Chapter 8: External Capture Cards
Dazzle DVC 90
≈$69.00 @ Newegg
Connection Type: USB 2.0
Features:
Dazzle DVC90 connects to a Hi-Speed USB port, which ensures the highest quality transfer of videos onto your PC from any camcorder, VCR or DVD player equipped with analogue output connectors. Dazzle DVC90 comes with Pinnacle Studio? QuickStart movie making software, whose intuitive interface makes it the ideal application to get started in video editing.
Hardware Specifications:
* External Hi-Speed USB video capture device
Inputs:
* Composite video input (RCA connector)
* S-Video input (mini-DIN connector)
* Stereo audio input (2 x RCA connectors)
Dazzle DVC 150
≈$116.50 @ Newegg
Connection Type: USB 2.0
Features:
Hi-Speed USB 2.0 Interface for Best Video Quality
The DVC 150 has a Hi-Speed USB 2.0 interface to the computer. This interface is about 40 times as fast as a USB 1.1 interface which means that if your computer supports USB 2.0, you can get almost 25% higher video quality. Don't have a USB 2.0 port on your computer yet? Don't worry, the DVC 150 will work on your USB 1.1 port and you will be ready for the future if you decide to upgrade your computer to USB 2.0.
Capture Full Resolution DVD Quality Video
Connect your Camcorder, VCR or TV to the Dazzle ? DVC 150 to capture DVD quality video source to your PC. The DVC 150 captures in full 720 x 480 DVD resolution.
DVD Encoder Chip Saves Hard Disk Space
The DCS 150 has a DVD encoder chip inside which automatically converts video in real time into DVD quality video. This shrinks the video to ? its original size saving hard disk space.
Output to VCR and TV
The DVC 150 has built-in analog video outputs connectors. This allows you to output your edited video back to a VCR. You can also connect a TV and use it as a video preview monitor for more precise video editing.
ATI TV Wonder USB
≈$85.00 @ Newegg
Connection Type: USB 2.0
Features:
Capture more video and still images in MPEG-2 format than ever before using the same amount of disk space*.
Zoom-in, pan or freeze video action.
Adequate quality at an inexpensive price.
Essentially the same as the PCI version.
ADS Tech DVD Express 2.0
≈$85.99 @ Amazon.com
Connection Type: USB 2.0
Features:
DVD XPress is the fastest and easiest way to get Hollywood quality video into your computer so you can burn to disk or publish on to the Internet.
Now you can capture video into MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 (VCD, SVCD or DVD) at up to 720 x 480 (720 x 576 PAL) from any analog or digital source. DVD XPress is the fastest and simplest way to get movies from video tape to a high quality VCD, SVCD or DVD disk. Capture video in the Easy to use Capture Wizard application or Video Studio 7 SE DVD and then ?Create Disk? to burn your movies on to CD or DVD disk.
If you want to do more than straight archiving to disk, DVD XPress includes video editing with an integrate DVD Authoring tool that allow you to get very creative. Use Video Studio 7SE to add transitions, video filters, video overlay, fast or slow motion effects, and animated titles, back ground music and then Author your DVD disk.
DVD XPress utilizes the latest in video conversion and filtering technology to reduce noise on old VHS tapes to produce the highest quality video, DVD XPress also offers exclusive ?Audio-Lock? technology to provide perfect lip synch all the way through the capture, edit and disk burning process.
USB 2.0 connection to the PC, backward compatible to USB 1.1
Capture audio and video via the USB port with ?Audio-Lock? technology for perfect lip synch
Use temporal and spatial video pre-processing filters to help reduce noise on old VHS tapes or TV signals.
Supports MPEG 1 Layer 2 compressed and LPCM Audio
Capture from any analog video source in MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 video formats including VCD, SVCD and DVD formats via RCA (Composite) or S-VHS video inputs.
Capture DVD (MPEG-2) at video bit rates from 1 Mb/sec. up to 15 Mb/sec. (up to 4 Mb/sec. for USB 1.1 connections)
Capture using Constant or Variable bit rates and other custom settings.
Features a 9 bit video digitizer with 2x oversampling and 4 line comb filter Brightness, Contrast, Chroma, Saturation and Hue controls
Use Video Studio 7 SE DVD to capture and then burn to disk in quick, simple steps.
ADS Technology Pyro A/V Converter
≈$129.95 @ B&H
Connection Type: IEEE-1394 (Firewire)
Features:
The ultimate tool for capturing and converting video into professional quality DV format and just as valuable for exporting edited DV content to analog video tape recorders.
The missing link in DV Video
Capturing DV from a Digital camcorder is fantastic, but what about all of the video content you have in other formats (8mm, beta, VHS, DVD), how do you get that content into the DV format? PYRO A/V link solves the problem by converting any analog video source into DV.
