Eye on the Market
  New in the Channel
  The Sweet Spot
  This Just In
  Time to Buy

---

  Buying Advisor
  Editors Recommend
  Tech Buying Guides

---

  Archive
  Buying Direct
  Glossary
  Product Finder
  Tech Tips

---

 About the editors

Reviews & Advice Home

Hours and hours of video tape that have captured birthdays, holidays, and special events spend a lot more time taking up shelf space than they do being watched...even when you're the proud parent. But what if you could edit these moments down to the best of the best and produce a five-minute movie that one might actually want to watch? The newest video products on the market make it easy to do and the prices are coming down.

One, two, three
The steps are easy. Plug in your camcorder, VCR, or TV to your PC. Use the software to select the frames. Be creative and add your own special effects. And voilá! You have produced your first movie! The hardest part of the process is determining which video capture device best suits your needs and budget.

Capture and stream
Whether you need straightforward video capture or streaming video for your Web page, you'll find a variety of products with prices that range from $200 to up to $1,000. You'll want a board that provides quality video and is easy to install and use.

But the key differences is found in the bundled software. Look for software that supports a minimum of 320 x 240 resolution at 30 frames per second. Some of the products offer mini or lite versions of Adobe's Photoshop or Premiere software that provide more control over special effects such as contrast, fog and blurring, and touch ups for video stills.

The combo platter
For great video capabilities as well as fast 2D and 3D performance, ATI's 3D Pro Turbo PC2TV and the All-In-Wonder are your best bet. Installation is a breeze with the help of the setup wizards.

The All-In-Wonder offers video capture and a TV tuner that lets you capture closed-caption text strings. The 3D Pro Turbo supports 8MB of RAM, very high resolutions ideal for large monitors and a TV-out jack so you can display your images on your TV screen. And both software bundles come with MechWarrior 2 and Macromedia products.

Not so old, Broadway
Although it's been out for less than a year, Broadway 2.0 from Data Translation has been significantly improved. It supports real-time video capture, which means you can capture and compress the video clip to MPEG-1. It also uses square pixels, which help maintain image accuracy. Hardware and software installation and setup is easy. And it also comes with a video clip library and Microsoft's ActiveMovie for MPEG playback.

Whether you consider yourself a videographer or a novice producer. you'll find video capture devices for all levels and price ranges. Do your research, go and shop, be creative and have some fun.

Janet B. Wright has worked for Ziff-Davis for over five years. Video capture is just what I need to edit down and produce this year's made-for-TV movie, "The life and times of my two-year-old, Alexandra Wright". Although I'm sure she'll just want to do it herself!

Write to Janet B. Wright