Looking for information and recommnedations on how to convert my Camcorder Video into a production I can share with others. Hardware, Software, etc.
Can't someone give Darren (and me) an answer? Video is my main media when it comes to steam locomotives. I have a lot of it and would like to share.
I think that you should go to a computer software store to seek an answer to your quest. It seems that all you should need is a connection to your computer to view your videos and a good software to edit it. What do you think??
I know how... I have a "Video Capture Card" called an All In Wonder by ATI that takes input from any video source, and saves it as an avi or mpeg file. Now there are a whole range of these video capture devices by Dazzle, Miro, Avermedia, etc. that plug into the USB port of your computer. You can find them at any computer store. Generally they work like this: Plug your camcorder into the device with Firewire, USB, or standard RCA Video/ Audio plugs. Plug the video capture into your computer's USB plug. Load the capture software program and set it to either VCD (mpeg1) SVCD/DVD (mpeg2) and play your video. After the video ends, stop the capture program, and it makes the type of mpeg file you need. Next you burn a cd or dvd with any of the newer burning programs, telling it which type of disc you want to make. VCD will play on any DVD player, and SVCD will play on any 2 year old or newer DVD player. For recordable DVD, the player must be able to read recordable discs, so read the manual for the player. I make all mine SVCD format because it uses regular DCR discs that most all dvd players read, with DVD quality picture.
How much can you edit (audio add/remove, merge images like JPEG or other video, add text) the video before you burn it donw to CD or DVD? Can you extract images from the video to make JPEG files? Wanting to get as much information from railfans before the store tries to sell me more than I need as well as make sure I know everything I need to make a video that other can enjoy without me being there to describe what is being shown.
Well, I'm going to jump in here and stick my neck out. You have two choices. A lot depends on your present video card. If it is a 32meg or better and you are happy with it you can buy a seperate video in card, The best ones are by Hauppauge and run from $50.00 up. I would not recomment the cheap one. You need one in the $150.00 range. If you buy a new video card, either buy ATI or Creative, 32meg or better with a TV/video in. If you go that route you may still have to buy software. I have a cheap $50.00 Hauppaug and it if only fair. I would go to thier site and spend some time looking.
Another option might be a TV tuner card..most of those have video inputs. If you're looking around that Hauppauge site, check out WinTV cards (you can get 'em at Best Buy and such) and the WinTV2000 software. That's what I've got. The card's got coax, S-video and RCA video/audio in jacks all on one card. The software has the capture features built right into. Bonus - once you have that, you can hook cable up to the coax and watch tv on your puter! Actually, once you go that far, the possibilities are endless. I have cable, vcr, and playstation all running through my computer...now if I could only find time to watch it all Mike
With the All In Wonder card you have all the inputs/outputs you need to convert videos. You can watch TV, Record TV, or any inputs you like, and you can take jpg stills too. The only problem is that they have Macrovision on the new versions of the card, so you cannot copy that type of video unless you download an anti-macrovision hack. So far, it's legal to make a backup of your video's but they may change that law. There is a website that covers everything you want to know about converting any format to any other format, as well as what players work with what formats here: DVD Help This site used to be known as VCDhelp.com in the old days, but now that DVD burners are cheap, they changed the name. I used the info on this site to make backups of all my VHS train videos, because VHS machines are getting scarce, and some of my tapes are irreplacable. Now I can watch them on DVD players, and my computer.
Anybody willing to send me a small clip of something they took via their Camcorder that they have edited so I can see the results.
I take it from the lack of responces that nobody is that thrilled with what they are using to share an example of what can be done. Bummer
What format are your videos in right now? Digital or VHS? I have made quite a few .MPG videos with my Sony digital camcorder. Here's a sample of my work: http://www.boche.net/trains/progressive_rail_5-23-03/3.mpg More videos here: http://www.boche.net/trains/progressive_rail_5-23-03/ It is important that you let me know what format your videos are in right now in order to determine what your needs will be. Jas
I'm a work right now so I can't download and view your examples yet; but, THANK YOU!!!!!!! As for format, I too have a Sony Digital Camcorder and everything is still on those tapes. I looking to get them to CD/DVD and do some editing of the Video & Audio so it's more of a travel video than home movies as well as safer and easier to store for later viewing.