Capture, Edit, Export
With PYRO A/V link you can capture from any video source, including DV camcorders. Mix and match your video content to create a truly unique video production. Edit the video with Video Studio 6 SE DVD and add video filters, transition effects, video overlays, narration, background music and more. When your video production is a wrap, export to any VCR or VTR, save as MPEG-2 and burn a DVD or publish to the Internet.
Features:
External FireWire/1394 device
Converts analog (RCA, S-VHS or Component Video) to DV video format
Export DV Video to analog video tape recorders (RCA, S-VHS)
Convert between devices (from DV to Analog or Analog to DV) without using a computer
Capture from DV camcorder with full device control
Edit with powerful editing software
Create VCD, SVCD, DVD disks
DataVideo DAC-100
≈$178.00 @ Harmony
Connection Type: IEEE-1394 (Firewire)
Features:
Selectable video standard: NTSC (525 lines /60Hz), PAL (625 lines /50Hz).
Inputs: DV, Y/C, Composite
Outputs: DV, Y/C, Composite
Two 6-pin FireWire (iLink) I/O ports, Available in
NTSC 4:1:1 or PAL 4:2:0 DV25 format
(25Mbps data transfer rate)
Selectable Video level, at 0 IRE or 7.5 IRE
Video Comb Filter for High Quality Video
Video input source auto-detection
Audio Sampling Rate:Selectable 32KHz (12-bit) or 48 KHz (16-bit) for unbalanced audio.
Audio Decoding Rate:Selectable 32KHz, 44.1KHz or 48KHz DV audio decoding
FormatsV (iLink), Digital 8, Video 8, Hi8, VHS, S-VHS, VHS-C and S-VHS-C, U-Matic, etc.
Computers
owerMac, iMac, Windows 98/ME/2000 and XP
Canopus ADVC-100
≈$266.00 @ DV Warehouse
Connection Type: IEEE-1394 (Firewire)
Features:
Convert your S-VHS, Hi8 and 8mm analog tapes to DV in one simple step using the ADVC-100. The converted DV streams are transferred to your PC or Mac via IEEE 1394 (i.Link, FireWire) and stored on your hard drive where they can be manipulated using your favorite photo or video editing applications. This device is ideal for all OHCI and DV-only capture cards for Macintosh or PC.
Proven DV CODEC Technology
At the heart of ADVC100 is Canopus's proprietary DV codec chip providing the industry's best picture quality preservation during analog-to-DV and DV-to-analog conversion.
Locked Audio Support
Other converters can lose audio/video sync when converting longer segments of video. The ADVC-100 is the first inexpensive DV converter that supports locked audio when converting from analog to digital, assuring perfect audio and video synchronization.
> High Quality (original hardware design, co-developed with NEC
> Custom hardware Codec chip (original Canopus algorithm)
> Locked Audio Support (capture long clips w/perfect audio sync)
> Analog output of NTSC color bars for reference signal)
> 4-pin DV jack on front; 6-pin FireWire jack on back
> Analog input connector on front
> Analog output connector on back
Part III: Capture/Editing Programs
Chapter 9: Windows Movie Maker
Acquisition: Free. WMM. *Also comes with Windows XP. Windows only.
Windows Movie Maker is a simple and moderately versatile program especially useful for beginning editors. It allows you to capture from your device and edit with speed adjustments, transitions, titles and effects. Exporting formats tend to be primarily .wmv, which greatly restricts versatility. For a more detailed critique and general tutorial of the program, read this article: WMM Review.
Chapter 10: iMovie
Acquisition: Free. iMovie. *Also comes with Mac OSX. Mac only.
iMovie is essentially the Macintosh counterpart for Windows Movie Maker. It is well suited to beginning editors as it provides a simple interface for capturing, editing, and applying transitions, titles, and effects. It supports a wide variety of export formats. For a review article by PC Magazine, follow this link: iMovie Review
Chapter 11: Ulead VideoStudio/MediaStudio
Acquisition (VideoStudio): $45.00 *Free trial available. VideoStudio. Windows only.
Acquisition (MediaStudio): $179.00 *Free trial available. MediaStudio. Windows only.
Ulead offers affordable entrance into the realm of advanced digital editing. VideoStudio is a simple to learn program, similar to WMM and iMovie, which follows a clear template to assist you in producing your video. MediaStudio builds on its lesser counterpart with advanced, professional features and far more customizable settings. If you've heard of the famous Quake III frag highlight video "Annihilation", it might interest you to know that it was produced using MediaStudio. For a detailed review of VideoStudio, check out this article by PC Magazine: VideoStudio Review. For a review of MediaStudio, check out this article: MediaStudio Review.
