For those of us that have been shooting video of our family and friends for some time now, we most likely have our video footage on an analog tape such as VHS, VHS-C or Hi8. This footage is probably uncut and may even have a couple of seconds focused on your feet. To avoid boring your friends and family to tears (although they wouldn't tell you that), it's time to move onto digital video. Get your home videos into your computer and start editing!

There are many ways to get your video into your computer and then it's digital video all the way! The one common necessity for getting any video into your computer is to have software that will capture and manage your video. Often this is the same software that you will use to edit your video as well as convert it to different file formats for specific sharing purposes.

Some great Ulead software that is designed for capturing and editing video is VideoStudio and MediaStudio Pro. If you want to put your video onto DVDs or Video CDs, then check out DVD MovieFactory.

Once you land on a solution to get your analog video into your computer, that same solution will work for ALL of your analog content, even if it is on different tape formats.

So, here's some ways to get your analog video into your computer:

Using a DV or D8 Camcorder
Your DV or D8 camcorder can act as a converting device to change your video from analog to digital even before it gets to your computer. Just hook up your VCR or analog camcorder to your input plugs in your DV camcorder. Most often you will use RCA cables. Then hook up your Firewire cable from your DV camcorder and plug the other end into your 1394 (Firewire) port in your computer. Start your video capture software and you may need to hit Play on your VCR.

Using a Video Converter Device
This solution acts very much like the DV camcorder scenario above. The only difference is that this device is dedicated to converting analog video to digital video. If you're in the market for such a device, make sure it can output video just like it can input video. Some don't do both. Also make sure that it can be used with your video capture/editing software.

Using Analog Capture Cards
There are many hardware cards that either can be installed into your computer, or connected to existing ports on the back of your computer. These devices convert your video to digital formats of varying size and quality. (NOTE: DV video, such as that from a DV camcorder, is only one type of digital video.) You should talk to your computer store representative to find the best device for your needs. You can best determine your needs by deciding where you want your video to end up after you have captured and edited it. Do you want it to go to the web, back to your camcorder, to VHS tape, to DVD/VCD discs or to simply play on your computer?