[palmberg]

I'm in the market for a new DV camera. I'm looking at the Canon Optura 20. I have *NO* experience with digital video at all, so my questions are going to be pretty basic.

I'm getting married later this summer, and I anticipate the vast majority of my footage is going to be run-of-the-mill reception stuff, then later on kids, vacations, etc. Nothing fancy. I'll want to share the footage with relatives and friends, hopefully in some format like a DVD/VCD or something.

I have a 900MHz iBook with a combo drive and 640MB RAM running 10.2.6. I'm told that I'm SOL if I want to use iDVD with an external DVDRW drive, so I guess I'm relegated to making VCD discs(?). In a nutshell, I suppose my question is: What am I going to need to get my footage off the Canon, edited, and onto a disc? I'm looking at a freeware app called VCD Builder, but I'm nut sure what to do with the video between the time it comes off the camera and it goes onto the disc. What would *you* do? Thanks!

[TheBum]

Originally posted by palmberg:
I'm in the market for a new DV camera. I'm looking at the Canon Optura 20. I have *NO* experience with digital video at all, so my questions are going to be pretty basic.

I'm getting married later this summer, and I anticipate the vast majority of my footage is going to be run-of-the-mill reception stuff, then later on kids, vacations, etc. Nothing fancy. I'll want to share the footage with relatives and friends, hopefully in some format like a DVD/VCD or something.

I have a 900MHz iBook with a combo drive and 640MB RAM running 10.2.6. I'm told that I'm SOL if I want to use iDVD with an external DVDRW drive, so I guess I'm relegated to making VCD discs(?). In a nutshell, I suppose my question is: What am I going to need to get my footage off the Canon, edited, and onto a disc? I'm looking at a freeware app called VCD Builder, but I'm nut sure what to do with the video between the time it comes off the camera and it goes onto the disc. What would *you* do? Thanks!

iMovie and Toast Titanium. Toast includes a QuickTime codec for exporting in VCD format. iMovie can import the video from the camcorder and you can edit it there. You can then export the edited movie using that codec and Toast can import it and burn it onto CD in VCD format. I consider Toast to be a must-have app because it can burn CDs in just about any format imaginable.

[zigzag]

Just one caveat: if you presently have iMovie2, don't upgrade to iMovie3 without saving a copy of iMovie2 first (give it a slightly different name and move it to your desktop or something). Otherwise iMovie3 will overwrite iMovie2.

Although things seem to be improving, iMovie3 is still slower and buggier than iMovie2, and since you aren't using iDVD, you won't miss many of iMove3's extra features, which are oriented towards iDVD.

My advice is that if you're brand new to editing, iMovie2 will be easier to learn on. But iMovie3 does have some nice new features, and some people have had no problems with it, so try it out. Just keep a copy of iMovie2.

Also: SAVE SAVE SAVE. Save as you work, and save a copy before you transfer anything to another program, including iMovie3. There's nothing worse than doing two hours of work and having it disappear with a crash or get corrupted.

Have fun.

[palmberg]

Originally posted by zigzag:
But iMovie3 does have some nice new features, and some people have had no problems with it, so try it out. Just keep a copy of iMovie2.

I'll be doing the editing on my new iBook, which shipped with iMovie 3.0.1, so I guess I'll start with that. I do have a copy of iMovie 2.1.2 on my older iBook, so I'll have that in a pinch.

I can't wait to get started.

[Weezer]

For the record I have had ZERO problems with imovie 3, with around 40+ hours of work with it, using 3.0.2 and 3.0.3