Question of the Month? What is the difference between a miniDV tape and a DVD? Mini DV: MiniDV cameras use miniDV tapes. These tapes are smaller and usually hold about 60 minutes of video. MiniDV cameras record all images digitally - metaphorically as a series of 1's and 0's. Most cameras that record digitally can then be attached to a desktop or laptop computer for "digitizing". This process first entails connecting the camera to the computer using a Firewire, IEEE1394 or iLink cable. Software can then be launched that will give instructions to the camera to play, stop, pause, fast forward and rewind. During the time of playing the software is able to save the images on the video screen to the hard drive. A lot of coaches will use Movie Maker on a Windows PC running Microsoft XP. MovieMaker is a free program that comes with Microsoft Windows XP. Coaches using a Macintosh by Apple will want to use iMovie. iMovie is also free and is a feature rich program that has many free, unique features. Apple calls the necessary cable Firewire, Sony calls it iLink and computer geeks call it IEEE1394. In any case you will want to purchase it from you local computer store. Be warned - they are not cheap. And also be warned that most of these cables come with either 6 pin and/or 4 pin connectors. Most cameras need a 4 pin connector while most computers need a 6 pin connector. Make sure you purchase a cable with the correct connectors. These cables are usually a little more than $20.00. There is one HUGE benefit of recording digitally. When images are recorded digitally the camera also records the EXACT time and day of the recording. It records the date and time every 1/30th of a second. This allows software like Apple's iMovie and Microsoft's MovieMaker to sense when one scene ends and another begins. In football we talk about it in terms of when a play ends and another begins. In basketball, soccer and other action sports we talk about it in terms of stoppage of play. In gymnastics it would be one trial and in tennis and volleyball it would be one point. in any case we call these individual elements of your film, CLIPS. The word clip originated when most coaches used either 8 or 16 mm film and actually cut the film into "clips". These clips were then physically spliced together into film studies for player and coach review. Once your game film has been digitized (Remember: A digital camera, using digital tape can be connected to a computer - and the computer using a software program can connect to the camera and copy the digital images off the video tape and into the computer) you should have several options. Most free or inexpensive software will allow you to add transitions between clips and even add your own text. We will call this new edited video a film study. This film study can be played right from your computer in full screen for all to see or you should be able to use one of the four options listed below: Option 1 Make a new digital video. Using your Firewire cable send your edited video back to your miniDV camera and record it on a NEW digital tape. Using your new recording you could then connect your miniDV camera to a television or video projector and show your film study in 100% digital quality. Or, you could attach your miniDV camera to a VHS VCR and record to your film study to VHS tape. The quality of this film study will be very good. Option 2 Create a VHS tape using mirroring. Use your computer's ability to "mirror" the image on its screen to another device. Some laptops come with a breakout cable that will allow you to connect your computer to a VCR or video projector. Many desktop computers will include an actual RCA port for a mirrored video image or offer to sell you a video adapter. The process is a simple one at that point. After connecting your computer to a VHS VCR set your video editing software to full screen and play your film study - just as though you had every one of your players or coaches huddled around. Make sure that you have a few seconds of black at the beginning and end of each film study so you have time to press the record button on your VCR. We like to call this procedure "quick and dirty" as it is the quickest way to record your film study to VHS tape - but the product is not of the highest quality. The video is very adequate - great to use for instructional purposes, but probably not good enough for a highlight film. Option 3 Make a DVD using bundled software. This may require additional hardware. Any Macintosh with an internal Superdrive usually comes bundled with iDVD - an easy to use program to make DVD's. iMovie interfaces directly with iDVD - allowing you to easily makes "chapters" or "scenes". The process by which digital film studies become DVDs is called "rendering". This usually takes at least twice as long as the amount of raw video on the DVD. After making your first however, additional copies are produced rather quickly. Option 4 Make a DVD using the digital film created above in option #1. This option requires one of the new, standalone Digital Video Recorders that has a IE1394 port for data input. Attach your MiniDV camera to the DVR via your Firewire/IE1394 cable. Follow the steps provided by the DVR manufacture and create a new DVD. This does require an extra step, option 1.