Before you start creating digital videos, you need to check your video camera and computer ports, cables and software to see if you have the resources you'll need. Then you'll need to plan for, practice and film your video. For additional information, check out our Desktop Movies Reference Desk, our Tips for Making Great Videos and 10 Easy Steps to Creating Desktop Movies with iMovie.

Video Cameras: Digital & Analog

Once you've completed filming your video, you'll need a way to prepare it for and load it into your computer so you can edit it and prepare it for posting on a network or the Internet. There are two types of video cameras available today: digital and analog. If you have a digital video camera, the video is already in the digital format your computer needs, but you need to make sure you have a FireWire port on your computer and the appropriate cables to transfer the video from your camera to your computer. If your computer does not have a FireWire port, you can purchase an adapter to transfer the video to your computer.

If your video camera is not a digital model, your camera saves video as an analog signal. Analog signals need to be processed and compressed into digital files to be used on computers. You need to identify what type of ports are on your video camera and your computer and the type of video capture card in your computer or whether you will need to acquire a new cable(s), video capture card and/or adapter (see more information below).

Ports, Plugs and All That

Your video will transfer to your computer through cables connected to ports on your video camera or VCR and your computer. Deciding how to connect cables and what ports to use can be confusing.

FireWire Ports: FireWire is the industry standard for high-speed data connection for digital video, so this is only important if you have a digital camera. To transfer video from a digital camera to a computer with a FireWire port, just put one end of the cable into the FireWire port on the video camera or videotape recorder and the other into computer's FireWire port. The icon for FireWire resembles a "Y." If your computer does not have a FireWire port and you have a digital camera, you can purchase an adapter for your computer.

Audio and Video Ports (sometimes called RCA or radio ports): These are the ports that are often found on televisions, VCRs, computers and DV players. They may be color-coded in red, yellow and white. For these, you'll need cables that have endings for audio and video ports. For better video capture, some teachers recommend the cables with the gold plugs. If you have an analog video camera and a computer with these ports, just connect the cable from the audio and video output ports on your video camera or VCR to the audio and video input ports on the computer.

S Video Ports: Many digital devices also have S Video connections. S Video provides a higher quality resolution than is available through video ports. Remember, however, that S Video is for video, not audio.

Other Ports: We've listed the most common connections, but you may come across others, for example, LTV connections, or some computers may connect to video capture devices through USB, PCI or parallel ports. These devices, such as the Dazzle adapter, then connect to ports on a VCR or video camera. Your best bet is to follow the directions for your cards and devices.

Guidelines for Macintosh

DV Macintosh

Transfer: With an iMac DV or G4 Power Macintosh with DV computer, video from a digital video camera can be transferred with a click of the mouse. Because most digital video cameras come with FireWire ports, transferring video from these cameras is as easy as connecting the FireWire cable to Mac DV computers. If you do not have a digital video camera, your video will need to be changed into digital file format first (see below).

Editing: Apple's iMovie 2, shipped with each DV-ready Mac, is all you will probably need to create near-professional quality videos. For professional editing, look into Final Cut Pro, also available from Apple.

Creating movies with DV Mac computers is so easy that very young students can master it. No longer do you need costly equipment or Hollywood production teams to create movies. The process of producing good video has been simplified and is now a valuable and affordable tool for homes and schools.

Other Macintosh Computers

Capture, Compression, Transfer: If you have a digital video camera and don't have FireWire in your Macintosh computer, you can add a third party capture card to help you with capture, compression and transfer of digital video files. If you have an analog video camera, you will commonly connect it to your computer through RCA ports. You can then transfer the video by opening Apple Video Player or Adobe Premiere.

Editing: For computers that didn't come with iMovie 2 software, check the Apple Web site to see if iMovie 2 will run on your computer. Later model Power Macintosh computers with up-to-date operating systems can also use iMovie 2 software. If your computer is not able to use iMovie for editing, video editing software is also available from Adobe, Avid, Dazzle, etc.

Sharing: Once completed, you can save your Desktop Movie as a QuickTime file which can be shared on your network or the Internet or distributed on a CD-ROM. Note: QuickTime movies created on a Mac can be easily used in presentations and other applications on Windows systems.

Guidelines for PCs

Capture, Compression, and Transfer: It's a bit more complicated to explain how to use a Windows computer for video creation, because there are many different video cards, methods of transfer and adapters available for PC computers, each with its own unique instructions. Combine this with the different types of PC computers and video cameras, and you can see why our advice is always to read the instructions carefully. (If you have created cheat sheets for your Windows computers, please share them with others through the Foundation. Just email them with details on what kind of computer, cards, etc. you are using.)

First of all, you need to determine what types of ports you have on your computer and if your computer has a video capture (import) card installed (not just a video card that allows you to display video on your computer). Find out if there is proprietary software that came with the card or third party software that works with the card. If you don't have an option for video capture, you'll need to purchase a card and/or adapter to allow you to transfer video into your computer.

There a number of providers of video capture and video editing systems and products for Windows-based computers. For example, Dazzle Multimedia offers solutions for both capture and editing, including a hardware adapter that connects to a VCR or video camera and then to a computer through the USB or parallel port. The Dell Dimension XPS computer with Dell's Movie Studio includes the Dazzle adapter and allows users to use digital video camera and analog camera input along with video-editing software. The Sony VAIO PCV-J100 computer includes iLink (FireWire) and home movie editing software.

Editing: Once your video has been transferred and is ready in your computer, you can begin the editing process using video-editing software. Companies such as Adobe, Avid and Dazzle provide software that gives you the tools to create those perfect movies for CDs, presentations, email, VCRs, and web sites.