Newbie Questions on Video Capture

carrspaints wrote on 10/28/2004, 11:07 AM
Hello everyone. Please forgive me for the questions I'm about to ask - I know many of you are all seasoned experts at editing - I'm a complete newbie and am looking for some valuable advice.

Just bought a Canon XM2 (that's a GL2 for my American friends) and am about to set off on a holiday where I intend to use this extensively. On return, I want to create a fantastic DVD of this hol using Sony Vegas. I do not yet have a video capture card. What I do have is:-

1) Canon XM2 Camcorder
2) Stand Alone DVD Recorder
3) Pentium 3, 1Ghz Proc, 80 Gig h/drive, 256MB RAM, DVD writer (Yes, I know it's an old spec computer!!)
4) Sony Vegas 5

Can anyone advise on what type of capture card I should look at buying, cable type etc? Is there a significant difference in quality/speed between one or another? Is there anything else I need to be aware of?

I've started playing around with Sony Vegas using imported AVI files just to get a feel. It certainly seems to be a powerful editing programme but quite complicated as well....or at least lots to learn. I am thinking of buying the Sony Vegas tutorials off VTC - or is there a better alternative?

Any suggestions you guys can offer would be most welcome. Meantime I will continue reading up the threads on this Forum. Thanks in advance.


Comments

Chienworks wrote on 10/28/2004, 11:14 AM
What you need is a very simple and inexpensive firewire (1394 port) card. You an get one with 3 ports and a cable for probably under $30 (USA). Make sure the card is OHCI compliant (almost anything made in the last 3 years will be). The cable most likely will have to be 4 pin (camera end) to 6 pin (computer end). You won't need anything more than that.
carrspaints wrote on 10/28/2004, 11:46 AM
Hi & thanks. I've seen one on eBay that seems to fit your description - a Brand new "4 ports, 1394 PCI card + Firewire cable, OHCI 1.1 comlpiant, 32 bit 33mhz PCI interface" - (I'm using PCI devices) - £10.00 including postage. I

I presume that this will now also allow me to use the camcorder for video conferencing instead of this cheap and nasty Logitech golfball camera goodie I have?

Can't wait to get this installed - thanx for your help.
Chienworks wrote on 10/28/2004, 12:53 PM
Ummm, it will if your videoconferencing software allows "Microsoft DV VCR & Camera" as an input. But then, even Yahoo!'s webcam interface allows this, so you're probably ok.
jdas wrote on 10/28/2004, 4:50 PM
Spot's and Gary's DVD tutorials would be a better choice.