Getting started with video editing is very simple you only need a few items and you can be producing quality movies at home that you will be able to enjoy for many years to come. Maybe even produce a hit Hollywood movie.
The basic items you need are a video capture card, the software to edit, your computer, storage space on your computer and a camcorder, VCR, or you can display your movie on your computer screen.
The process is effortless, all you do is capture the video to you computer using a capture card, then edit your video with video editing software and then download the video that you edited to either tape or burn it to a VCD, CD, or DVD.
Let’s look at your computer first. You will need a minimum of a Pentium II 300 or faster, a minimum of 256 Megs of RAM, but you will get better performance with 512 Megs. You will also desire to have a 30GB drive that is split into 2 separate partitions. This means that you will have a C: and a D:. The C: should be given 10GB and will have all of your software stored there and the D: will be where your audio, video and editing projects are stored. Your graphics card should be a 32 Meg AGP. You can have an 8 or 16 Meg but the quality will not be as good.
Storage is probably the most confusing thing about video editing. Video makers have many choices for storing their digital video files and this is why it can be so confusing.
If you desire creating your own DVD’s then you are going to need lot of storage. The most you can get out of a single sided 4.7 GB DVD is around 2 hours of video. If you are using DV footage you are going to need 13GB per hour of video, this means you will need 26GB of storage and remember you always have extra footage that you need to factor that in as well so you are now up to 39GB of storage space needed. If you are adding other options such as graphics, MPEG2 footage for the DVD and the folder to hold it all then you are now up to 50GB. So, for your 2 hour movie you will need 50GB of space at least.
So, when you begin be sure that you have enough storage on your computer for the type of video that you wish to store.
On to the video capture card and the video editing software. When you first visit the electronics store you will find many manufacturers that create video capture cards. The most popular include
Some of the reputable video capture card manufacturers are: Pinnacle, Matrox, Dazzle, ADS, Canopus, and Digital Origin.
What video capture cards do to put it in simple terms is that these cards use hardware or software compression to digitize your video onto the hard drive on your computer. This way you can edit your video and play it back onto tape or display your movie on your computer screen.
Some times, you can purchase the video capture cards along with the video editing software that you choose. Some of the most popular video capture cards that are packaged with video software include the Pinnacle Pro One which comes with the Adobe Premiere 6 full version, TitleDeko RT, DV Tools 2.0, Hollywood FX, and Impressions DVD. The Dazzle DV NOW AV can be purchased along with the Premiere 6 full version and the DVDit LE.
Having music along with your video can also be accomplished with a MP3 Converter that will allow you to convert your MP3 music into a wav file or the format in which you need for your video. You may also wish to purchase a MP3 Encoder which will allow you to Wav or other formats into a MP3. A CD ripper is another item that you may wish to purchase that will help with converting your CD’s to MP3, WAV, WMA type files.
One other software program that will make you life easier when you begin video editing is a MPEG Encoder which is a very easy to use program that will make converting several formats easy than you can imagine. Many of these MPEG converters will aid in converting DVD, VCD, AVI, MPEG, GIF, Flash, WMV, WMA, WAV, MP3, MP4, M4A, OGG, AAC, 3GP and even more/
So, now all you need to do is to find the best video editing software that you feel comfortable with and off you go. You can find several different video editing software companies that offer their software on a trial basis, this will let you try out the software so you can see if it is the perfect software for you. But, remember with the trial version you will be receiving the video capture card. You will have to purchase it separately.
As Internet connections become more permanent with broadband access,
software will be able to evolve into a more efficient and personalized
medium. Currently, most software run from our hard drives and require
installations that alter our system configurations, many times slowing
down our computers. Because software occupies space and processing power,
there is a limited amount of software that can run in our PCs. On the
business side, current software systems require many companies to produce
a system of distribution (Compac Discs), customer support, and is usually
not compatible with all customers, thus limiting its customer base
further.
A software evolution is ocurring and it is going to benefit both
customers and businesses immensly. Software will no longer come as a
packet that needs to be installed on a PC, but rather it will be
completely Web based. Web based software will become the default way of
reaching customers. Customers will have advantages such as, using
unlimited amount of software, using applications regardless of where the
person is or which computer he/she is using, software can be personalized
and upgraded to meet specific needs to each individual. Businesses will be
able to, reduce costs, reach a larger customer pool, taylor its software
to diverse markets, repair bugs more rapidly and easily, understand its
customer and the way they use their software, etc.
In order for this software revolution to occur in whole, there needs to
be a central point. Like Miscrosoft’s DOS in the 80’s, which became the
standard choice of operating system to centralize and organize our
computer operations, there needs to be an online operating system. As of
now, Microsoft has built an empire because of its vision and their
dominance in the OS market. However, now there is a window of opportunity
to take a large chunk of that empire and possibly eliminate Microsoft’s
monopoly of the Operating System. While there are many companies and
organizations (Apple, Linux, Lindows) out there trying to take a bite out
of Microsoft by competing on the same turf, PC users are accostumed to
Windows and will most likely not switch. The opportunity to eliminate this
monopoly is to create an Online Operating System. PC users will inevitably
move completely online.
An Online Operating System will be the central point of every user in
the future. There are online companies who have an inside advantage to
this, such as Yahoo!, Google, and AOL, but it can be anyone’s medal, even
to a fairly unknown competitor, as was Microsoft when they introduced DOS
to the world. In this new concept of Operating System, there can be a
larger space of diversity and can be shared by more companies, unlike the
current status.
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