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Hi heter,
I just bought my first camcorder about a month ago. What I did to get familiar with what is out there was to just "Google" for camcorders. I ended up getting a JVC from Sears of all places. It was a return so I got it for half price which was what I found a new one selling for on-line.
You will probably want to look for a Mini DV camera, just make sure your computer has a Firewire or IEE1394 port that you can plug the camera into. Thats how the DV is transferred. Don't forget to get the cable, a battery and some videocassettes for your camera.
If you have Windows XP then you should have Windows Movie Maker software installed. This is a pretty good program for learning basic video editing and adding audio.
The special effects don't include any blaster effects but once you get WMM figured out you can move up to DVD Lab, etc. The programs needed for good special effects are going to cost more than your camera.
Once you complete the editing process you will want to turn the movie into a DVD. There are a few different ways to get there, depending on what programs you are using to edit with.
For example, I may capture the DV .avi from my camera with WMM, output the resulting .avi files into Cucusoft's .avi to DVD converter which converts and demuxes them into .m2a and .mpa. These are just what I need for DVD Lab where I add a menu. I then let DVD Lab convert it to a DVD-Video compliant VIDEO_TS folder and then burn this to a disc or put it on my hard drive for later use.
You can make a VCD with just Windows Movie Maker so you can keep it simple if you like.
Cheers,
Frank
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 3. May 2004 @ 06:38
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