iMovie ’08 & iDVD ’08 for Mac OS X: Visual QuickStart Guide

Chapter 1. The Digital Camcorder

Ages ago, my copy of iMovie 1.0 sat neglected on my hard drive for months because I had no easy way to import video footage. I could have used an analog-to-digital converter to bring in the contents of old videotapes (see Chapter 8), but it would have been a hassle. What I needed was a digital camcorder.

Although digital camcorders cost more than analog models, you can get a good quality model these days for less than $400. You can also easily spend $5,000 or more, with plenty of models falling between those ranges.

iMovie ’08 gives you another option: high-definition (HD) digital camcorders that capture video at a much higher resolution. You can get one for around $900 currently, a bargain compared to full-fledged ...