Age has taken its toll and I am desperately trying to remember the name of this device. But go to Office Max or whatever is the office store in your neighborhood. For about forty bucks–a one time expense–you can buy this wedge shaped device (Grrrrr…what is the NAME of this thingy…..????) Veena, ask your husband because he will know what this thing is called. Argghh! It’s got a funny brand name…

It has standard video input jack for standard RCA and/or S video and/or standard RF outputs at one end of the device. The other end is a USB cable output. The device may or may not also be available with Fire-Wire if you are an APPLE person.

You plug your video camera–even an old fashioned black and white VHS camera as big as a boot shoebox–into this device. It acts as a compiler and creates a digital video file in your computer. You can use this to convert old wedding videos and 1980’s era VHS tapes to video. Once you have a digital video clip on your computer, you can edit it with Windows Movie Maker. The camera store charging you 25 bucks a pop is probably using a similar device.

One caution about Windows Movie Maker is that is doesn’t support every type of video type file. If you buy a new camera, try to look on the box and and see what type file it saves as and if this file is supported by whatever movie editor you have. I have a FLIP. it comes with it’s own junky editor–but saves as DOT WMV files, which work OK inWindows Movie Maker.

ROXIO CREATOR is the software that supports virtually every video file type known to man (and woman)! It will cost you 79.95–but I’ve seen it on sale at Target for 49.95. It has many bells and whistles and allows you to do crazy stuff with music and sound to your pole dancing.

You said something interesting in your post–that your cam uses mini-tapes. Are they Digital? Examine the camera closely. If they are digital, and not analog, you might not need to do a conversion. Look for a USB output port underneath or on the side of the cam. It might be covered with a tiny black rubber flap to keep water/moisture out. If it is a digital cam, you might be able to plug it in to your USB port. If so, a flash driven computer program will auto-start in your Run menu and might pull the videos into your computer on its own.

I’m out in the field tomorrow–I’ll get the name of this converter thing and PM you!

Joel