Just starting out... advice?

[ahartman]

All,

I'm just starting out with video and such. My aims are relatively low... My wife is due in Feb. and I'd like to put some simple movies up on a web site (as yet uncreated) for family to view. Possibly burn them to CDs for those w/slow internet connections.

I have no idea where to start. My sig shows my comp - not a beast by any means.

I'll be looking for a digital video camera, prob. in the $500-1k range (suggestions are welcome!).

Will I need a vid cap card or will I be able to transfer directly via the USB/Firewire port on the camera (assuming I have the proper port on my PC).

What software will I need on my PC to make the video viewable on a website (via WMP or RP) and any thoughts on which format I should use? I'm not sure on whether I'd stream the video or just make it d/l.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Andy

[Peter B]

"I'll be looking for a digital video camera, prob. in the $500-1k range (suggestions are welcome!)."

A good option would be a Digital 8 camera, relatively cheap, cheap tapes and still digital, which has many advantages, though probably overkill for streaming and CD.

"Will I need a vid cap card or will I be able to transfer directly via the USB/Firewire port on the camera (assuming I have the proper port on my PC)."

If it is digital (Digital 8 or mini DV) you should use a firewire (i-link IEEE-1394 - they are all the same) card to input the video to your PC. These are relatively cheap, though make sure it is OCHI compliant. There is more to read on this forum about that standard. This does not involve "capture" it is transferring the video from tape to PC essentially without loss of quality.

"What software will I need on my PC to make the video viewable on a website (via WMP or RP)"

You will need two types of software (which may be incorporated). One to edit your footage and one to encode it for viewing. The higher end products would be Adobe Premiere and Media Studio Pro, which are more sophisticated, premiere has export to Real Player and WMV, I'm not sure about MSP. Cheaper and easier options are Video Studio and VideoWave both are more wizard orientated with less options but much easier to use and quicker to produce video, probably a good place to start. You may find these or similar bundled with the Firewire card. It is probably worth looking for the bundle option as it would be a lot cheaper than purchasing each one separately. I think they could well have an option to export streaming formats as well.

"any thoughts on which format I should use? I'm not sure on whether I'd stream the video or just make it d/l."

WMV and RP both produce excellent streaming video (thought it could be debated streaming video is not capable of being excellent). Both require plug ins, though many with recent versions of windows have a player for WMV already installed. Real is very popular with the general public. I usually say if your streaming to the general public use RP and businesses use WMV as they have less ability to install plug ins, though either is suitable. Encoding to RP requires the purchase of the Real Producer whereas WMV is free (if the RP is not included in the video editing package). Unless you have access to the server and can install streaming software for your website you will need to use HTTP streaming and encode a number of files for different bandwidths. Download provides better quality and as the people wanting to see your videos are likely to be happy to wait I would suggest this is the better option. To encode to CD you should use MPEG1 and there are a number of free encoders if it is not included in your editing programme.

Hope that answers you questions, though it probably just provides you with more questions...

[wkulecz]

You can't make video stream ove the net unless your ISP supports one of the streaming servers. This usualy costs extra.

Downloadable works much better for most folks anyways. Main problem is even VCD format MPEG1 at 11MB per min is usually too big to download and certainly too big to Email.

*.asf and/or *.wme can get decent 320x240 videos in the 500K-1MB per minute range if you are careful.

I wouldn't advise a D8 unless you already have Hi8 or Video8 tapes where the playback compatability is pretty compelling. If you don't, miniDV is in the same price range at the low end
so now, IMHO, its the way to go unless you want the larger physical size of the D8 cams.

You need ~13GB/hr for your DV captures.

This new hobby sounds easy, but its not, the hardware and software especially, still leaves alot to be desired. I'd start with an ~$90 ADS Pyro DV with MSP6VE, downlaod TMPGEnc and add a second hard drive of 30GB minimum, This should get you started and other than long rendering times going from DV to MPEG you'll be good to go and can see what's possible without dropping a ton of cash first.

[Brian Ellis]

I agree: Mini-DV is the way to go. Another active thread here mentions a mini-DV camera bought for a tad over 300 bucks. It would do everything you need. D8 is a dying duck with its main advantage being backwards compatibility.

I agree that a Pyro board with MSP VE is the way to go, but you would be better upgrading from VE to MSP v. 6.5 which has distinct DV advantages, making it easier for you.

If the essential thing is in Feb., get cracking now, so that the worst part of the learning curve is over by then. Yes, it will take you a lot of hard work to get things working.

BTW, I have 7.5 min of video on a site, available at modem and broadband speeds, in both streaming and downloadable forms, using Real.

[Duty]

ahartman

I just picked this camcorder (miniDV) at costco for $399.99. I'va only had it for a few days, but so far I love it. I posted more info in this thread. I hope this helps.



Jeff

[This_Idiot]

Hi Andy,

Welcome aboard "the ship of fools" (as someone once dubbed our community).

As you'll have noticed, there's plenty of animated discussion over the "best" format for video, capture, storage etc. So read plenty, ask some pertinent questions and make some mistakes too (we all have!)

For your purposes (as in "casual amateur" rather than "enthusiastic amateur") I'd recommend a digital camera and "capture" card. For personal preference, I'd go mini-DV (I did, I've had a Canon MV200 for 18 months and still like it). Don't let that stop you going D8 IF you can justify the cost saving to yourself - this is an old argument that won't go away. I also use an ADS Pyro, which (by and large) is satisfactory, although it has occasionally given me some real grief getting software to talk to it properly. No doubt my own fault for being occassionally thick, but luckily JohnPr visits here frequently, and can answer most Q's about the Pyro.

Software wise, the easiest quality package to deal with (IMHO) is Ulead VS4. Although I prefer MSPro for its flexibility and features, I still use VS for simple tasks and trimming, and then move to MSP to finish off.

I can't help you on US prices though, sorry.

Have fun
Chris
(This_Idiot)

[IM_Riktar]

Check out this post regarding your board:http://forums.murc.ws/showthread.php?threadid=3570

Of course if you use a dedicated harddrive on the IDE secondary channel and avoid the onboard raid (Assuming you have the "Pro" model) you should be fine since most 7200RPM drives can keep up with firewire demands.

Hope this helps