a short[5 minutes] trial to check for proper transfer to your hard drive,sound,etc before you sit through an hour or so of tape.

The Cat Daddy of Digital Video info---> The Digital Video Information Network

If you have just a stand alone dvd player/recorder,
you should be able to output from camera
to input on dvd player/recorder via the rca jacks.

Than you have a "master" dvd to work from.

Then you could transfer from that dvd to your computer
and whatever dvd software.

I've used Sonic software.

Do you have "firewire" connection from your camera and to your computer?
That would be the best way into your computer.

If it is possible, creating shorter segments rather than one long one increases your rendering success until you gain some experience and see how it all goes down.

Just some thoughts.

Thanks for the replys guys , I am pretty ignorant in this field . It seems like I need a computer with a firewall connection ? and then some sort of software package to work with .

Brendan Mitchell wrote:. . . a firewall connection . . .

Firewire, Brendan.

Also known as an IE 1384 connection.

If your camera has a firewire connector,
you should be able to pick up an expansion card
that plugs into your computer motherboard
if it doesn't have one.

They are not expensive.

A firewall is a different beast.

This technology stuff can all run together at times !

You said it . At least I still have children at home to help me out , I won't know what to do when they leave .
Looks like I have just bought a machine with firewire and all the software I need already installed so stay tuneed for a few lamebrained questions .
Regards Brendan

uh that is ieee standard 1394

firewire is a marketing term.

Randy Phelps wrote:uh that is ieee standard 1394

firewire is a marketing term.

Thanks, Randy. I always get that IEEE standard confused with my year of birth !

"Firewire" is indeed a brand name.

If your camera, or Video Player, does not have has Firewire Out, you'll need a Codec that converts your analog out to Firewire.

I currently have a Sony Codec for sale on eBay.
It converts analog video to Firewire.
eBay Item number: 250112543327

Your computer needs a Firewire card, if it doesn't already have a Firewire input.

You'll also need some editing software.
I use iMovie, on my Mac Powerbook.

I use the ULEAD products. (Video Studio, Movie Factory)
Once you get a firewire card (if your camera has firewire) this software does a nice job. It also captures video from other capture devices. (Analog to Digital).
They also have free trial versions of all their software.

www.ulead.com

Just my 2 cents...

Depending on how much footage you have you might want to look for software that allows "log & capture"... I'm just learning about it but here goes.

"Logging" is basically when you play your tape into the computer and mark in and out points for the good footage... you skip the stuff with the lens cap on, or while you're walking into the next room with the camera pointing at the ceiling, whatever.

Then you are free to play around with your list of "scenes" or "edits" and then when it comes time to suck the real footage in you pop the tape in and "capture"

If you've got only one or two tapes maybe it's not a big deal, but captured DV footage is something like 4 minutes per Gigabyte, so you can eat up that disk space pretty quickly.

Just a thought.

Brendan,

A few years back I jump into the video business full steam ahead. My initial investment was considerable. Just in the 5 years that I have been doing this, prices have come way down. As always, you have to decide how far you want to go into this. If you already have a dual core or multi-thread computer, you can do a lot with that. Video processing is intense and even big systems take a while to do certain things.

I'm not trying to discourage you at all, but keep in mind that if you want real time playback of anything it is RECOMENDED that you have a RAID drive, which is simply several drives striped together and working as one drive. I believe you can get real time play back of simple one stream video clips, (no layering or graphics overlays), from most modern computers but I have not tried that myself as I took the combined advice of people in the business and bought a system made for doing video. It still takes quite a bit of drive space.

Software is a whole other subject and as with most things, ask 10 people and get 10 different answers. $$$ is the next question. There are many low end apps that allow you to edit digital video but offer very little else. I think Sony Vegas + DVD is one of the best reasonalble priced apps offering capture, transitions, audio manipulation, graphics, and some nice effects and goes for about $600.00. If you get the +DVD version, you have something to make nice DVD's with.

Most any camera that records digital should offer the firewire output which is the cleanest and best way to get video in from your camera. You still need the firewire card and some patience...maybe some coffee while you try and figure all this out. It's not that bad...I only put my foot thru 3 monitors trying to learn. Just kidding...have fun!

Robby Springfield wrote:If you already have a dual core or multi-thread computer, you can do a lot with that...<snip>..it is RECOMENDED that you have a RAID drive..<snip>..I think Sony Vegas + DVD is one of the best reasonalble priced apps offering capture, transitions, audio manipulation, graphics, and some nice effects and goes for about $600.00...<snip>..Most any camera that records digital should offer the firewire output which is the cleanest and best way to get video in from your camera. You still need the firewire card and some patience

I couldn't have summarized it better, Robby.

I've been using Sony Vegas for years (long before it was "Sony" ). I use it with a Sony VX2000 camcorder. I find it to be very intuitive and user-friendly, while at the same time providing professional-quality editing capabilities. My PC mirrors your recommendations as well: Intel Core2 X6800 processor and a total of 2.7 terabytes storage space over 5 hard drives, one of which is a 1.5 terabyte RAID0 drive on a Firewire 800 PC card.

And, BTW, I've always been a huge admirer of your playing.

Hey Dave,

How's the BIG state of Texas? I miss it sometimes. I can't say that I miss the traffic in Houston much but I do miss a lot of other things. The only traffic jams that happen around here is when a tractor or log truck comes along.

Thanks so much for the kind words. I hope to see you soon.

If you're on WinXP/Vista and you don't need to do DVD menus, then I'd recommend Microsoft Movie Maker. If you have Service Pack 2 (SP2) installed, then you probably already have this program on your computer. Otherwise you can get it from here. It doesn't have all the features of some of the higher end software, but it does a lot and is easy to use.