I had installed my card on a standard pentium pro 200 hrtz with 96 megs ram, computer only to find the I was dropping frames when capturing.
This computer crashed and I had to search for a low cost replacement. I found a Pentium Pro 200 -256k - used server for $139 and bought it. On arrival I loaded windows 95, and all of my other programs. Doubtfully I installed the Miro card, and the editing software.
Much to my surprise the card and the program perform flawlessly - with no dropped frames - With much enthusiasm I am in the process of editing my various programs.
The Capture window will open and give you a small - capture viewing window and the control panel.
The unopened control panel - will show you the hard drive useage as a 'pie' and also list the amount
of used and unused hard-drive space. Below this will be a message stating the amount of video you can
capture.
The control panel will click to open on both sides - the left side has video correction settings to improve the video quality, light dark, sharp. color. On the right side it will open to your audio control - volume - and off and on. At the bottom of the control panel is the settings - CD quality - VHS quality - SVHS quality - or Custom settings. I have two gigs of hard-drive space available for capture - at the CD quality setting there is is space for 30 minutes of video -17 min at better,- and 10 at the highest SVHS video setting.
You will see a button 'START CAPTURE', when you click this button a new window will open and you can then click start capture in that window - it will dissapear and the 'START CAPTURE BUTTON' will change to 'STOP CAPTURE' - The process is simple - just be careful and dont capture what you dont need, you will learn to be economical and save hard drive space as you become familiar with the program.
The program will make a new page for each capture and automatically label them in order - video1, video2 - and so on.
EDITING - after capturing the clips you want to use - you will open the edit screen by clicking EDIT at the top of the screen. You will see the timeline at the bottom of the screen - the preview window on the right, and the clips window on the left. the pull down menu will allow you to select the clips (video1 -etc) you wish to edit. You will have to open each page in turn to transfer the clips to your edit screen. As you build the timeline - you can edit the in and out points of each of the clips to make them the exact length you want them.
TRANSITIONS - are found by clicking the tab which looks like a square with a lightning bolt on it. This will open the pages of transitions, by clicking on one - the preview window will show you how the transition will look for you. You click on the transition you want and drag it to the Clip you want and it will snap into place between the clips. These same transitions may be used on the TITLE timeline, A transition at the beginning and end of the title will work interestingly.
AUDIO - you have two audio tracks which you can use - you have a selection of music on the Miro CD and will have various soundeffects in your program - you may also load the audio - music or voice over and place it on you timetrack.
Titles - I am really pleased with this program - You can use any font on your computer - you can resize in any direction, kern, rotate, and apply many different effects to each font. you will find yourself able to make some of the best titles you can dream up.
MAKE MOVIE - The rendering of the movie will be fast of slow depending on your use of transitions and titles - a movie with just video clips will be fast - each transition will increase the amount of time necessary to render.
MASTERING - the movie to video tape will be as simple as clicking play in the preview window. the program will put color bars at the beginning for you. You simply hit record on the VCR and start recording - then hit play on the preview window - you video will play off the computer and onto your tape.
Overall I am very pleased with this program, and feel that it will work for anyone who has a computer capable of the processing.
