Super New & Needing Direction

[Ri_77]

Hi All,

This is my first post here, so be gentle with me please. I'm an artist who thought it'd be fun to video my art and create vlogs for my art blog. My husband bought me a refurbished JVC Everio HM300 for our anniversary. I tested it on my dog's walk in the yard and with a time lapse video of me painting. I quickly realized it's not THAT easy to just take extremely crisp and clear HD video and upload to YouTube. Before I started my research I thought my camera was broken. So, a quick Google search brought me to this forum. I read the FAQ which said I needed to upload to my computer (Macbook Pro) using Firewire. Great! My Mac is Firewire ready! But wait, the camera is not. Hmm...Back to square one. More research and I soon realize what was happening was called interlacing. Okay, so I need to find out how to DeInterlace? More research and I find where the DeInterlace button is in iMovie 09. Okay, that's better, but I'm still not sure we're there quite yet. I'm realizing there is a mountain of information to learn about this video stuff and I've not even made it up the mole hill. So, my questions to you all are...

1. Are there settings on the camera, in iMovie, or in iVI that I should know about or avoid?

2. Does anyone have good links to share with a newbie to begin to understand the video jargon?

3. Does anyone have opinions on the camera I have? I'm considering taking it back for a different one while I still can. I need to keep the price at $300 or less and I would like Time Lapse and at least 20x Optical Zoom.

4. Should I be using different software?

5. Are there certain things I should know about different formats?

I know there's more I wanted to ask the pros, but that's all I can come up with at the moment. Please keep in mind that I'm extremely new to all of this and I may need you to talk to me like I'm 8 in the beginning. Thanks in advance. I apologize if I'm asking too much at once or missing the obvious.

~Rischa

[Camera Jan]

Hello Rischa,
iMovie '08 and '09 can't handle interlaced material. It just throws half of the lines away. I read that on the internet. Maybe you should read Pond's Place: HD interlaced workflow with iLife '08 and/or http://www.davidglover.org/2009/03/c...imovie-09.html (currently under maintenance). Maybe the all new FCP X has not that problem, while it claims to be professional. I use Final Cut Pro 6, which handles about every format, just like FCP 7. FCP 7 will be discontinued however, and many professionals hate that. They consider FCPX as a kind of iMovie De Luxe. Maybe they are right. I am planning to switch to Adobe Premiere Pro, which looks a lot like FCP 6 or 7. I make a lot of Multicam edits, which is not possible with this first version of FCPX. That's a terrible mistake of Apple. When you use only one camera at the time, maybe FCPX is something for you. Further I recommend you to become member of a movieclub, if there is one in your town. I learned a lot there. Of course there is a lot to be found on the internet. Goodluck with your movies, greetings from Holland. Jan de Bloois Is videofilmen je hobby? Kijk hier! (Dutch only, sorry). (use Google Translate)