Configuring Your System for Video Editing

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For best results, you should strive for a completely digital chain. Start with digital video shot on Digital8 or MiniDV, edit the video digitally with Windows Movie Maker, and then output the completed movie to a CD or DVD in WMV format.

Preparing your PC for video editing is fairly simple. All you have to do is connect your camcorder or VCR to your PC system unit. How you do this depends on what type of camcorder or VCR you have.

If you have an older VHS, VHS-C, SVHS, 8mm, or Hi8 recorder, you'll need to buy and install an analog-to-digital video capture card in your PC. (You can buy one at most computer stores.) You'll plug your recorder into the jacks in this card (typically using standard RCA connectors), and it will convert the analog signals from your recorder into the digital audio and video your computer understands.

If you have one of the latest digital video (DV) recorders in the Digital8 or MiniDV formats, you don't need a video capture card. What you do need is an IEEE1394 FireWire interface, which is included with many new PCs. This type of connection is fast enough to handle the huge stream of digital data pouring from your DV recorder into your PC. (Using any other type of connection, including USB 2.0, is not only slower for transferring video but might result in some degree of frame loss; in addition, not all video editing programs support USB transfer.)