Sugguestions: Video Capture/Editing Kit?

I have a lot of video tapes which I'd like to transfer to digital media. And then to edit down to viewable 'episodes' etc.

So I'm looking at 2 things:

1) Video capture hardware - reasonable quality/speed, but on a very tight budget, so looking at a good price/performance compromise here.

2) Video editing software - not sure what I want here. Must obviously allow me to cut/splice, but I'd also love to have some blue/green screen capability and anything that helps put title screens etc. together. Well - I think that's what I want.

So I'm hoping that some of you out there have a good handle on this and maybe can guide me. Thanks.

[SMHarman]

By video tapes you mean VHS?

Do you have a digital camcorder. Many have an analogue passthru that will enable you to plug VCR>Camcorder>Firewire port.

Once that is done capture away.

Then for what you need something as simple as MS Movie Maker III would do the job.

I encode / Burn using TMPGenc which costs money, but is v.good.

[Halcyon]

Any camcorder or video device with a firewire connection should do you fine as long as your PC has a firewire port.

As for software Adobe Premiere and After Effects are probably your best choice for features and professional quality.
Premiere lets you arrange and cut up stuff accross a timeline and aftereffects well does what it says....effects and lets you mess around more with your video.

Originally Posted by SMHarman

By video tapes you mean VHS?

Not specifically, but some... Although that's not the priority.

Originally Posted by SMHarman

Do you have a digital camcorder. Many have an analogue passthru that will enable you to plug VCR>Camcorder>Firewire port.

No digital here. Analogue all the way. And no video capture h/w in the computer atm.

I'd like something that would eventually also be usable with digital video, but if that increases the cost a lot then I'll concentrate on the video camera tapes first.

Originally Posted by SMHarman

Then for what you need something as simple as MS Movie Maker III would do the job.

I encode / Burn using TMPGenc which costs money, but is v.good.

I'll check those out, thanks.

Update: Had a play with Movie Maker - works quite well. Managed to do a bit of editing on files I already had on the computer etc. Certainly a good start!

[cookie_365]

Originally Posted by SMHarman

By video tapes you mean VHS?

Do you have a digital camcorder. Many have an analogue passthru that will enable you to plug VCR>Camcorder>Firewire port.

Once that is done capture away.

Then for what you need something as simple as MS Movie Maker III would do the job.

I encode / Burn using TMPGenc which costs money, but is v.good.

Movie Maker 3 ?? When did that come out?

Originally Posted by cookie_365

Movie Maker 3 ?? When did that come out?

Dunno - on my machine it's version 5.1. Came with SP2.

[cookie_365]

Originally Posted by ScaredWebWarrior

Dunno - on my machine it's version 5.1. Came with SP2.

Odd - on mine it's 2.1 - and that was with SP2 .....

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by ScaredWebWarrior

Dunno - on my machine it's version 5.1. Came with SP2.

That's the version of Windows NT you are running (behind the scenes, Microsoft are still using the same version numbering scheme, so XP is Windows NT 5.1 and 2000 is NT 5)

I personally would buy a cheap tv card,easy to connect a vhs vcr and an analoge camcorder via composite or even rf , then buy a firewire pci card when you want to go digital

Total cost of both cards needs to be no more than £25--£30

My ms movie maker says version 5.2 but it also says underneath version 2.1

[Tricky]

Best editing software I've had the pleasure to use was Sony Vegas 5.0, not sure how much it costs but it really was the dogs...

Some of the stuff you can do would put BBC to shame!

[bmxbandit]

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

I personally would buy a cheap tv card,easy to connect a vhs vcr and an analoge camcorder via composite or even rf , then buy a firewire pci card when you want to go digital

i have a very old hauppage using an 878 chip, and it's plenty more than enough to capture VHS you don't need to spend much cash...

as for software, virtualdub for linear operations and capturing, adobe premiere for non-linear (titles and stuff)

Originally Posted by bmxbandit

i have a very old hauppage using an 878 chip, and it's plenty more than enough to capture VHS you don't need to spend much cash...


as for software, virtualdub for linear operations and capturing, adobe premiere for non-linear (titles and stuff)

Ive just reclaimed a card with that chipset works a treat but no remote

[bmxbandit]

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

Ive just reclaimed a card with that chipset works a treat but no remote

heh, i've got a remote but no IR receiver! between us there's a working system somewhere...