Tech question: Putting video on computer

Getting video onto your PC will depend on what kind of quality you want and what type of video camera you have. If it's one of the new Digital Video (DV) cameras, then what you're looking for is a FireWire card, which you can probably get for about $30. Most of these cards are pretty similar, so you'll probably be fine with any of them, though sometimes when you go with the bigger name brands you get demo video capture software and other utilities bundled: Adaptec and Belkin are pretty safe choices, though admittedly a bit more expensive.

If you have an older camera or have a VCR instead, then you'll want to use a capture device of some sort. You can replace your graphics card with the ATI All-in-Wonder, though it's admittedly an expensive solution to the problem, because you're replacing the entire graphics component of your PC. Instead, you should probably look for an add-on product. There are a number of products that attach to your computer's USB ports, which allow you to capture video at a pretty high quality.

(Special aside re: USB capture: many of the products available now require USB 2.0 ports for best-quality capture, but may still be able to capture a smaller picture using USB 1.1. Since USB 2.0 is 40 times faster, you may want to add a USB 2.0 card to your system if you don't already have one and are serious about capturing high-quality video. It's the difference between capturing something that is the same quality as your TV picture--over 640x480--or being stuck with something thats 120x80 or some ridiculously small picture.)

There are a couple of products available now that actually allow you to capture your old analogue home videos in a format that will be compatible with DVD, if you have either a DVD or CD burner in your system. ADS Technologies has something called the Instant DVD 2.0 which does just that, and other companies either have already released similar products or are about to announce their own forthcoming products.

I would highly recommend getting a copy of Premiere somehow or another, as it is practically a standard in PC editing and is pretty damn comprehensive in settings, though not overwhelming. I've never been completely satisfied with any other editing suite available on PC (save an AVID system). Premiere will also have the benefit of letting you save the VHS video at full resolution (just for reference - 720x480, 29.97 fps at NTSC and 720x576, 25 fps).

if you are really serious about converting av to dv look into canopus products, www.canopus.com

i drool over the canopus advc-100

In the past I'd have agreed; some of the new USB 2.0 devices don't suffer from these problems anywhere near as badly. The key there is "if you are really serious about converting av to dv"; if it's for professional purposes def go with the internal capture card and think Pinnacle or Canopus. If this is just for your own fun, then it's probably not necessary to go so high end.

if you need anything done quickly i can do it.

andy