I bought a Panasonic SDR-H40P SD/HD video camera about 4.5 years ago. Since then, I've updated my computer twice, but always used the old XP computer when downloading the videos from the camera to the computer. Well, that computer is no longer with us...it died a horrible death.

The VideoCam suite 1.0 that came with the camera won't run on the Windows 7 or 8 platforms (I have computers with both).

What is available? Panasonic doesn't have 1.0 that works with 7 (My 8 was loaded over 7, so if it works with 7, it should work with 8). However...The one they have for 7 has multiple downloads instead of being able to download it with a single click of a button. Since I don't trust having to use multiple downloads, what should I do?

Is there a better, free program that would allow me to edit my video? I have 3 concerts that I need to edit that my daughter's choir was in, and I want to put them to DVD for the few family members that want it.

Thanks.

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Have you tried Windows Movie Maker? It was installed (bundled) on my computer and works very well with my older Cannon

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I've been looking at a new machine lately to upgrade this five year old desktop and I find that Win7 Professional and Ultimate have a feature called "Virtual XP". It allows Win7 to run any program that originally ran on XP. You simply call up "XP" and get an "XP environment" and run the old program.

Have no experience with it, but it does sound quite interesting.

If you get it, please post if it actually works.

Setting up a virtual machine or "VM" in a Windows 7 machine is a little bit of a chore but there are scads of tutorials on it.

I’ve not seen an application that runs under XP that won’t run in a VM that uses XP.

What's your experience with Win7 32 bit machines? Can they run all the XP applications, and older versions of Office without "VM"?

I might just find a 32 bit machine if this is the situation.

Win 7 incorporated a number of changes that don’t get along with older applications. But you can run a XP VM under 32 bit win 7. I did this one time for someone about 2 years ago and she still uses it.

FWIW I bought a Dell laptop with a 17” form factor running Win 7 pro x64 a couple of years ago. Paid about $800 and it has been a very suitable portable workstation.

The thing to do with Dell is to price a platform on their web site, and then save a print preview as a PDF or similar. After that call Dell sales and ask if they can offer a better price. Get their email and send the item you saved. Unless the offer at their web site is a bottom product or at a giveaway price, they typically will beat the web site price.

PS: I don’t recommend going with 32 bit architecture at this point. It’s a dead product and very few support it plus there is 0 future.

The added cost for an x64 is trivial and helps to insure that it will get along with stuff in the coming years.

Thanks. My only thought about x32 was to support the older applications, however, it appears that the problem is Win7, and not necessarily the x64 architecture.

I'll try that approach with Dell. They incrementally add to the machine until a desktop without a monitor is close to $1K. That's ridiculous, IMHO. I should be able to get a decent desktop for $700 or so.

Correct.

Depends on what your needs are. If you’re not going to do much by way of CAD, Photoshop or any similar tools then you can live happily with a less expensive machine. Get lots of RAM, you will not regret it.

As an aside, you would be amaized by the power needed to quickly do current generation video rendering from CAD.

Also check out Costco and I think Sam’s Club as they often have computers by Dell and others that are less expensive than those sold by Dell directly.

I priced the Optiplex 790 with Intel core I3-2120 with 4GB and 250GB 3.5" drive with integrated video.........without monitor..........3 year premium support.

Price comes in at $615. (with $408 instant savings).

Thoughts?

The platform is fine but go with 16 GB of ram. You won’t regret it but will regret it if you don’t.

Ram is essentially the lubricant that helps the computer run smoothly. You can buy suitable RAM after market at lower cost, but this is not a place to skimp. Also be sure that the video adapter supports a resolution that gets along with your monitor.

This machine runs a bit slowly with 2GB. Are the new apps and Win7 so demanding that I need to step up by 8X? I don't have any heavy graphics work. The most I need is to display large .pdf files or solid works virtual models.

Would 8GB be "skimping"...........seriously?

8 GB is probably very livable. It’s infinitely better than 4. With 4 GB the computer will swap content to the drive endlessly. This process is how an otherwise good computer appears to be crap. With 8 GB the computer will be able to execute a lot of the OS and some applications from RAM, once loaded.

Have you confirmed that there isn't a 1.0 that's supposed to work with Windows 7? Were you looking at the one on this page?

With 8GB...........it still must swap...........????

I'm sure I don't quite grasp how much RAM is needed to eliminate all swaps to the HD. It would appear that this machine, using about 1.5GB of RAM, wouldn't swap at all (with 2GB of memory), but I'm positive you're correct and the relative speed of the machine is compromised severely by the swapping.

In your proposed example you will run the Windows 7 OS and use it at least for running the Windows XP os. All by itself, that guarantees most of your 8 GB of RAM will be occupied before you open any applications.

Add to this that by design Windows will try to preserve as much RAM as it can and you’ll find that 8 GB will be not quite what you’re hoping for. 16 GB will do all the above plus leave elbow room for instances of many widely used applications.