Being the Media-clipping and posting videos How To

So many times people are watching television, and say "Did you just See X?". If you see something that is noteworthy-CLIP IT and POST IT. (Keeping in mind Fair Use and copyright issues)

You have: Tivo/PVR, DVD Recorder or PC TV Card, Windows Movie Maker or Apple IMovie, and a site like http://www.youtube.com/index.php to upload them.

If you have a PVR, you can record the info and then go back to get what you want exactly. When I started clipping early last year, I would record from the PVR to a DVR-RW, take the DVD to my machine and use a program that converted the file type VOB to WMV. Then, I put the file into Windows Movie Maker which comes free with Windows XP and edit it. After editing, of course, uploading the video to a website.

Since then, I've gotten a TV/PC card-a cable runs from the television to the PC. I especially like watching Cspan floor speeches, so when I see a floor speech I like I pause the PVR, go back to where I want to start it, which, because the DVR puts this little arrow up, is a little before the content I actually want to get. Then, I turn on the PC/TV capture card by clicking a button that records the content directly to my PC as a WMV, unpause the PVR, and then click the PC capture card option to stop recording to file when it's done. (Alternatively, I could capture directly into Windows Movie Maker via the capture option which uses the device driver for the PC/TV capture card)

Then, because the file created is already in the format I want (WMV), I load it into Window Movie Maker and edit it, which is extremely easy, then save it. (If I wanted to save it as other types as well, I could use conversion software, such as AVS Video Converter, to, say, also save it as an MPEG, AVI, etc).

The last step is to upload it to a website where it can be seen. I happen to have my own website, but noticed, for example, this morning, a website called YouTube that collects videos, looks like a flickr idea- http://www.youtube.com/index.php

On a related note, I do the same thing with movies I have taken with digital cameras. I went down on several days to Sheehan's Camp Casey when it was still roadside and took some videos. My camera records to small DVDs, which I then put into the PC DVD drive, and use converter software (AVS Video Converter) to put it into WMV format, which I then edit. (And of course, with telephones that do video, there's another opportunity).

Bottom line. Quite a few people already have the tools to do video but may not know how easy it is to do.

If you are also one of the video bloggers, and do it another way, post on this.