camcorder to pc

[crussty]

I am investigating how to go about putting my wedding video, as well as other camcorder recorded data onto my pc, so i can burn a cd of them. Does anyone know how I would go about doing this? My camcorder is not digital, but does have the video and 1 audio av jack. Would a firewire card help, or are they just for digital transferring? Also, would it be possible to convert the video into mpeg-2 for playback on my DVD player? Thanks.

crussty (Jay)

[hiredgoonz]

You need a video capture device...I have heard great things about the Winnov Videum, which is a PCI card, but they also make USB devices that do the same thing...

Some things to look for are the capture size and whether the device has an actual sound input or relies on hooking up some other attachement or software to your sound card because sometimes there can be sync problems with the audio and video...(the winnov card has an actual input)

ATI has their All-in-Wonder video cards which seem to work pretty well, and provide Tv tuner/video capture/tv-out and hardware mpeg2 playback...also they can capture video in mpeg2 format...

If you already have an AGP card that doesn't need to be upgraded, some of the older all in wonder cards came in pci, and since you can have more than one vidcard, that's one way to go (and you can use a tv as a second monitor)

Bear in mind that to capture full-motion, max-size video, you'll need a P3-class system...good luck

[crussty]

Thanks a lot goonz. That gives me a good point to go from. My brother in-law has an ATI all in wonder card with the input, but it is an isa card and I have no room in my mobo. Too bad, that would have done the trick. I would have just used his card, but he is only using the one half for functionality. Anyone know how I could re-attach the other half of the card?

thanks again,


crussty http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif

[Randy_tx]

Like said before...what speed is your CPU? You might get all the stuff you need and be shocked to find out you dont have enough cpu or Ram to do the deed......hopefully you have at least a 450 mhz processor and 64 mb Ram.

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"As hard as a rock & dumb as a brick"...Windows CEMeNT

[crussty]

Oh, yeah, I have an AMD K6-2 @500 mhz, 128m of ram, 8m agp video card. Do you think this would be enough? I was actually thinking of adding another 128m of ram.


crussty

[Tink]

Crussty, I'm no expert on the subject, but i've done it a few times. My system is AMD K6-2x500 also ,cept i've got 256mg ram. I use Video WaveII as my capture/edit program.(It came with my ATI All in Wonder Card). I consider my 256 megs of ram just bairly(sp) adequate for the job. Also be advised that it takes about 8-9 hours (on my system) to convert 40 min. of vidoe capture into MPEG2. I usually start it at bed time, and most of it is done by morning. BTW, Is your bro, in law's ati card the one with tv out and S-video in/out ports? How much ram? I wonder if he'd like to trade for one that fits a agp slot?
Tink

[crussty]

Wow, maybe I will buy more ram. First thing would be to buy a card with the necessary jacks. Thanks for the reply Tink.

crussty

[mjc]

For video editing if you want to do anything in a reasonable amount of time then more RAM is vital, 256MB minimum. Also, use quality RAM (generic may get the job done, but...) you're less likely to have problems.

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mjc
I'm making my own links list:Computer Links (http://www.fortunecity.com/skyscraper/highrise/11/index.htm)

[crussty]

Another question. I have purchased a usb device to record the video on my pc. Noe I need to find a program to convert it to mpeg2. Anyone know of any good programs to do this?

thanks, crussty

[hiredgoonz]

Go to www.divx-digest.com (http://www.divx-digest.com)

In their software section (look for encoders) you should be able to find a program that will do what you're looking for...among other things...

Just a guess, but any decent video editing software should have some sort of encoding capability...

At the site I mentioned there should also be plenty of guides/how-tos that will help you out...

[crussty]

Thank you Hiredgoonz, you have been a big help. Cheers.

crussty http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

[crussty]

Ok, thank you everyone who replied, but I have another question. This one has to do with my video card. I now have 256M ram in my system, but my video card is an on-board 8M shared and drops frames like crazy. My question is, would purchasing a better(separate) PCI video card with more VRAM do the trick, or would it be roughly the same? Anyone have any experience with this?


thanks, crussty