Microsoft Windows Movie Maker 2: Visual Quickstart Guide

Tuning the Incoming Video Signal

Because DV video is digitized by the camera, video capture is a simple file transfer from camera to computer. In contrast, analog capture involves an analog-to-digital conversion, which is something like a negotiation between two parties speaking a common language with slightly different accents.

This is how it works. The analog camera outputs an analog signal that it perceives as representing reality, adjusting the brightness, color, and contrast accordingly. Then, using factory preset values, the analog capture card looks for and captures a signal that it perceives as representing reality. Seldom do the two realities match.

This is a long way of saying that if you're going to capture analog video, most of the ...