Creating Video & DVDs
I don’t know what happened as I posted this (at least I thought) a while back when we were doing the module activity on creating videos & DVDs (Diabetes DVD activity). So I will repost my thoughts – although it is from memory at this point!?
My experience on a mac…
Right around the time we did scenario as a class we had a Pro-D opportunity at our school to learn how to use iMovie on the new Mac laptops at my school. The two colleagues that presented should us the basics that we would need to create a short movie. The editing software built into this application made it so simple to “grab” slices of the movie, edit and create. We were told to leave the meeting room and go shoot 5 minutes of video. “My Team” did something silly just so we would have something to work with. After filming we returned to edit our movies as a collective group. It was so straight forward that I got most done while the presenters were giving us tips. We were able to add text, graphics and songs to our creations. They demonstrated using basketball footage they had shot of our senior team. I immediately thought that this would work wonderfully for the wrestling team that I coach. I could either video tape moves for teaching purposes, record matches for analysis, etc. It was a relatively quick process as downloading the movie to the computer was done quickly (and not in real time). Converting the movie to a DVD was as simple as “clicking” a button.
Now I should preface all of this by saying that the cameras we shot the videos with are the newer HD cameras that use a memory card rather than tape. In fact the cameras had a built in USB connection that allowed me to plug the camera directly into the laptop.
My experience using a PC…
It sucked!!!! I have a personal video camera that uses tape as its storage device. It is not what you would call an ancient camera but technology has come so far lately that this camera is obsolete (in my opinion). Unfortunately for me the videos of my kids first years were all made on this camera. It is quite the ordeal to convert video to a DVD. First, I have to download the video into a movie editing software on my PC. There I can edit the movie but not nearly as easily or user friendly as the mac. Once I am satisfied, I have to then upload back into my camera. There I have to download it back to my DVD creating software so I can convert it to a DVD. Now I know there are probably better and easier ways using a PC but I am not about to go out and purchase software. The part that really hurts… every time I upload/download it is done in real time. So if I have 45 minutes worth of video it takes 45 minutes to transfer to or form the PC/Camera – total drag!
Long reflection short… I have DVDs of my first child while my second child’s first months/years of life are still on the tapes (hope I can still find them). I think it would probably just be better if I took them to someone to do for me because the process was so involved that I don’t want to do it again! The mac on the other hand…
These have been my thoughts and experiences (again)
~ Ryan