I'm an absolute beginner with an old compaq 366, and have now bought a Sony PC5. How do i make mpegs? What moderately priced software do you recommend ? Do I need any hard ware ?

-- STEVEN ATTRIDGE (STEVEN@ATTRIDGE31.FREESERVE.CO.UK), June 16, 2001

Answers

Your compaq is a turtle and you'll need to replace it with, like, a PIII1GHz, 128MB RAM, CD-RW drive, UltraATA100 HDD (>10GB for the system, >40GB for capture/preview), and an OHCI-compliant FireWire card. This last item is what you will pair with your PC5; if you have dough to get the PC5 you will have dough to get what I've recommended. These are entry- to mid-level h/w and are not as expensive as U might think. If U get ADSTech Platinum FireWire Card Premiere6 comes with it and will give U the ability to transfer the contents of your DV tape to HDD; then U need to get TMPgenc, etc. :) :)

-- Mehmet Tekdemir (turk690@yahoo.com), June 18, 2001.