fresh out of the box....

[76Rose]

Hi there! I just ordered my first minidv camcorder (a sony) and I am so excited about it. I was hoping someone could help me with a question or 2???

I think I will need to have a seperate hard drive just for video editing...any recommendations or are they all about the same (I am looking at one that is 160GB). I will buy an external one b/c the inside of my computer is not somewhere I should be

Also- What do you think is the best editing software that is terribly expensive (250 and under)?

Thanks in advance for any help. I can't wait to get started!!

Rose

[cczych]

Hey 76Rose,
This forum is pretty much slated for Digital Photography. There are other sites that cover digital video. But to answer your questions:
- Yes - you will want a large drive - I would look for a 250GB drive on sale that is at least 7200RPM with a 8MB cache. Different vendors have sales/rebates different weeks. If you get a drive slower than 7200RPM - your capture software may have trouble keeping up with the capture to from your camcorder to the drive. The typically Digital Video setup would include a base PC (fastest CPU and more memory the better), a BIG drive that is NOT the primary drive, and a DVD Burner for rendering your creations to.
Studio, by pinnacle systems, is one of the leading sellers of editing software although their latest version has some bugs which are currently being wrung out. Check them out though: http://www.pinnaclesys.com/ - check the user forums on their site for general discussion of the product and editing, etc.
Sites which may be of more help for digital video:
www.dvinfo.net
www.dvdrhelp.com
www.camcorderinfo.com
www.dvspot.com
Have fun with your camcorder. I recently bought a Sony myself (the DCR-HC30).

[monkey143]

Hi, Rose! I bought an 80GB firewire hard drive for video editing and in two years, I have yet to have a problem with space. I do my videos on it and also backup my MPEGS there. I bought it on ebay for about $180 two years ago. It's only 5200 RPM but works just fine. Of course, more is better where space and speed are concerned.

I bought Magix' Video Deluxe 2 at TechTV's recommendation. It's prosumer at a consumer price (under $100). If you prefer to do most of the hands-on yourself, get this. If you want wizards to do it for you or walk you through it or click a couple buttons, DON'T get this. The newest version is Movie Edit Pro. Check out their website and feel free to ask questions on the forum. I haven't posted in awhie but I stop by a few times a week just to see what's happening.

I've heard good things about Pinnacle but I have also heard bad. If you need a firewire card, I have heard the one Pinnacle bundles with their software is proprietary so don't expect to buy it and be able to capture with other software. I tried a couple of their products and was underwhelmed. Others swear by it. I guess it all depends on what you want.

Good luck and have fun - I couldn't live without my Sony DCR-TRV18!

[cczych]

monkey143 makes a good point - the size drive you need is all a matter of what you are doing. I'm converting 50 hours of footage of my kids growing up so needed a large drive.
Figure out how much footage you want/expect to keep on your drive and do the math:
Video in DV format occupies 3.6MB of hard drive for every second of video - this is 1GB for every 4.5 minutes - so at full quality - drive space disappears pretty quickly in front of your eyes. If you don't mind some quality loss you can use MPEG compression (the more you compress - the worse the quality gets) in which case you can triple/quadruple/quintiple the amount you can fit on your drive. Also, once you burn DVDs you don't necessarily need to store everything on your drive (I like to for re-using between various projects).
Also, money143 also brings up the point about a firewire port - this is necessary if you want to attach your camera directly to your computer. Most computers still don't come standard with a firewire port - you would have to add a PCI card to your system if you don't have one.

[76Rose]

Thank you all for your help. What great advice. I can't wait to get started! Sorry for posting in the wrong place.

Rose

[monkey143]

Not a problem! Check out other software's BB to get a feel for the problems people have, whether there is support on the BB, and - as importantly as the rest - how friendly they are. And enjoy your new hobby! You will love it.

[cczych]

76Rose,
Glad to help - if you have additional questions - please feel free to Private Message me here. (just click the PM icon). Don't apologize for posting off-topic here either - lots of folks do it.
The software packages out there vary quite a bit - while Pinnacle is somewhat buggy and may have an occasional crash - it is easy to use - explore your options. If you are running WinXP as your operating system - you could also download MS MovieMaker2 from Microsoft (free to XP users) to get you started. This program also has some bugs (search MS site - there is a forum for this program as well) but if you already have XP - the price is right (free) and it will give you an idea of how this type of software works.
Also - Depending upon what camcorder you bought from Sony - you may get software which is adequate with the camera. Sony is shipping their own capture/edit software with the new DCR series miniDV camcorders. So, you may want to check out the free options before buying something.
Good Luck!

[digcamfan]

Hi 76 Rose

Once you become adept at using your sony...you are welcome to
post a full still photos on the forum!

Good luck