Bigger Macs come with the iLife suite. iMovie HD is for editing video material and iDVD is for authoring DVDs (assembling materials, assigning menus, etc).
It’s dead easy to use, and the included menus are really sharp looking. Very professional.
I would imagine iLife comes on the mini too.
Also included with iLife is iTunes (for music library management), iPhoto (for digital photo management & projects), and iWeb (for making websites). All the iLife products play VERY well together and are all integrated.
Is Garage Band part of iLife or it’s own app?
To get your video into the Mac for editing & authoring you’ll need a video capture card. Not sure is the mini has one or takes one. Check Apple’s specs.
All Macs, including the mini, come with iLife… GarageBand is part of the suite.
If your camcorder doesn’t have firewire, then you’ll need a USB or FireWire capturing device. There’s tons for Windows, fewer for Macs. The only ones I know for sure work with a Mac are the Elgato ones, like this one:
Once captured, you can edit the video in the aforementioned iLife suite. It’s easy to take all your old videos and make them really nice… although it would be easier if your camcorder had FireWire.
Does your DV camera have a port on it that looks like THIS?
If so, then you can capture video directly into iMovie by using a firewire cable that goes from a 4-pin to the large 6-pin firewire port on the back of the Mini. Maybe one came with your camera? If not, this cable is available at most computer/electronic stores.
You’ll love iMovie and iDVD, btw. Comes with the Mini.
Actually, if that is what I need…the maybe I can borrow one from somebody that does have that. I just need to play back my digital 8 tapes. We have a strong expat community here with a message board for just these types of situations.