Chapter 12: Adobe Premiere
Acquisition: $849.00 Premiere Pro 2.0. Windows and Macintosh.
Adobe Premiere Pro is one of the staple editing programs. It comes at a high price however, so you may be interested in a less expensive editing program by Adobe, such as Premiere Elements. If so, be sure to explore Adobe's site at
www.adobe.com.
If you are interested in Premiere Pro 2.0, then you're looking at one of the best editing programs available. It can do basically anything you would like in terms of video editing. For a more detailed view of the program, read the following article: Premiere Pro 2.0.
Chapter 13: Sony Vegas
Acquisition: $449.96 Vegas 6.0. Windows only.
Vegas by Sony is another leading video editing program. Similar to Adobe programs, Vegas performs a variety of professional functions to create flawless videos. Many of the latest "montages" as well as highly acclaimed Quake III videos are produced, at least partially, on Vegas. For more information on this program, I'll provide you with two articles: Vegas 6, I and Vegas 6, II.
Chapter 14: Avid
Acquisition: $450.00+ Avid Editing Programs. Windows and Macintosh.
Avid provides a variety of editing programs, such as Liquid and Liquid Pro. Although these are not commonly used among recreational video producers, they are very good for editing and constructing any digital video. For a review on Avid XPress Pro, go here: XPress Pro Review. For one of many available guides on the internet, go here: Avid help.
Chapter 15: Final Cut Pro
Acquisition: $1299.00 Final Cut Pro 5. Macintosh only.
This is one of the premiere editing programs on the market. It can do virtually anything you would like to do in terms of video production. You do need a Macintosh to run this program, however. If you'd like a more detailed view of this program, check out the following article: FCP 5.
Chapter 16: Supplemental Programs
So you have your editing program, but you are unsatisfied with some of the capabilities it offers or you'd like a more specialized program for specific tasks. Well, you should consider using a program specifically designed to the task. Briefly described below will be an assortment of such programs.
3D Maya: Academy Award? winning Maya software lets you create engaging digital imagery, 3D animation and visual effects.
3Ds Max: Highly customizable and scalable 3D animation, modeling and rendering solution for creative professionals and large-scale pipelines.
Discreet Smoke: Integrated editing and finishing system for SD, HD, 2K film and above.
Sound Forge 8: A powerful program for customizing and editing audio.
Adobe After Effects: Advanced graphics editing and compositing particularly for digital video.
Adobe Photoshop: A premiere photo finishing and digital imaging program to further supplement video editing effects.
Part IV: Editing
Chapter 17: Tips for a Better Video, by own-age
The following was posted by own-age on the own-age forums. This was not written by me, I am merely providing the information for people here. own-age covers the fundamental guidelines for making an exceptional video.
"First off, All the things I will state are suggestions for a better video, I am not saying following any/all of these steps will make your video get the #1 spot for downloads or favorites.. but can help in the replayability of your video as well as push you away from some of the abusive things some new editors do.
1. Get some opinions in about your video while your editing it. This always helped me, ask a few good friends(be sure to give em credit in the video if they help you) to review what you've done so far and give you some good feedback about it. I've found a lot of my good effects come out of a revision of the video because of a friend telling me it just didn't fit the bill yet.
2. Less is more, when editing don't try to use as many transitions as the editor has. Most of the "better" videos rarly use transitions in the first place, and even if they do use a transition, its usually just your standard crossfade (1 video sequence blends into another video sequence, can also be known as cross disolve or just desolve).
3. Watch your transitions, With most track editors, they have ab transition style editing. That is track a transitions into track b or vice versa. A lot of times when you insert a transition, it may not know which track you want to start with and witch track to end with. So be sure to double check all your transitions because having your nice sequence on track a all of a sudden switch to track b, then transition slowly to track a again ruins the point of having the transition in the first place.
4. Before creating your footage (your game shots or whatever it is your creating) try to create a more detailed config that shows off the better qualities of your game. Your gaming config is not interesting to other people, most poeple want to see a quality video config over a person's brightened, no detail config.
5. Choose music that flows well with your content. Although this is mostly a personal preference with the music bit. You should always listen to your music a bit, and see how well it flows with your content.
6. Find ways to make your music in sync with your content. By doing this, you can produce a better rush or feel to your video. If your not sure on how to sync your music up, just simply try to match up highlight moments on high points of the music, maybe an explosion when a clash or high part of the song hits.
7. Choose your content wisely. Most of the time, longer videos seem to get bad reviews because the content isn't very fun to watch. Remember that your video should be "highlights" or the best of whatever it is your trying to show. Showing the same thing over and over sept maybe in another direction or whatnot gets boring pretty quick (for example some tricking videos 3 different guys doing the same trick but just because they are different guys.. they are put in there again and again) around 70% of the viewers on own-age.com prefer content over editing, so this means you should go for the harder tricks.. or the more impressive frags, and leave the not so good ones to the side.
