News10 is designed to make sharing your videos with friends and family as easy as possible. You probably have the tools to make a video already, even if you don't have a camcorder. Web cams, digital cameras, and even cell phones often have video recording features—many digital cameras even have a simple switch to choose between stills and video, something like this:

So take a look at what you already have—you may be surprised! Most of these devices record in either the .AVI, .MPG or Quicktime formats, all of which News10 supports, and the video shot with them can be uploaded after being copied to your computer.

Digital and Analog Camcorders

If you already have a digital camcorder (one that captures in Digital8, MiniDV, HDV, or any of the DVD formats), then you're ready to start shooting your masterpiece. Your camcorder will need some kind of direct connection to your computer, either to the USB or FireWire ports or by inserting the DVD you've recorded. Once you've downloaded the video from the camera, you can upload it to News10 or bring it into an editing program to play with it some more.

If you have an analog camcorder (one that uses VHS, VHS-C, SVHS-C, 8mm, or Hi8 tape), you can still get your videos onto News10.net. It will require an extra step and some additional equipment, though, since these camcorders are not usually equipped with computer connections. You will need to digitize the video with a converter box, which will convert the analog signal from the camcorder to a digital signal that the computer can understand. After the video has been digitized, you can manipulate it further or upload it.

Editing and Improving Your Videos

If you want to be a bit more hands-on with your video, most new computers come with basic video-editing software installed (like Apple's iMovie or Windows MovieMaker). Once you have copied the video from your phone, camera, or camcorder to your computer, you can bring the video into these programs. Most allow you to not only edit the video, but add effects, titles, and music to make your video look and sound more interesting.

Uploading Your Videos to News10

Once you're happy with your final result, you'll need to save the video in a format that News10 can accept in order to upload. Unless you're a professional video producer, we recommend that you save your videos as either QuickTime .MOV, Windows .AVI, or .MPG files— these are the most common formats and they work well within our system. We specifically recommend the MPEG4 format at 320x240 resolution with MP3 audio. Resizing your video to these specifications before uploading will help your clips look better on News10.

What video file formats can I upload?

How do I edit my video?