post #1
26 June 2004, 02:50 UTC#1
Hopefully this will be helpful to those of you new to filming and video editing. A lot of importance lies in video capture, because it is essential if you intend to do any serious editing (as in, not by using you camcorder and vcr remote to record the bits you want on a vhs tape.)
The first step in capturing (aside from filming the footage you want to capture) is assessing the type of camcorder you possess. There are two varietys of camcorder, Analoge (This include VHS, VHS-C, S-VHS, 8mm, Hi-8 Camcorders) and Digital (Digital 8, Mini-DV, DV Cameras.)
Once you've determined which type of camcorder you possess, you can then decide on which product to purchase. If you own an analoge camera, then you will need to purchase a TV Capture card, an ideal selection would be the KWorld TV Tuner Card. You could also purchase a capture device known as dazzle, which I know less about. If you own a Digital Camera, then you will need a firewire card, I reccoment the IEEE 1394 Card, as it has served me quite well.
You'll need to install your card into you computer before capturing any video, please refer to THIS topic for help on installing
Capturing with the TV Tuner card is rather simple, you can either run you camera directly to the card with the AV Cables usually included with all analoge cameras, or run the camcorder through a vcr to the computer, which is useless unless you intend to capture footage from a VHS tape.
Capturing from a digital camera only involves hooking the camera up to the capture card with the cable usually included with the card or camera. If not, this can be purchased seperately.
There is a third type of capturing avaliable on some cameras, which involves the use of your USB port. If your camera has a port that looks similar to this:
External image not preserved — inspect source: http://www.iomega.com/support/manuals/peerless/images/connect_usb_com.gif
and came with a cable like that shown in the picture, then you can upload via USB, I know of some Hi-8 and Digital 8 cameras that can upload in this manner, there may be more, but I don't reccomend it, as the footage is noisy (noise is a term meaning scrambly or snowy) the picture quality is atrocious, and the sound is bad too, all around it's just not a good way to capture.
Now that you've gotten everything hooked up, you can begin actually transferring (capturing) footage to your pc from your camcorder. You'll need software for capturing footage (if you do not already posses editing software that has a capture option) if you invest in the Kworld TV Tuner card, it comes with a simple capturing program that keeps the quality of the footage from degrading much. There are of course many more professional and complex programs avaliable for capturing, this is just a personal choice. If you have nothing better avaliable, windows movie maker can be used for video capture, but I don't reccomend it, as it is a very basic program with few features.
Now that you've gotten your footage captured, you're all ready to edit (I'll leave it to Fenix to write that one out for you
)
The first step in capturing (aside from filming the footage you want to capture) is assessing the type of camcorder you possess. There are two varietys of camcorder, Analoge (This include VHS, VHS-C, S-VHS, 8mm, Hi-8 Camcorders) and Digital (Digital 8, Mini-DV, DV Cameras.)
Once you've determined which type of camcorder you possess, you can then decide on which product to purchase. If you own an analoge camera, then you will need to purchase a TV Capture card, an ideal selection would be the KWorld TV Tuner Card. You could also purchase a capture device known as dazzle, which I know less about. If you own a Digital Camera, then you will need a firewire card, I reccoment the IEEE 1394 Card, as it has served me quite well.
You'll need to install your card into you computer before capturing any video, please refer to THIS topic for help on installing
Capturing with the TV Tuner card is rather simple, you can either run you camera directly to the card with the AV Cables usually included with all analoge cameras, or run the camcorder through a vcr to the computer, which is useless unless you intend to capture footage from a VHS tape.
Capturing from a digital camera only involves hooking the camera up to the capture card with the cable usually included with the card or camera. If not, this can be purchased seperately.
There is a third type of capturing avaliable on some cameras, which involves the use of your USB port. If your camera has a port that looks similar to this:
External image not preserved — inspect source: http://www.iomega.com/support/manuals/peerless/images/connect_usb_com.gif
and came with a cable like that shown in the picture, then you can upload via USB, I know of some Hi-8 and Digital 8 cameras that can upload in this manner, there may be more, but I don't reccomend it, as the footage is noisy (noise is a term meaning scrambly or snowy) the picture quality is atrocious, and the sound is bad too, all around it's just not a good way to capture.
Now that you've gotten everything hooked up, you can begin actually transferring (capturing) footage to your pc from your camcorder. You'll need software for capturing footage (if you do not already posses editing software that has a capture option) if you invest in the Kworld TV Tuner card, it comes with a simple capturing program that keeps the quality of the footage from degrading much. There are of course many more professional and complex programs avaliable for capturing, this is just a personal choice. If you have nothing better avaliable, windows movie maker can be used for video capture, but I don't reccomend it, as it is a very basic program with few features.
Now that you've gotten your footage captured, you're all ready to edit (I'll leave it to Fenix to write that one out for you
)