Team-BHP - Which software to use for editing videos ?

Guys, i have sony DCR-HC 18 videocam with mini DV. So it records on Mini DV tapes but does not have a memory stick feature. How can i copy the recording on VCD/DVD using a USB cable as my computer does not have a firewire. I tried using Windows Movie Maker but it sucks. BTW, i don't have much knowledge on this topic so plese explain in simple terms. Thanks!!

Hi Deeps,

To the best of my knowledge you cannot copy movies from the DV to the computer via the USB cable. (The USB cable is only for transfering pics and short vids from the memory card).

I guess you will have to buy a firewire card for your computer. I cant really help you with prices...but if i had to guess i wld say its somewhere between Rs1000 - Rs3000.

Cheers
R

ps - other sony DVcam owners, correct me if i am wrong?

You need a firewire card for this. I don't know prices in India but here in US such PC add on cards are available for $9 (bare card) to $20(card, cable, some software).

Software that comes with the card is is pretty useless being just a demo version of some Movie editing software.

About Software I have used Pinnacale, Ulead, Roxio and SONY. SONY is the best of all, next better is Ulead.

SONY:Screenblast Movie Studio 3.0 cost about $87

Ulead: VideoStudio 8.0 cost about $99 (one can download a full version for trial)

Roxio: VideoWave 7.o Professional costs about $50

Pinnacle costs about $100+ but full of bugs, so don't recommend.

Beware: Movie editing job needs lots of RAM (512MB minimum) and massive Hard disk storage (80 GB minimum) , also your processor (CPU) must be P4, And ofcourse you need CD or DVD Burner.

Hope this helps.

Vipul

Hey again Deeps,

As VipulG says, i would suggest Ulead... its great for everything, but i havent really seen any good transition effects on it (all of them are kind of corny and `80s)

Vipul, whats your view on this? are there any free/downloadable transitions that i can use with my ulead (i think im on v7), somehting of the adobe premier quality and not lame 2D/3D box&chop effects?

Quote:

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]eware: Movie editing job needs lots of RAM (512MB minimum) and massive Hard disk storage (80 GB minimum) , also your processor (CPU) must be P4, And ofcourse you need CD or DVD Burner.

Actually, thats not entirely true.... you could manage (although it would be more like a struggle) with a much lesser config.
Check out the Team-BHP Mahableshwar Video Thread, its an example of some really basic editing done with ulead on a PentiumII 400mhz with 128mb ram

.
It also has some discussion on video editing softwares...

cheers
R

About the hardware, already everybody posted the details.

About the software, I use Adobe Premiere and Ulead. Premiere is a pro software and most of the times there is nothing you can not do with it. Ulead is good for beginners. If you want to use Premiere, expect to spend some time learning it and a few bucks for a book.

Digging a topic off the past but this is something that I needed proper help on.

I own a mini-DV (Sony H46E) for quite some time now. I have been accumulating the tapes that I have been recording on since I am yet to come across a configuration which can give me a proper output. When I see the tape directly connected to the TV everything is good but the moment I try to capture it via a IEEE card and edit it through Adobe Premiere and burn it to a DVD all my hard work of capturing a good shot goes down the drain. I am left with a DVD having a video which is quite grainy compared to the original and a bit darker also. I work on a basic system with a 2GB RAM, AMD Athlon 3000+ on a ASUS M2A-VM Mother Board controlled by Windows XP Pro.

I would like to know the Hardware and the Software combination to get the similar kind of output on a DVD while I convert a mini-DV to DVD as I would get while I connect the mini-DV camcorder directly to the TV.

HELP NEEDED ASAP as I have now about 32 tapes pending to be converted to DVD.

Quote:

Originally Posted by abhisheksircar (Post 689168)

Abhisheksircar,

Im not sure what your problem is, but maybe it is the compression / codec / resolution you are using when you capture the video from the DV to the computer or write to DVD.
Do provide us more details of the specifics....

cya
R

I use a couple of free softwares to get my miniDV's on a DVD. As far as I can say, the DVD's seem to play with the same quality as the tape.

Here are the tools I use:
1. DVIO or WINDV to capture movie from camera (the big advantage i saw was that it actually shows the frames dropped - and a 0 frame drop is what you should look for).

2. I use a software called DVD Plus (which is not free) to convert AVI to MPG. However, there are other free softwares available to do this conversion (see videohelp.com)

3. I use DVDAuthorGUI to create a DVD out of these MFG files. Till now, works great.

I dont have a very good experience using Ulead (takes too much time) and MovieMaker (crashes every now and then).

To edit movies, there is a very good freeware called VirtualDub and VirtualDubMod.

Hope this helps.

The problem that abhisheksircar has mentioned is very a common one. It happens because USB is not apt in handling Mini DV quality videos at their original bitrates. So, whichever software do you use, it would compress it down to near unacceptable levels while transfrerring. Just to give you an idea, if you transfer a 1 hr video in it's original form, it would occupy anywhere near 10 GB fo disk space while same when transferred thru' usb hardly occupies a few hundred MBs.
Firewire port is the solution for it. A decent card would cost Rs.600+ (Intec is selling one for Rs.550 appx) although there are a few available for as cheap as Rs.350.
Actually, I am also in the same boat abhisheksircar, in that I have several mini dv tapes waiting to be transferred to a PC for want of appropriate hardware.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rehaan (Post 690418)

But abhisheksircar has mentioned he uses IEEE (im guessing he means IEEE1394) == Firewire.

cya
R

Oops! sorry to have overlooked it.
You are right...IEEE is Firewire.
So the problem is most probably in software settings. Should set the compression (or quality) to "best" level in the software settings. Also, check whether the source port selected is Mini DV or something else.

I have a mini -DVD Sony camcorder & have tried using various Video editing softwares
Adobe Primiere Elements - Ensure u have the latest config PC/laptop with minimum 1 GB of RAM & a powerful CPU. It is the most capable in terms of features but guarenteed to hand your PC & is not very stable. Try the demo version for 30 days - u'll get a sick Adobe watermark though during the demo version usage
Ulead - Nice features ,much more stable than Adobe - didnt find it easy to use though. Again u can download a trial version & try it out
My winner is :
Nero 8 Ultra - Novices can easily work with this. has good transitions & combine it with Nero's easy to use DVD burning interface - I think this the best avl right now. I have edited my home videos, added my digital camera photos with mp3 music as background, printed out the labels & cut the DVDs - neat. Try out the 30 day trial version - with Nero 8 u can cut /edit HD quality videos as well . Additionally I do download lots of torrents & burning back Movie DVDs using easy menus & ripped DVD movies is easy with Nero 8.

But the bottom line is - give a try with the trial versions of all the softwares & go ahead with the one you are most comfortable with