If you have a Sony digital cam corder and it supports exporting your digital movies on tape via a Firewire port on the camera itself, then you are sitting pretty good. What you will need in this scenario is to have at least a Pentium III computer for doing the video editing and also a Firewire expansion card and firewire cable that will connect your Sony digital cam corder to your computer. The Firewire card gets installed in your computer. When I bought my Firewire card about 2 years ago, they were about $100. Now I think they are under $50. So if you don't already have it, pick it up at your local computer store (I suggest Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA, etc.). ASK FOR HELP at the store if you don't know what you're looking for!!! Now, for the software you'll need for digital editing, your Sony digital cam corder should have come with some software for doing various things with the camera attached to your computer. My Sony camera came with software called Pixela Image Mixer. This is what you will use to download the video into .MPG format on your C:\ drive of your computer. Once your video is downloaded onto your computer in .MPG format, it will be really huge in terms of file size. I can point you to a shareware utility that compresses .MPG files to their maximum compressability (if that's a word). You will want the .MPG file to be as small as possible if you plan to share your videos over the internet. If you are only burning your videos to CD or DVD, then you can probably forget about compressing your .MPG files as that step really won't be necessary for your purposes. Tell me exactly what model of Sony cam corder you have.
Took awhile to get the example downloaded over my simple dialup; but, it was mostly the example I was hoping to get. The example doesn't seem to have any editing of the audio due to the live audio being what you wanted. Do you others have any editing of the audio or inserted information? I am downloading another right now but it will be awhile. What I have is a Sony Digital Handycam (Digital 8) with 360x Zoom, DCR-TRV103. I know that I have a 3-Wire Audio/Video Out and connecting cables as well as a S-Video out port. According to the owners manual, the camcorder can do some very simple editing of the video via "Inserting a scene from a VCR" but nothing more. No software came with this when I got in new around 1998. PC wise, I have access to a newer Dell running XP so I feel I have the PC side covered and need the software and hardware to connect the camcorder; hence my post to get recommendations, etc. from people like you before talking to a salesmen that might try to sell me more than I need and not what I want. Look forward to any more information you and others can share before I head to the store.
My files came out at about 600 to 800 Megs ea. You can burn an 800meg video on a 700 meg CDR for some reason, if you use the Nero burn SVCD function. One thing to note, is that if your original source is poor or VHS quality, it wil not get better when you convert to SVCD or DVD.
Well, your original question said "Looking for information and recommnedations on how to convert my Camcorder Video into a production I can share with others." You didn't say anything about doing audio dubbing although you still might be able to do it with additional pieces. I was just explaining how to convert your raw video to .MPG format.
Don't get me wrong, what you have helped me with so far is GREAT! You will also see that I was also posted As the raw video has allot of noise from people talking around me and is missing discriptive information of what you are seeing where it wasn't good for me to be talking so being able to edit the Audio or add Text like an old fashion moive would help fix this.
Well, after several months of looking at various solutions I have gone with Pinnacle Systems Inc. - Studio version 9 Now the really HARD work begins, actually learning how to use it.
I am working on my first editing project myself. My good fortune is that I have a 16 year old son who is a video/xompter geek and set me up with the right stuff including video input card, two 120 gig hard-drives. I also ended up spending some serious bucks on Adobe Video Editing software. I just started this a month ago and I will look for my paperwork and tell you what I got in a later post. [ 15. June 2004, 03:28: Message edited by: ajy6b ]
Just skimmed some replies... Well gee... As a profesional I would suggest getting a Mac computer to start with. All macs come with two useful and standard programs: IMovie and IDVD. No additional hardware needed. Just make sure your mac has a DVD drive. I used Imovie to produce a weekly TV show for about a year. It worked great. Having worked with this stuff for years I can just say that all my PC using friends are always complaining about how this PC whatever doesn't work with that Pc whatever. I personally run a G4 dual 1 gig processor machine with a DVD drive. I also use Final cut pro and DVD studio Pro. But the stock programs run great and would do a perfectly good job of interfacing with any firewire equiped Camcorder. If you live in an area where there is a local Mac store, go there with your camcorder and have them give you a demo of how to use those programs to edit your tape. Let the product speak for itself.
