PC Editing....

[Chance1234]

Yuk this is a question i thought i would never ask, on this board, but ive jsut ordered a new laptop

specs are

512 MB dd ram
2.2 GHZ intel pentium
64MB graphics

and i have firewire in and USB ports, i have no real editing passions, but want to use it to upload some video rushes to review, and also the girlfriends dad wants us to cut his holiday video for him

all i want is a basic set-up what software and hardware do i need to buy ?

Chance.

[Actor]

Windows XP is supposed to come with Microsoft MovieMaker. That should be enough. If your new computer doesn't have XP, upgrade. But first, double check that XP comes with MovieMaker. That information should be on the box.

Then, if your camcorder has firewire, you're all set. If not then you'll need to get a camcorder that has firewire and AV inputs so you can copy your analog tapes to MiniDV.

[deanl]

Hey there.

You didnt mention how much hard drive space you have on the laptop. Your going to need quite a bit to edit and store hight quality digital video. If the laptop has ME or XP installed you will have a basic video editor called Movie Maker. Its very basic but it does the job. Now if your capturing from a dv camcorder you will have to make sure it has "DV IN" as well as "DV OUT" otherwise will have no way of getting the video off the laptop and onto VHS.... Unless the laptop has a TV OUT in which case you can hook it up to your video and record right onto tape.

Did that make sense. Me thinks not.

Despin out.

[Jim Bird]

Hi,

The best software for editing DV footage on a Laptop would be Vegas Video 3, there is no analouge option you can only edit digital video with a standard firewire port.

If you require to add analouge footage to your project you will need to buy an analouge to digital bridge convertor ($200.00).

Jim Bird.

[Yammeryammeryammer]

Just more about the analog to digital thing. If you happen to have Hi8 or 8mm footage you must edit, you could find a Digital8 camera that is backcompatible to these formats, cause it will convert analog to digital automatically.

[Jim Bird]

Hi,The other software packages you could buy are:-

Adobe's Premiere 6.5

In-Sync's Blade.

As these package have a software codec's and do not require special hardware, they only require a standard firewire port on the PC/Laptop.The one other thing you will require is an additional hard drive to capture your footage. It's not a good idea to capture A/V file on to your systen drive.

If your laptop allows, fit an extra internal drive, if not you will require a fast external firewire drive.If you take the external firewire route, then you plug the drive into the Laptop and your camera plugs into the second firewire port on the external firewire drive.

If you go all the way and buy the aforementioned products, there is a good chance you will have a resonable DV editing system that works.

Jim Bird.

[BlackArtsProductions]

dont he need, a capture card. something like pinnacle.

[Jim Bird]

Hi,

dont he need, a capture card. something like pinnacle
---------------------------------------------

Answer, no, because he ordered a laptop and most editing cards are PCI cards and PCI cards don't fit into Laptops.

Hence the man needs to purchase a software editing package as per the aforementioned ones which operate with firewire ports which his Laptop has.

Hope this helps.

Jim Bird.

[Chance1234]

ive seen USB devices you can get, but dont know whiuch one is good or not.

[Curtin-Parloe]

Chance,

with USB, you're limited to 352x288, or something,i can't remember which. If you ain't editing except holiday stuff (Oh, how the mighty have fallen [img]tongue.gif[/img] ) it should be fine...


Paul