Video Shooting Hardware

I went shopping for some video shooting hardware. I have no equipment before - so I needed everything to start making my simple basic web video. Here is a picture of all the stuff I got!

• A video camera - I got a Canon MV901 that is not expensive and has all the options I need.
• DV cassette tapes - A 6 pack of Sony premium Mini DV 60 minute cassettes.
• Video editing software and a FireWire card - Pinnacle Studio is a fairly popular video editing software and since my PC doesn't have a FireWire card the FireWire 500 PCI card comes in the package.
• Tripod - Necessary to make the camera more stabile. I got a simple one for photo and video from Vivanco.
• FireWire cable - I got Vivanco FireWire cable to connect the camera to the PC. It turns out though that a perfectly good cable comes with the Pinnacle package so I can return it.

I started by trying out the camera. Using it is really simple and straightforward and it seems to work just fine. Putting the tape in is easy and same goes for the battery. The LCD screen is large enough for me and the controls and menu make sense. I am sure I will have no problem learning more as I go. The battery is the same type I use for my old Canon PowerShot S45.

Installing the 500 PCI was also quite simple just like installing any other type of card in an available slot.

Setting up Pinnacle Studio was also just like any other professional installation on my aging Dell Dimension 833 MHz machine running Windows XP.

As soon as I started running the program it got obvious that even with enough memory it is just too slow for this advanced software. Just loading it up took a couple of minutes. When I started the capture process there was only a black soundless image showing in the software - in fact I can now make not hours but minutes upon minutes of totally black screen with no sound!

Reading the manual tells me that minimum speed requirement for the PC is 1.4GHz with more than 2.4GHz recommended.

Further testing of the Pinnacle Studio will have to wait because I have to upgrade my PC or better yet get a new one that can handle the task with ease.