Chapter 2. Equipping Yourself for Moviemaking
In This Chapter
Choosing a computer that can handle Adobe Premiere Elements
Comparing video cameras
Selecting Blu-Ray drives and other hardware
If you want to make great movies today, there are two things you absolutely need: A camcorder and a computer. A good camcorder helps you shoot high-quality video footage, and a computer helps you turn that footage into a movie worth watching. And when you're done making your movie, you'll also need your computer to share the movie on DVD or the Internet.
When I wrote the first edition of this book a few years ago, making camcorder recommendations was easy: My best recommendation was a digital camcorder using MiniDV tapes. The hard part came when it was time to recommend a computer, because back then a lot of PCs still couldn't handle video editing.
Today the situation is reversed. Video-friendly PCs are cheap and widely available, but selecting the right camcorder can be a confusing task. Do you need standard- or high-def video resolution? Should you choose a camera that records to tape, DVD, flash memory, or a hard drive? What are all these crazy technical terms like AVCHD and IEEE-1394, and why should you care?
This chapter guides you through the daunting process of selecting a good camcorder. I also help you pick a good computer for video work (some choices are still better than others), and I show you some other useful things like USB hard drives and Blu-Ray disc burners.
Choosing a Computer for ...
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