Is there something other than Windows Movie maker for my Digital 8 video?

R

Rob94hawk

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Jul 20, 2002
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I'm new to this so go easy on me.

I need a program that will allow me to edit my home movies on the PC and then burn them to a DVD.

But I have no clue about formats such as MPEG1, 4, etc.

I made a 2 minute movie using windows movie maker that is about 10MB long but it's too big to sent to someone that's on dialup! Is there anyway to compress this so they can play it in windows media player?

Thanx
 
There are a few presets in MovieMaker that should shrink it pretty well. Try 320x240 and one of the Windows Media 9 low-bandwidth settings, you should be able to get down to around 1MB per minute that way.
 
Quiglag said:
Try Pinnacle Studio version 9. I use studio version 7... works great, has easy editing and some cool features
Click to expand...

I just bought this. Havent had a chance to totaly get into it but I like it so far. I already burned a home movie to VCD.

My only gripe is when installing it auto installed to C and I needed it in another partition where there is more room.
 
Premiere is expensive!! Try www.videohelp.com - lots of info for newbs like us! They even have a thread that shows different ways to create/author using completely free utilities. From start to finish.

I have a ton of video to convert from VHS, some from digital cams. Too much! It's taking me forever... :(
 
I use Pinnacle Studio 8. I haven't tried 9 yet... but I'm sure they have added all sorts of new things.

The great thing about Pinnacle Studio is that you can capture, edit and burn from one program. Making DVDs is easy... After you edit your video, you add chapter marks on the timeline, there are plenty of menu templates, and you're ready to burn.

The current crop of consumer video editing apps are getting better and better. Pinnacle Studio 9, Sony Screenblast Studio, ULead VideoStudio 8, Roxio Videowave... There are plenty of entry-level video editing apps.

It's best to use Firewire to capture if you want your video to look its best. All of these programs capture video through your Firewire port and you can start editing it. When you're finished... they will prepare the files and burn the DVD. SImple as that!

Although it might take some time to learn the software... once you do, you'll be able to make great looking DVDs!
 
MScrip said:
It's best to use Firewire to capture if you want your video to look its best. All of these programs capture video through your Firewire port and you can start editing it. When you're finished... they will prepare the files and burn the DVD. SImple as that!!
Click to expand...

That could be the reason why my home movies look like crap using full screen! I'm streaming the video from my Dig8 camera by USB and on top of that my PC has a 1.4Ghz Tually CPU.

The camera does have a DV port though. Is that the firewire port? Lost the instructions that came with the camera.
 
Oh yes... Since the creation of DV and Digital 8, Firewire is the preferred way to capture video on your hard drive. Only recently USB has been added to camcorders mainly to copy your still images to your computer. But, some people think you can use either Firewire or USB to capture video... This is wrong... you should only use Firewire to capture video.

DV port, 1394, iLink.. those are all names for Firewire.

Check to see if you have a Firewire port on your motherboard. If not, I purchased a PCI Firewire card including a cable at CompUSA for $29.99.
 
No firewire on my old intel BX mobo. This is why I'm building another with the FX53.

The question is, should I have 2 hard drives in raid 0 for the video editing?

I also have old analog 8mm tapes I have to edit as well problem is I have nothing to play them on.
 
Raid 0 is not required. Its benefits a few years ago might have made a difference... but today's huge hard drives have plenty of speed and capacity. Any recent 7200 RPM drive will be fine. I've captured video on a variety of regular ol' hard drives with no problems.

I would suggest having a dedicated drive for video. I have a 40 GB system drive, and an 80 GB drive just for video. Also, it's best to keep it defragmented.

I'm using a Seagate Barracuda 7200 as my D: drive. It's works just fine.

Can you play your analog 8mm tapes in your Digital8 camcorder? If so.... you could capture them that way.

Also, list your equipment.. We'd like to see what you're runnin'

My system:

Gateway
1.5 GHz Pentium 4
256 MB ram
NVidea GeForce2 MX
40 GB WD
PCI Firewire card

80 GB Seagate Barracuda
Pioneer DVR-A07 DVD Burner 8x8

Canon Optura 200MC MiniDV

Not fast or new... but I'm churning out DVDs all the time!!!
 
IntelBXmobo/1.4GhzCPU/640MBSDRAM
ATIRadeon7000/TurtleBeachMontegoSound
USB2.0PCIcard/40GBSeagate7200rpm/13GBMaxtor
LiteOnCD-R-RW

Some old stuff, some new stuff.
 
myself i used premiere pro 7.0 but i recently switched over to vegas 5 for compositing, i use combustion and for 3d i use 3dsmax. I think a good newbish editor is screenblast movie studio at 99$ at bestbuy its almost like 699 vegas just less tracks of video and audio. :D
 
I've dabbled in Vegas a few times... The thing that I can't seem to get used to is the timeline in Vegas. It isn't intuitive at first glance. I guess I need to just keep messing with Vegas until I figure it out.

I know another guy who uses Vegas, and he's made some awesome stuff! I with I could get the hang of it!!!
 
BlasterBoy,

You need a digital camcorder, a FireWire cable and some video editing software. Once you connect your camcorder to the firewire port, open up your editing software, and look for "capture." Each software application is different, but basically you will be playing the tape into the computer and saving it on your hard drive.

Once it's in your computer, you can edit it, move scenes around, add menus and titles, photographs and all sorts of fun stuff. Then you can burn it to DVD. It's great fun!

So, you've got the Firewire port, now you need a digital camcorder and some software. There are great video editing programs from Pinnacle, ULead, Sony Screenblast and others.

Welcome to the world of digital video!
 
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