What You'll Need

What you'll need:



DV Camcorder - You can use your own camera, or check out a camera from Media Services. You will be able to record and play back video on the camera. You can also use the miniDV tape decks in the Social Sciences 1 and Porter Arts labs to play back DV tapes.

Firewire or USB Cable - With a digital video camera you use a cable - either  Firewire or USB - to connect your camera to a computer in order to import video directly into the computer or to an external hard drive for editing in iMovie or Final Cut Pro. Check your camera and manual to see what kind of cable to use.

image of Firewire cable
image of USB cable


External Hard Drive - Before you can edit digital video, you first need to "import" video from a deck or camera – then store the video – either temporarily on a lab computer – or for a longer length of time on an external hard drive. Keep in mind that digital video files take many gigabytes (GB) of disk space, depending on the video file format. Get information about hard drives, and recommended models.

image of hard drive