Capturing digital footage onto my PC

[Borboski]

Excuse my ineptitude - I have filmed a few minutes footage on a digital camera, and need to put it onto a computer - eventually to burn onto a CD and shows at a hospital.

Can anyone give me the basics of what i need (do i need a tv card? any software? what wires?) as no-one here has any idea!!!

bah humbug etc...

[Borboski]

Let this sink. It is now redundant.

[Alberon]

Let this sink. It is now redundant.

Well, now, that's a red rag to a bull, that is.

[mr rou-rou]

does your Digital VCR have a USB connection to your PC?

if so, try http://www.divx.com/divx/drdivx/ there's a trial available

Have you looked at the manufacturer's webpage?

I've used Dr Divx for some basic encoding and it has a video source function which is what you are after, really, I think it's worth an experiment, it's push button stuff.

[blue jammer]

DrDivx won't capture in Pal though, it's default is NTSC, and I couldn't find any hidden menu's to switch it round!

I ended up capturing in virtual dub*, then encoding with DrDivx.

*massive files - tons [TONS!] of free HDD space required.

[Borboski]

Oh thankyou - much appreciated...

I posted because I had given up, and then some kind fellow from Stockport College got back... i appear to have blagged use of a mixing desk.

That's the public sector for you. All jolly soldiers pulling in the same direction.

It doesn't have a USB port.

In fact I think its a
bag of wank
bought
from
bagofwank.com
with
bagofwank dollars.

[5 Knuckle Shuffle]

If you haven't got USB, then you'll need a firewire card (£10-£15) and cable, which will enable you to capture it to your hard drive via 'Windows Movie Maker' that comes free with Windows XP. Yes, there are much better video editing programmes, such as Vegas Video, Premiere and FCP (Mac), but if you just want the very basics, and it's free, then you may as well use Windows Movie Maker.