Detailed Description:

This page covers details on how to create video clips on your computer with television recordings that have been previously recorded. This process is rather simple (assuming you are running Windows XP or later, as you will need to have software to help you out, and XP does have Windows Movie Maker already installed which you can use to edit and upload videos to your computer).

First off, there are 2 ways to do this. The first is if you have it recorded on DVR (digital video recorder), you can use one of many software programs to convert the DVD file to an AVI, MPG, or WMV file. There are many software programs that do this, so that process is fairly simple and really doesn't need any explanation, since the software converts it all for you and you really only need to know how to insert a DVD in your computer.

The other way is assuming you have recorded it to a VHS tape recorder. In this case you will need a camcorder to make it easier. Simply connect your camcorder to your VHS recorder and play the tape, and press record on your camcorder to copy the VHS to your camcorder tape. You simply use those red, white, and yellow connections to connect the two. You have seen those wires, they are always in the box whenever you open a DVR, VCR, or camcorder, and this is what those wires are for. Simply connect "video out" on the VCR and "video in" on the camcorder. Its that simple so far, this gets the video on your camcorder tape. There are ways to connect your VHS to the computer, but that is an outdated way of doing it, as your camcorder most likely already has firewire or USB connections, just like your pc would have. If you have an older pc (2001 or earlier), then you may not have the firewire and USB which is pretty much standard on computers, and if you do not have that connection then this page will not help you as I will not cover details on that. Now its even easier, simply plug you video camcorder into the computer with the cord, I would also plug your camcorder into the wall instead of using the battery. Make sure your computer and camcorder are both turned on of course. Now you simply go to Windows Movie Maker (this is on all Windows XP machines or later), click the "Start" button, then click "Programs", then click "Accessories", then click "Entertainment", then click "Windows Movie Maker". If you do not see this listed there, then look under some of the other options under "Accessories", as it should be listed. Of course you can also use other software programs to upload or edit your movies, but Windows Movie Maker is already on your computer and its a very good program for uploading your video clips, and even editing or fading your video clips. On Windows Movie Maker, click File, then click "Capture Video" to begin uploading your video clip. You will see that this is fairly self-explanatory once you get to this point. You should see your camcorder listed after clicking these options, and you can then click it and walk through the steps to upload the video to your computer. I recommend you experiment with the options that will show, as you can change the resolution and frame rates on your videos for better clarity, and adjust the quality and many other settings on your video upload. You can also do various video editing using Windows Movie Maker.

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