Capture Card; software for newbs: training videos

[Trish Howe]

"My" new XL2 should arrive tomorrow. I purchased what I need for shooting, but I have not picked out a capture card yet, nor software.

At EVSOnline they list this capture card:

http://www.evsonline.com/merchant2/m...ct_Code=107755

However our IT Department suggested the following as our PCs are Dells:

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/c...tegory_id=6175

Does anyone have any advice? Does the PC brand matter, have you seen compatibility issues? Is there one that works better with the Canon XL2 than others? (Do I need anything more than the capture card in the way of hardware?)

Also, I hope this doesn't make anyone choke, but for starting out I was thinking of purchasing something like the $100 Pinnacle Studio Plus until I had it mastered, and because I maxed the budget with the camera, wireless lavalier, tripod, etc. Later in the year I can then decide which bigger software package to budget for next year. Any input?

But I need/want to order the capture card ASAP.

We'll be using the camera for training videos mostly, at this point.

Thanks,

Trish

[Kenneth Massey]

You dont a capture card, just use the firewire card anf attach the camera to your PC using firewire connection

Thanks

Kenneth Massey

[Jarrod Whaley]

Kenneth's right. If your PC doesn't already have a firewire port, you can pick up a card with 3 or 4 ports for about $20 pretty much anywhere that sells computer parts.

As for editing software, I've always heard that Pinnacle's stuff is pretty useless. I recommend Vegas, but it sounds like it's a bit out of your budget range. Try Vegas Movie Studio + DVD. It's $10 cheaper than the Pinnacle solution you mention, and probably 5000% better to work with at the same time. Plus, you should be able to get a cut-rate upgrade price when you move up to the full version of Vegas.

Sony offers a free trial if you want to give it a spin before you buy.

[Tim Bickford]

Like the others have said. If you have firewire you are all set. Just a FYI. I use the Canopus ADVC-100 to convert digital output to Analog to my NTSC monitor. Very handy while working off a NLE timeline. This little baby is great for converting analog (composite or s-video) to digital too. I have found that you cannot capture via firewire from the XL2 and run the ADVC-100 at the same time. Some sort of conflict (windows XP).

A firewire card is going to a lot cheaper than a capture card or external capture device (i.e.Canopus ADVC-100).

Good luck!

Tim

[Trish Howe]

Thanks All, you just saved me a chunk of change! I'll download the Sony trial and give it a spin.

Anything to be aware of on a Firewire card? Compatibility issues, etc.?

Thanks again,

-- Trish

[Jarrod Whaley]

Originally Posted by Trish Howe

Anything to be aware of on a Firewire card? Compatibility issues, etc.?

Nothing that I have ever heard of. You just plug it into a PCI port and boot up. Windows will find a driver. All you'll have to do is plug in and capture.

[Chris Barcellos]

Originally Posted by Jarrod Whaley

As for editing software, I've always heard that Pinnacle's stuff is pretty useless. I recommend Vegas, but it sounds like it's a bit out of your budget range.

Actually, this is spoken by someone who has not used it. I have Vegas Movie Studion, Premiere Pro 2.0 and I have had about every version of Pinnacle Studio products over the years.

Pinnacle Studio is actually very easy to use, and for entry level, it actually has a better Titler than Movie Studio, an "all in one" process from capture to DVD authoring, that again, has a neat interface. It has its limitations, but it really is not a bad program.

[K. Forman]

Most PC's seem to come with a firewire port these days, so check it out before hooking up the dogsled and trotting off to town. You may not even need to buy anything.

[Trish Howe]

Originally Posted by Keith Forman

Most PC's seem to come with a firewire port these days, so check it out before hooking up the dogsled and trotting off to town. You may not even need to buy anything.

Yeah, it's kind of amazing that we don't have it, but I'm in a corporate environment and that doesn't seem to be part of the typical configuration. Looks like I'll have to call the pups out after all...

Trish