Recording from Digital Camcorder - Video Quality

hi folks,  my experience with video editing is the following , i too like quality on my video , especially when i am going to put in them in  DVD-R OR DVD+R and watch them on a projection tv  . one thing u must keep in mind is when u live record your home videos on any cpu u must use the highest resolution and highest bit rate capture allowed from the software u are using , and keep a close look on your drop frames, now i am not to sure how other softwares work but i am using an out dated software called ULEAD STUDIO 6 DVDSE,  the ULEAD website  has STUDIO 8 out already , u must purchase it , this software allows me to live record my home videos at the dvd(ntsc) standard with a resolution of 720x480 at  9.939 megs per second , and the quality is good , other factors beside this settings can also alter the quality , but about one hour of this can take about 4 gigs of disk space , so u must have a beefy big harddrive, the program then will reproduce the file so it can be smaller by using VBR OR CONSTANT settings and then author it to burn it on a dvd-r, dvd+r. but remember key to quality is the original file ......................i hope i didnt lose any one

Many thanks for your replies guys.  I think I may need to find an 'idiot's guide' somewhere so I can talk about recording digital video on the same level.  For a start, I'm not even sure what a 'capture device' is and whether one came already loaded with my Inspiron.

For the record, I have had the Inspiron 510 for about a month.  The key features are as follows:

80gb hard drive

512 memory

Windows XP Pro

Integrated Intel(R) Extreme Graphics 2 up to 64 MB of shared memory

Dell Media experience softwear

Only softwear on the laptop is that pre loaded by Dell.

I guess my ultimate question is whether I will need to purchase a 'capturing device' and or additional softwear to enable me to record watchable video from my camcorder.

Many thanks.

Mike

PS

If anyone can direct me some real basic 'how to' websites regarding digital video recording - complete with glossary of terms and jargon - it would be very much appreciated.

Hi Mike.  Your machine didn't come with any sort of video capture device, so you will have to get an external video capture device.  For example, I use an AverMedia external USB video capture device to take analog output from my camcorder and put it into my laptop.  Have a look at www.avermedia.com for more examples.  Of course, there are more companies that make such devices, and you can find these by googling "video capture device" USB. 

As far as software goes - well, that one is tricky.   Sometimes nero does the job for me, sometimes Windows Movie Maker does the job, sometimes neoDVD does the job.  Usually there is software that will be with the video capture device that you get. How well that software works is another matter.  Usually you have to play with the frame rate (how many frames per second), display size (640 by 480 pixels, 320 by 240 pixels) and compression (avi, mpeg 2, mpeg 4, divx) to come up with something that is satisfactory for you.  The biggest problem I find is that there is a delay between the audio and visual track.  Some have said that this is due to the fact that the particular capture device that I have relies on a software decoder.  Video capture devices that actually have the hardware decoder/encoder will run better, apparently.  

HI 4 fluke i ran across the same problem with the audio and video.I think if i remember right i had two capturing devices one adaptec and one pinnacle and software for both i had that problem when i used the adaptec capturing device and the pinnacle software they just diddnt work together. I confirmed this because i tried multipul times both worked well when i used the the software that came with each device i preffered the adaptec so i gave the pinnicle device to my sister.  

 Inspiron XPS
3.4 H/T processor
1 gig ram
256 ddr ati 9800
15.4 wide aspect ultra sharp
wuxga(1920x1200) display
Operating system windows xp home
Service pk 2
Logitech MX750 wireless mouse
Nostromo n52 gamepad

Hi mike

Its personal prefrence with the capturing devices and the software.Just like some people like fords some like chevys. Just do a little research and purchase one.The software ussally has a help section that can get you started and they have a lot of fourums if you need a little help thats what i done it seems a little complicated at first but once you get the basic's down and get the settings figuired out it will come together. good luck with it and have fun.   

 Inspiron XPS
3.4 H/T processor
1 gig ram
256 ddr ati 9800
15.4 wide aspect ultra sharp
wuxga(1920x1200) display
Operating system windows xp home
Service pk 2
Logitech MX750 wireless mouse
Nostromo n52 gamepad

Too be honest i never even opened windows movie maker like i mentioned i had both adaptec and pinnacle and i kind of wanted to use both. I like the adaptec but the pinacle has a format that the adaptec dosnt mpeg 1 my sister wanted me to capture a home video for her and edit it and post on a website and no it isnt what your probly thinking she has been playing everquest for years and had some footage of some of the people that game with her at a gathering and wanted to post on the e.q.site. Well any way thats how i found out they diddn't work with each other and thats how i wound up with two capturing devices just gave one to her and i kept one if i ever need to convert somthing to mpeg 1 i know where its at.

Inspiron XPS
3.4 H/T processor
1 gig ram
256 ddr ati 9800
15.4 wide aspect ultra sharp
wuxga(1920x1200) display
Operating system windows xp home
Service pk 2
Logitech MX750 wireless mouse
Nostromo n52 gamepad