Thanks to Apple, complete amateurs can make impressive video productions and share them with friends on DVDs. All that is needed is a digital video camera, a Macintosh computer with a Superdrive (one which will burn DVDs), and the iLife suite of applications which normally come with Macs, and of course, a bit of good taste and discretion. This I know from actual experience, and I’ll try to share how it can be done.

In February of 2003, monks from Atma Jyoti Ashram, a small Hindu monastery in Southern California, went on a pilgrimage to India, visiting holy places throughout the country. Being lovers of India, we wished to record outstanding events from out journey so we could share them with friends and relive them ourselves through our videos and photos. We took over twenty hours of video in our two month sojourn, and when we returned, we faced the task of editing the footage to make viewing more manageable.

We had a 1 Ghz iMac and iMovie-Apple’s entry level movie editing application-so we proceeded to hook our Mini-DV camera up to the Mac with a fire-wire cable and import footage using iMovie’s import feature. There was a lot of footage that was either poorly filmed, too long, or uninteresting in retrospect. That still left lots of film to work with. We began by getting an overview of what was available, and putting together a mental picture of the story we wanted to tell with the video. Then, by placing bits of video in the “timeline” of clips, the story we wanted to tell began to take shape.

To learn the best way to make a video that did not have the hallmarks of amateurism, a search on Google yielded gobs of tutorials, tips, and techniques for using iMovie, and video editing in general.

When the clips were arranged to our satisfaction in the timeline, we proceeded to add audio and music (using iTunes-iMovie is well integrated with this and other iLife applications) to supplement the audio on the clips so as to make for more continuity. Then we added transitions (which iMovie provides in abundance) between clips to give the video a more polished look. Then came the titles, subtitles, and effects, which began to turn what started as a mess of random footage into a cohesive, semi-professional looking (O.K., at least not totally amateurish) bit of video. Then came the agonizing step of taking an objective look at the end results and pruning out footage to make it more succinct, then tweaking features to give it the final finished look.

After creating a few short features of this sort, we then used iDvd to create an accomplished looking DVD. iDvd makes it easy by supplying quite an array of professional looking Themes, or allowing you to modify and edit existing Themes, or create your own. We then imported the final video featurettes into the desired Theme, and proceeded to burn our DVD. Earlier versions of iDvd were a bit buggy in the burning process, but have improved in later releases.

Those wishing more options for video editing and DVD burning can use Apple’s mid and pro level applications, Final Cut Express and Final Cut Pro and DVD Studio Pro.

The end result surprised us and those we showed it to. So our pleasant experience has solidified us as Mac addicts, though we needed no convincing as to the usefulness of Apple’s products.

Being a recent convert to Apple, I have become in recent months an evangelist of sorts. I have been trying to convince family and friends to buy an Apple Powerbook or Mac and to drop their windows dependency. In this time I have come across the same three or so excuses that are preventing them from buying a Mac.

Not Knowing

The first is not really an excuse so much as it is being uninformed. People imagine Apple computers being some foreign thing, akin to the first Tandy computers that first came out. What’s funny is that these same people all have ipods, iphones, and download music from itunes. When I tell them “you know, that ipod that you like so much is made by the same people that build Macs”, a light bulb immediately turns on and I’ll usually get a response like, “I never really thought of it that way.” I’m shocked by this response, because it shows the clear disconnect some people have with the new Apple products versus, what Apple used to be known for which is quality computers.

Corporate America

The second biggest issue preventing users from making the switch to Apple, is their work. Most all corporate America uses Windows as their operating system. So really, everyone has been trained in a way to use Windows and in turn it has become the Wal-Mart of operating systems. I try and tell them, look there is a Target store over here that has nicer stuff, less clutter, and less of a wait in line (problems) and its called Macintosh.

Price

Now we get to the real nitty gritty of why most users won’t switch, the price. It’s true that Apple for the longest time had some shockingly high prices for their computers, but I explain that has changed a lot with the recent shift in direction of the company. My recommendation is to buy a second hand or used Apple computer to get your feet wet. That way if you don’t like it at least you didn’t spend the full price on one. But I still haven’t met one person who turns around on a Mac. Once you go Mac, you never go back.

That’s because on TV and in newspapers, I wrote primarily about personal computers running the Windows operating system.

Then, prodded by reader e-maii, I decided to try a Macintosh computer for a review.

It rocked my world and turned PC Mike to Mac Mike.

Now in full disclosure, I should tell you that, for professional reasons as a technology columnist, I still have to sometimes use PCs. And NBC-TV segments that I do still sometimes call me “PC Mike.”

But in my personal computing life, it’s all Mac… pretty much all the time.

As I look back on those four years, I can identify 10 overwhelmingly positive experiences have kept me strongly in the Mac fold:

#1 No spam -There is no better spam filter than Spam Sieve. It’s a Mac-only product and it catches 98 percent of my junk mail.

#2 No worms or viruses – None. Zip. Zero. Not a single one in four years now.

#3 No adware/spyware – Same thing. These are non-issues on my Macs.

#4 No crashes – It just doesn’t happen with OS X. I had one crash in December 2002, but I was running OS 9 at the time and it was a very old program (from 1994-ish) and I was curious to see if it worked. It didn’t.

#5 Total integration – Apple’s iSync application keeps my calendar, address book, Web bookmarks and to-do list automatically and flawlessly synchronized on my desktop and laptops. And it backs it all up on my .Mac account, meaning I can access it from any computer with a Net connection.

#6 iTunes and the iPod – Need I say more? Granted, these also work with Windows. But on Macs, they work the best.

#7 Total freedom – Airport Express lets me set up a wi-fi network anywhere I want in seconds and it extends my wireless network at home as I need it. This summer, I’m using it up out back by the pool. I take it on business trips and vacation, instantly setting up wi-fi in hotel rooms and condos.

#8 Mac software – I mentioned SpamSieve and iTunes. But then there’s other special Mac apps like the RSS-reader NetNewsWire, GarageBand, Safari and Final Cut Pro. I can not imagine computing without these apps.

#9 Compatability – I realize this is a PC world. So I use Microsoft’s Office for the Mac. Truthfully, it’s been my experience that it works better than Office for Windows. And Entourage makes Outlook look like a poor cousin. I use Word all the time and there are no issues with my PC-using pals. Same with Excel. Quicken comes for the Mac. So does QuickBooks. Then there’s the MacBook Pro. Blazingly fast. I have Windows running via Boot Camp on one of thhem. Truthfully, other than the novelty of having Windows run on a Mac, I don’t know why I installed it. But it’s there if I need it. Which I haven’t.

#10 Community – When I was all PC, I used to laugh at the Mac zealots. Now that I am one, I understand why they love their computers. I never heard a Windows user say that. The Mac community is for the large part caring, supportive, creative and amazingly well-informed. That’s not to say that Windows people aren’t the same. But I’ve never felt as connected to an affinity group as closely as I am to my fellow Macheads.