Learn Digital Video Editing

Dalas’ Window Movie Maker tutorial didn’t cover capturing video to your computer, so I’m going to go over that right now. This article assumes you’re using a miniDV camera and capturing video using a firewire connection.

1. Start by plugging your video camera into your computer using the firewire cable.

2. Turn your camera on to VCR mode.

3. A dialog box may pop up that looks like the image below. If you choose OK, Windows Movie Maker will open. If the box doesn’t come up you can open Windows Movie Maker by going to your start menu, choosing All Programs, Accessories, Windows Movie Maker.

4. On the top left you’ll see text that says “Capture from video device”. Click on that text.

5. A box will come up asking you to name your video, and to choose a folder to save it in. I named my file Flowers and saved it in a new folder called Flowers on the hard drive I use for video. Give your video an appropriate name and save location, then click next.

6. Choose your capture settings. This option has a direct impact on the quality of the video you capture. I always edit using full quality, DV-AVI video. It takes up the most storage space on your harddrive, but it provides the best picture and sound. Depending on what you plan to do with your videos, maybe you don’t want to capture at full size. Keep in mind that once you’re done editing, you can always compress the video to make the file size smaller. However, if you edit with low quality video, you can’t convert it to higher quality after.

7. The next option is the capture method. I’m going to capture manually, because I only want to capture about 30 seconds of video that I just shot for this tutorial. If you want to capture your whole tape, choose that option instead. I’m also leaving video preview on, since my computer is good enough to handle it. If you think your computer might be too slow, uncheck the preview box.

8. Before starting this tutorial I queued my tape up to the point where I wanted to begin capturing. If you’re tape isn’t at the point where you want to start capturing, set it there now. You can do this using the controls on your camera, or the DV Camera Controls on the screen. Once you’re at the right point, hit Start Capture to begin capturing. Stop the capture when you are done, or if you want to skip ahead to other points on the tape before you resume capturing. When you’re done hit Finish.

9. That’s it! Your clip should now show up in your collection.