Revision of Importing and Editing Video for Online Sharing from Mon, 10/19/2009 - 1:49pm

The revisions let you track differences between multiple versions of a post.

by Brian Sather, created Oct 13 2009 - 7:32pm, updated Oct 19 2009 - 8:00pm

This guide highlights the main steps of the process for transferring video from a digital video camera to a computer and editing the video.  This guide uses Windows Movie Maker because of its popularity and freeness for use in Windows. The process and concepts are similar for other video editing programs like iMovie, Corel Pinnacle, Adobe Premiere, VirtualDub, and Sony Vegas.

Equipment Needed

There are a variety of cameras available (e.g. MiniDV, flash based, hard drive) and more than one way to get the video on your computer. Read the camera support help to know how to do this with your camera. In most cases, this is the equipment needed:

  • Firewire (a.k.a IEEE 1394) is the needed cable for video transfer from the camera to computer in most cases. Make sure to get an appropriate firewire cable for your camera and port (there are 4-pin and 6-pin options for the ends).
  • Firewire Port: These are distinct looking ports on a computer for either 4- or 6-pin. See the wikipedia entry to see what they look like. If your computer is not equiped with a firewire port, these can be purchased at a relatively low cost. For a laptop, search for a "PCMCIA Firewire Cardbus." For a desktop tower, look for a "IEEE1394 card."
  • Digital Video Camera: A digital video camera with the video in it. Keep in mind that video taken with still picture cameras will be at a reduced frame rate (i.e. something lower than the standard 30 frames per second) and sometimes is difficult to convert due to proprietary formats. The lower frame rate reduces quality and inhibits with sport motion. If possible, use a standard digital video camera.
Capture/Import

The video must first be captured to the hard drive on your computer. Use some type of video editing software to capture/import the video. Below are the steps for using Windows Movie Maker (note: many versions of Windows already have this installed but it not it can be downloaded for free):

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialise correctly.


  • Plug in the firewire to the computer and camera.
  • Turn on the camera and switch it to Play mode (i.e. not the video camera mode).
  • Open Windows Movie Maker
  • Goto File > Capture Video
  • Follow the prompts in the wizard for selecting the camera and naming the file.
  • For the video settings choose Digital Device Format (DV-AVI). It is best to capture in the highest quality possible. Microsoft Video 1 or Microsoft Video Type 2 are usually good formats for importing video from a camera. 
  • Select "Capture Parts of Tape Manually" so that you have control over how much video is imported.
  • In the next box, you will have a camera control where you can rewind the tape and get it to the place you want to start capturing. 
  • Click the "Start Capture" button and then "Stop Capture" later when you are done.
  • It is best to break the video into manageable files. About 5 minutes is recommended. Note the "capture limit" option can force a stop at a predetermined point. 
  • Repeat these steps to bring in more clips from the tape.
  • Now you have the video captured and on the hard drive, ready to edit.

Editing and Exporting

asdf

  • Generally you work with a storyboard or timeline when editing video. You are not editing the video itself, but rather controlling what will be done to it when you choose to export, in which there will be a new file created.
  • You can set in and out points for clips you want to export. 
  • Decide on audio, if it is needed.
  • Choose a file format.