I am brand new to the board but not totally new to DV. Years ago I had a company that created a digital VoD server (hardware and software) with patents and sold it to a company named Escient. We were pioneers on delivering high quality digital video over ATM to set top boxes and sold our systems to universities and high-end home theater system. Back then (1999) we had to put $25,000 in a good MPEG-2 encoder... ahhhh.. the good ole' times - !

10 years later I find myself in the high-end video world and need a lot of help to get started. Here is what I'm doing:

I'm going to create short and full-length documentaries focused on people. These docs will be shown on the web as well as BluRay. I'm also going to create 20 to 30 minute show - kind of like Wayne's World... in the basement of one of my employees.

I really want to do this right - some heavy companies will be looking at this who are not used to good video. Also, I'm really into dark lighting - I'm a photographer who shoots a 1Ds MKIII (started with the 1Ds and have bought the new model when they came out). I'm decent at the photography side and hope to use my lighting skills in the video world.

I'd also like to know where to go for the best training on shooting video as well as the software. I assume Premier software with After Effects??

Also will do a lot of traveling with at least one camera / lightboard...

Thanks all for your help!

(BTW - great job on this forum. I have a forum with 130,000+ users and know how tough it is to create a community of this size - great job to the people who started this forum as well as the members who keep it alive.).

Hi Steve -- welcome to DV Info Net.

Big question for you here: PC or Mac?

(so I can move this to the correct forum... this particular board is for acquisition, not editing)

Well... I would like to stay on PCs as long as it is about equal to Macs on the workflow / capabilities.

Sorry on posting in the wrong forum... thought this was the right one.

Also need all of the hardware - (cameras / light / wireless mics...)

It's best to ask your different questions in specific sub-forums, as you're likely to get much better feedback that way. For questions on equipment for lighting, audio, and camera tripods/support, look in the Tools of DV and HD Production (http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/tools-dv-hd-production/) sub-forums. For editing/post-production questions look in the DV / HD Post Production ... and beyond! (http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/dv-hd-post-production-beyond/) sub-forums.

If you will be editing on a PC, you're looking at Avid Media Composer, Adobe CS4 Suite, Sony Vegas Pro, or Canopus Edius. Which one you choose is very subjective so it's best to download the different trial versions and see which one suits you best. Blu-Ray currently has better support in the PC world.