Dd0g 0 #1 April 1, 2003 Team Canine is looking to set up a video editing system this spring, and is looking for advice from follks smarter than us on how to do so efficiently. Here's the scoop: 1. Need to be able to pull in video from VHS tapes (already have a PAL/NTSC VCR), DVDs, and existing MPEG1/2 digital footage; 2. Needs to run on a Win2k foundation, as that's our current network foundation here (yes, I know a Mac would likely be a more elegant solution to this problem but I've got an office full of x86 machines that are currently unemployed); 3. Editing capabilities, nothing fancy; 4. Storage of resulting edited footage either as MPEG files (of varying resolutions), DVD, or VHS (PAL or NTSC) formats. Advice much appreciated. I'm expecting that a setup to do all this will likely involve both software and some sort of hardware codec-type PCI card. Peace, D-d0g+~+~+~+~ But this, surely, was the glory that no spirits, canine or human, had ever clearly seen, the light that never was on land or sea, and yet is glimpsed by the quickened mind everywhere. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lolie 0 #2 April 1, 2003 You might have better luck with this if you put it in the Photography and Video forum. -Miranda you shall above all things be glad and young / For if you're young,whatever life you wear it will become you;and if you are glad / whatever's living will yourself become. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nacmacfeegle 0 #3 April 1, 2003 Woof woof dawgs. A few questions. Does this setup need to be portable? How much digital pal/ntsc conversions do you envisage doing? What cameras are you getting the original footage from? How much VHS footage are you pulling in and in what format (ntsc/pal)? How much money do you have to spare? Can someone drag this over to the camera forum please.? You'll get a better response over there... In essence, there are quick and cheap ways to do this, depending on the answers to the above questions....-------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pattersd 0 #4 April 1, 2003 DDog, My recommendation would be to get a 1394 OHCI compliant PCI card plugged into one of your machines and then hook up a Canopus ADVC100 analog to Digital video converter. Then use Sonic Foundry's Vegas or Video Factory to do your editing and conversions between formats. Video Factory (plus the mpeg2 plug in) plus the Canopus digital video converter and 1394 card will give you basic editor and all the conversion cappabilty you will need for just under $500. If you use the Vegas editor the cost is about $800. Websites to visit http://www.sonicfoundry.com http://www.canopus.com Plus of course if you want to burn a DVD you need the dvd burner and some dvd authoring software. Give me a call. David P. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cajones 0 #5 April 1, 2003 First important question: What's your budget? Second important question: What's your final product? Third important question: You have some unused x86 boxes; Do you know what's inside (what's under the hood)? The laws of physics are strictly enforced. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dd0g 0 #6 April 1, 2003 Thanks for the great advice so far, folks! Some clarifying data: 1. In general, I'm looking to output only to mpeg or DVD format, either burned to a CD-R or saved as a digital file for web use - yes, I already have a DVD burner though I've never used it to create DVDs that'll play on regular DVD players (I use it for audio files nowadays). 2. The extra x86 boxes I have don't have any super-fancy stuff in them, just the usual assortment of modems, NIC cards, etc. 3. My budget is pretty much whatever it'll take to get this setup working well. If it took thousands of dollars to do it, I'd likely postpone until this fall. Anything less than $1k would be pretty cool in my book. 4. It's really important for me to be able to pull in and digitize with high quality footage from PAL/NTSC videotapes, as I have lots of archival footage that I need to digitize and index so it's accessible for folks. Peace, D-d0g+~+~+~+~ But this, surely, was the glory that no spirits, canine or human, had ever clearly seen, the light that never was on land or sea, and yet is glimpsed by the quickened mind everywhere. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cajones 0 #7 April 1, 2003 There are several solutions that may meet your needs. If you are just going to encode the captured video and convert it to MPEG to burn on CD's and publish on the web, you can get by pretty cheap (compared to the $1k price point you mentioned). I've used a few of the Dazzle products with very good sucess, and I do know they are compatible with both NTSC and PAL. I believe it was Bodypilot who recently picked up one off of e-bay (from memory, so I may be wrong on who it was). The better models do full frame and resolution (if your computer can think that fast), include some basic editing software (which is very easy to learn/use, include DVD authoring software, and do hardware MPEG encoding. The hardware MPEG encoding can really speed up the work it looks like you want to do. I'd recommend the Dazzle 150 and, if your computers are not equipped (which if they're more than a year old, they probably aren't), put in a USB 2.0 add-on card. Simple and very cost-effective. Edit to add clickies from Best Buy: Dazzle 150 for $150 Siig USB 2.0 5-port card for $40 The laws of physics are strictly enforced. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
