Trying to make my film on dvd?

Question

hey, I baught my video camera about a week ago, it uses tapes. I made a little movie using stop animation to see if it would work like I wanted. But I want to upload it in my computer to add sound. So how can I make the tape into cd? I'm wondering if I baught a dvd recorder and hooked my video camera and it up to the same tv, played the tape and recorded it, would that work? if not what are some other ways? Thanks.

sorry if this is in the wrong section too...

Answer 1

Don't freak, you're in the right section :) It would be much easier to go directly to the computer. I'm guessing you have a miniDV camcorder, am I correct? (is it digital? What's the model #?). If so, it's very easy. All you need is a firewire IEEE 1394 cable (sometimes called iLink). If you are editing on a desktop, you'll need a 4 to 6pin firewire, and if you're editing on a laptop, you'll need a 4 to 4pin (Macbooks are 4 to 6pin). You can get them at Best Buy, Circuit City, pretty much anywhere. Just plug the 4pin end into the camcorder, then the other end into the computer. Rewind your tape to the point you want to start it (called queuing the tape). Then turn on the camcorder to "VCR" or "Play" mode. The computer should recognize that the camcorder was connected and display a window that gives you several options. If you don't have a fancy-pants program, you can always use Windows Movie Maker, or iMovie. They're pretty decent and easy to use, but not the best quality.

If its an analog camera like a VHS or 8mm one, you can't capture directly to the comptuer. You have several options:

1) buy a DVD recorder (as you said). However, DVDs are pretty hard to edit. The only program I have found to work is Ulead Video Studio. In Ulead, you can "import from DVD". This creates standard .AVI files you can use in Ulead or the editor of your choice.

2) buy an inexpensive miniDV camcorder connect the camcorders, then do the transfer that way. Then, just follow the steps above to edit miniDV. Canon makes some real cheap models like it's ZR series which is a bit over $100--very cheap in terms of cameras.

Well hope that helps!!!! Best of luck!