$2,995 Hewlett-Packard 3000 Hanover Street Palo Alto, CA 94304-1185 (888) 999-4747 www.hp.com The term turnkey editing computer is quickly becoming redundant. Many consumer-oriented computers are fully loaded editing systems. Microsoft’s simple editing program MovieMaker now ships with all W

Fifteen years ago this month, Videomaker co-founders Matt and Patrice York watched their hopes and dreams come to fruition. That’s when the first issue of the magazine you now hold in your hands hit the newsstands. Videomaker Magazine was, and still is, dedicated to helping the amateur and en

For most casual shooters, vacations are tops among the big four video subjects (along with birthdays, holidays and family outings). For many makers of home video, heavy planning is strictly for the pros ("Sheest! Who am I, National Geographic?"). So here are ten zero-prep tips for better

T2000 MEGA Pack 3.0 with Adobe Premiere 6.0 $999 Matrox Electronic Systems Ltd. 1055 Saint Regis Blvd. Dorval, Quebec, Canada H9P 2T4 (514) 685-2630 www.matrox.com/video With digital camcorders shooting off the techno conveyer belt and new editing software versions chugging into the fray at a ste

Tripp Lite SmartPro 700 USB UPS $199 Tripp Lite Worldwide 1111 W. 35th St. Chicago IL 60609 (773) 869-1111 www.tripplite.com From limbs brought down by storms onto electrical wires to rolling blackouts, there are many good reasons to consider investing in an Uninterruptible Power Source (UPS) for

Want to add a jolt of excitement to your videos? Want to zap your project with humorous and unforgettable scenes? Consider using your computer to create an electrical effect that occurs at just the right moment. With this effect you can make faulty outlets and switches spark, lightning strike anywh

Alienware Corp. 13458 S.W. 131 Street Miami, FL. 33186 800 494-3382 $4,400 www.alienware.com The people at Alienware (of award winning ultra-game system fame) have put their talents toward a turnkey video editing workstation, or more correctly, have added video capture and editing to its family of

You’ve created the perfect video, great lighting, clean audio and beautiful editing. But be careful. All your hard work can be overshadowed if you are not careful with your titles. Titles, also called CGs (short for character generator), are the words you see on the screen. But adding titles

There are lots of camcorder formats in use today. They come in a myriad of confusing names that all sound alike. If you’ve ever wanted to find out what the differences are between camcorder formats like VHS, S-VHS, VHS-C and S-VHS-C, keep reading. If you’re curious about the distinction

$1,995 Applied Magic, Inc. 5845 Owens Ave. Carlsbad, CA 92008 (760) 931-6417 www.applied-magic.com These are interesting times for home videographerstimes in which it’s possible for consumers to purchase a full-featured hard-disk based, video editing appliance for less than it would cost for

$2,000 Apple 1 Infinite Loop Cupertino, CA 95014 1(800) MY-APPLE www.apple.com A very short time ago, the manufacturers of professional video systems were offering small and very expensive solutions for the editor or video journalist on the go. Let us highlight: "very short time ago," &q

Video storage products, like many of today’s electronic media, can take many forms: they can be tapes, (both analog and digital), CDs, DVDs, hard drives or even stacks of hard drives working together. The two most common types of video recording products, however, are the video cassette recor

Computer editing has become extremely popular. It provides flexible and powerful editing that lets anyone with an artistic eye create professional-quality video. You can undo, redo, add scenes, delete transitions, change titles and create nearly anything you can imagine, almost instantaneously. And

Video architectures, standards and codecs like Windows Media, QuickTime and MPEG make it possible to view video on your computer. You click a file name or link and the system takes care of the details. Whether or not you understand the inner workings of the various formats and compression schemes y

Many of today’s eye-popping visual effects have their roots in special effects crafts that go back almost to the beginning of movies. Digital set creation where entire landscapes, cityscapes and backgrounds are produced on the computer is merely the latest incarnation of the traditional mat

When lines formed around the block in 1979 for a new flick called Star Wars, it wasn’t due to the films’ unique script. Even with all those great characters like Princess Leia, Chewbacca and Darth Vader, audiences flocked to the mega-hit for another reason altogether: the groundbreakin

$499 Ulead Systems, Inc. 970 West 190th St. Suite 520 Torrance, CA 90502 (310) 523-9393 www.ulead.com Ulead’s MediaStudio Pro 6.0 is the latest incarnation of their popular editing software. While it is sometimes overshadowed by its main competitor (Adobe Premiere), there are many satisfied

I’ve always been enthralled by magic. The ability to make people believe they are seeing things that aren’t really there is a magnificent skill. If you think about it, though, with creative use of your sound track, you too can become a master illusionist in your video projects. With

Price as tested: $4,800 Starter Kit: $1,575 Play Inc. (800) 306-PLAY www.play.com Traditionally, when you want to create a chromakey effect it’s a much-involved and tricky affair. You’ll need a backdrop or wall that’s painted one solid color, usually blue or green, and you’l

$1,995 Boris FX, Inc. 381 Congress 3rd floor Boston, MA 02210 (888) 77-BORIS www.borisfx.com As computer-based editing continues to explode, a whole host of editing add-on and plug-in software is also gaining in power and popularity. Boris FX, Inc. recently launched a new version of Boris Red, a br