Learning Curve....

[Roaldrd2]

Hi,I'm new here...( if the following doesnt make it obvious)....
I have in the past and more recently dabbled in importing video from my camcorder or from DVD's or from a voice recorder, and make frustrating attempts at producing videos on dvd or cd in edited from from video files or straight for that matter...w/o editing the files..understanding the different types of coding/codecs for audio and video...making futile attemps at putting video on a 4 gig sd card for my treo 600...and just overall basically understanding what the heck I'm doing....
I'm wondering if there is a book or manual or web site where I can go to to read and learn and hopefully understand better what the heck it is I'm playing with..
.My background is:I have actually no programming/software experience,although ...I have been servicing computers in the IBM mainframe and midframe industry for 25 years,and have gotten pretty cocky and sometimes downright dangerous with windows (98 on an old laptop and XP pro on my desktop and other laptop) exploring and learning...
Any leads as to how I might educate myself better on this subject short of going to video school would be appreciated....
thanx for reading anyway....Bob D.