8. Editing takes time, setting deadlines puts more pressure on yourself. Bottom line: a deadline can ruin a video. A lot of the time while I'm editing I want to just finish it and say I'm done with it, but the more quality work you put into the video.. the better the video will be overall. I've learned to go through a video once, and just sync up shots with the music, then watch it again and see if there's any way I can tweek this or that.
9. Video effects or filter use should serve a purpose, Your effects shouldn't just boom start unless you are syncing it with a paticular part in the music for a more moving effect. I often see in videos people just throwing in random filters like a ripple effect, or another effect in just because the effect is there, and it almost always destracts the viewer... they won't be watching the video.. they will just start looking for other destracting effects. Like I said before, less is more in most situations.
10. Avoide including inside humor in videos, By inside humor I mean humor that only a few guys would know. Maybe you got nicknames or something you say to your clanmates or gaming buddies that you all think is funny, but the average person would be like "WTF is going on?"
11. Compression is key. When creating the final video for distribution, be sure to use proper compression so that you don't waste bandwidth, and also so you show off your video the best possible for the filesize. You can find out more about compression here:
http://www.own-age.com/forum/thread.aspx?id=5883&page=1
12. With the above link in mind I say this as well: Your final product can only be as good as your footage. No wonder codec can produce a high quality avi, if your content footage is crappy looking to begin with. If you have the hard drive space, Render it in uncompressed avi.. even uncompressed avi at 16 bit color doesn't take up TOO much space, and it will produce a very VERY nice output when making your final product, and really give your viewers something to look at.
13. This kinda goes along with the previous tip above, It has been my experience that along with content, how the maps (or backgrounds) look is crucial for a better video.. If your final product shows vivid colors.. it will make it more appealing to the eye. I personally will watch a video more if its not all bland shots or the same background through out the entire video (like all dm17 shots for quake videos) Which also leads to something else, Spice up your maps on your videos, Go for the shots on other maps besides dm6 for quake or other overplayed maps in other games.
14. Don't forget that you can always create different copies of your final video.. you don't have to create a first copy then delete everything off your hard drives and screw yourself over (which believe it or not, a lot of people do). Which brings me to another point, before you delete everything off your computer, Create a very high quality version of the finished product for yourself, most likely you will thank yourself in the future.
15. It helps to know what music you are using before you start going through your footage. Most of the time when I'm selecting my music, I try to picture shots going along with the music. Then I start looking into the footage and seeing if I can find shots that are similar to what I had in my head. Of course you have to be reasonable with what kind of footage your looking for.. but most of the time this is where I figure out what special effects and whatnot to use for the video.
16. Avoid making a long video. What is a long video? well the average adult's attention span is 15 minutes. That may help you a little, Usually a long video is a sign of poor selection of content, there are exceptions to what I'm saying but generally, when your video pushes past the 15 minute mark, you really need to overlook your content and make sure you think everyone would think that this footage would be appealing. if not, maybe consider cutting it down to just the best of for your video.
17. To help shorten your video, Get to the point with your video. The greatest thing about a video is the fact that you can cut out the bull****. Don't show a sequence where the guy misses 5 times before he makes a shot. Just show him shooting the rocket, and a little gibs and move on to the next scene. This can cut down the length of your video by a lot and give your video a more intense feel.
18. If you get burned out on editing, Take a break, Don't continue to edit while being frustrated, its not going to help anything. Good videos take a lot of time and patience and like I said before, editing just takes time, Nobody likes a rush job on a video. To kinda put things in perspective.. I edited AnnihilatioN for about 40 hours a week for about 4 or 5 weeks. At the end I started getting burned out and I put a deadline on the video which caused me to rush it a tad more and I ended up staying up late one night till about 4 am.. and sleeping for 2 hours just so I could get the video out a day later then my deadline date. After I made that video I was TOTALLY burned out on editing, I didn't even wanna do anything with editing for awhile, it almost became a hatred, But soon enough, I just avoided it for awhile and it came back and all is good again. Overall I was happy with the video and the feedback it was getting, but in the end, I wish I would of avoided setting the deadline, took a break for a few days, and worked on it a bit more to really polish up stuff.
19. Try new things. Avoid trying to follow other movies. Everyone wants to see something new. So don't follow your favorite frag video's technique. Weither it be by using the same songs, the same effects, or the same style of editing. Their video worked then because it was fresh and new. If you try to follow it, people will just become bored with your video. Not to mention you'll get some pretty nasty comments stating you tried to copy so and so's video"
