Hi, I just want to say that I've been reading these forums for a long time and I finally decided to register a name. My question for everyone is: What's the abosolutely easiest video capturing software for Windows that you've used? What I'm trying to do is this: Capture video from a mini-DV camcorder, convert it into .avi format, add a beginning and end 'splash' video to the converted video. Is there a single program that does this with ease? I've used iMovie and I liked the simplicity. Is there something comparable to that? iMovie/iDVD literally rewinded my DV tape, captured, encoded, and burned to a DVD in one click of a button. Any suggestions/help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone.
Roxio and nero software are two popular program suites, but there are many others out there. When you capture, from that miniDV tape camcorder, you should be connected to your computer, using a firewire cable, and you should be capturing as an .avi file. You shouldn't be capturing as a compressed .mpeg file. Editing video files can be time consuming, and it isn't always easy. It all depends what you want your end result to be.
I've never used Nero or Roxio for capturing, never thought of them for that purpose. I might have to check them out. Does Nero or Roxio allow you to do video editing easily? Like I said, I just want to transfer from a DV tape, convert that to an editable format, and then add a custom 'splash' vid at the beginning and the end of the video. Thanks.
Ok, after talking to some people, they also suggested Adobe Premiere Elements. They said there's a little more of a learning curve with that program but it's more powerful and yields better quality. What are your thoughts on this program?
There is a learning curve on all of those software programs. I use Roxio, for the most part, and from what posts I have read about Adobe, the quality isn't any better. I don't know that for sure, because I could not justify the cost of Adobe, so I haven't tried it.
If you capture from miniDV using a Firewire connection (which is the best way), it does not matter at all which capture program you use as long as you capture as DV-AVI. One of the most reliable and simple ones is WinDV which is freeware. DV-AVI is also the best format for editing, so you don't need to do any conversion. For editing, the choicesa re enormous. You mention Adobe Premiere Elements. That is one of the most versatile programs there is, but it will be way beyond what you need if you only want to add trailers and credits. If that is the only thing you want to do: you can use Moviemaker; simple and free. When you are doen editing, you have to get it to a DVD, for which you need a DVD authoring program. Nero can do it, but personally I am not very impresssed by the encoding quality. But if you already own Nero, you can do the things that you want to do without any extra investments.
Thanks for the responses so far. Is there a difference between capturing the video with WinDV or Windows Movie Maker?
No, not as long as you capture in DV-AVI. Check this: http://www.digitalvideoclub.com/tutorials/moviemakermistakes.php
I was referring to the quality of encoding, in my post. You are correct about the quality not being different, if captured via firewire.
