Newbie with Questions

19 Dec 2005 5:47 PM

szeiss

I have never owned a camcorder and haven't the slightest idea how to
work one, but DH and I are thinking about finally purchasing one for
recording of family events, wildlife, pets etc. I'm looking at some
JVC & Sony models either MiniDV or DVD formats. After recording, what
do I do with the DVD's?? Am I able to edit them? How do I play them
back? Any links to some good information?

Thanks,
Sherry

19 Dec 2005 9:29 PM

marks542004

szeiss wrote:

> I have never owned a camcorder and haven't the slightest idea how to
> work one, but DH and I are thinking about finally purchasing one for
> recording of family events, wildlife, pets etc. I'm looking at some
> JVC & Sony models either MiniDV or DVD formats. After recording, what
> do I do with the DVD's?? Am I able to edit them? How do I play them
> back? Any links to some good information?
>
> Thanks,
> Sherry

The dvd format recorders will create a disk that can be played in most
recent DVD players. The problem is that the files are compressed in a
format that is not best for anything but very basic editing.

You will be happier, in my opinion , with a DV tape format. You can
transfer the video to a computer via firewire (IEEE1394) and edit it
with Windows Movie Maker (free with Win XP) or you can purchase
something like Vegas Movie Studio +DVD (around $100 retail - was
offered through Best Buy with a lot of rebates). That will provide
better editing capabilities and DVD authoring at a reasonable price.

You need a PC with DVD burner to edit and burn DVDs.

I am using a Emachines with Athelon processor at 2 ghz , 512 Mb of
memory and a lite-on DVD/CD burner. 160 Gb hard drive, Win Xp Home.
Cost around $500 last christmas after rebates. I had to add a firewire
card that cost less than $50.

You can go with much faster systems, more hard disk, more memory but it
is not essential.

look at www.videohelp.com.