Thanks to everyone for your information. I work with a Mac and Formac Studio at home, and have found it to work well. I can see that having a good processor and a HUGE hard drive will be the most important.
This project is primarily focusing on preservation, having the final digital video and audio online may be difficult. I know there are streaming servers, etc., but the examples I have seen have 1-10 minute snippets. I may have to put the transcripts online, and only provide a small sample. Has anyone provided the capability for hour long video or audio collections online.
And one more question.. Probably the most difficult. We have stacks of 16mm newsreels. Is there anything out there for easy transfer to video/digital? Maybe a "transfer box?" Thanks so much everyone! David Lynx yakimamemory.org
> I agree with Mike for video, particularly if it's just simple one- or > two-tapes per DVD and you don't need to do sophisticated authoring > (splitting into chapters, adding other multimedia, etc). Mike made a really > key point, too -- spring for a unit with a hard drive. I have a JVC unit > that doesn't have a hard drive and it's less than convenient for making > anything except off-air recordings or straight dubs with no chapter splits > of video tapes. That said, for those straight dubs, it's a client's best > friend because the time is real-time plus 5 minutes setup and disc-closing > per disc. There's a little bit more rig-a-marole with a hard drive unit but > the authoring options are much more robust and you're not at the mercy of > how compatible the media you happen to be using is (this JVC unit is > somewhat picky about DVD-R media and it seems to take until nearly the end > of a dub to decide it can't work with dics it doesn't like). To do really > sophisticated (ie Hollywood-grade) authoring, I think your best bet is to > spring for a decent-horsepower Mac and a decent-horsepower firewire video > capture box and a full-fledged copy of Final Cut Pro. I do not know a more > flexible or easier-to-use video-production program. I personally have a > Windows setup and use Pinnacle Studio but it's a bit of a garbage program > and if I get more video-authoring business to justify the cost, I will > switch to Sony Vegas. > > -- Tom Fine
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