This answer assumes a Windows PC, although there are also equivalent products for the Mac. To start, you need a video camera. What comes next depends on whether your acquire a digital video or an analogue video camera. Most digital cameras interface with computers via Firewire (IEEE 1394). Both audio and video data can be transferred to and from the camera over Firewire, so you would need to ensure you have a Firewire interface on your computer. Analog cameras output one or two channels of audio, depending on their age (older ones tend to be mono). You will need a two-channel, line-level audio input on your computer. I use an M-Audio Audiophile 2496 (24-bit, 96 kHz) card for audio recording / playback, but there are many other good cards and external converters (USB2 or Firewire) on the market. Analog video cameras output either composite video or s-video. If yours outputs both, use the s-video output, because it is better quality. You will need a video interface in your computer that can handle both composite and s-video. My card was part of a software / hardware package from Pinnacle and provides composite video input/output, s-video input/output, and a bidirectional Firewire port. You may need video recording software for your video interface if the video editing software you obtain does not support video / audio capture from your camera. You will need a decent NLE, Non-Linear Editing, program. There are many such programs on the market, including Pinnacle Studio, which I use, and Adobe Premiere Elements. The NLE editor should also include the ability to author DVDs, which both of these programs do. You can create images for the DVD menu system from captured video frames or any other image source. All you have to do is save them in a format supported by your NLE software. You will need a DVD recorder on your system. The output format is your choice. Studio will, for example, create both single-layer and double-layer DVDs, as well as providing analogue video and audio outputs for recording on a VCR. It also supports video formats such as Real. My DVD burner supports -R/RW and +R/RW disks. You should use either -R or +R, as these are supported by almost every DVD player. You want to have a fairly high-performance system to work on, with a dedicated hard disk for the audio / video recording and editing. I use a dedicated 200 GB disk for audio / video work. Rendering video can take hours, so a system with a fast processor and lots of memory is a significant help. A system with a 2 GHz Pentium 4 and 512 KB RAM would be a reasonable minimum. You will need Windows XP if you want to burn dual-layer DVDs. Otherwise, you should be running Windows 2000 sp4. Most software and hardware is not supported on Windows 9x and an older, slower system will make video editing and rendering painful. ======================================== Re: "Do you know much can I expect this to cost, on the assumption that I'm starting with the basic XP Prof. on a computer." I use Pinnacle Studio v9.3.5, which was bundled with a PCI video card that provided composite video input/output, s-video input/output, and a Firewire port. I already had an M-Audio Audiophile 2496 card in my system for audio recording, so I did not need to buy an analogue video interface with audio support. Studio is a resource hog, but so is any NLE editor. Video recording, editing, and rendering require substantial resources. Don't expect to use the computer for anything else when recording analogue video or rendering video. I run Windows 2000 Professional sp4 on a 2.4HGz P4 system at home. (I have enough hassles with XP Professional at work to want to upgrade my OS at home.) However, Studio 10 only runs on XP, so I cannot use the latest version of the program. - Your system should have a 2GHz Pentium 4 processor or better. The cost will vary, depending on what hardware you currently have and how much you need to replace. - You should also have at least 1GB RAM. If your system has 512MB, you can add another 512MB for under US$100. - XP supports dual-layer DVDs, so you should purchase a dual-layer drive. Expect to spend between US$100 and US$200, depending on what model of drive you buy. The drive should support single- and dual-layer DVD -R/RW and +R/RW formats. Note that you will need a DVD drive to install some of the modules that ship with the Studio software. - You should use a dedicated IDE or SATA hard drive for video recording and rendering. A 250GB drive will cost you about US$125, plus the cost of a cable if required. - Pinnacle offers several Studio hardware/software bundles for under US$200. I prefer to use PCI bus cards, because they usually offer higher performance than external interfaces. The one I bought is now called "Studio 500 PCI". The "Studio 700 PCI" package includes analogue audio support, in addition to video. - Studio itself can be upgraded over the internet or have optional features added after. These run from about US$25 to US$100 each. For example, I upgraded my copy of Studio 9 to Studio 9 Plus, which unlocked a couple of features I wanted to use. Buy only the features you need, because the extras can get expensive.

If it's for home use buy a Mini Mac and DV camera...and away you go! (comes with the movie editing software iMovie) and you can use your existing keyboard, mouse and monitor...Check it on on apple.com

For animations on a computer, use Macro media flash fx 2004. Really easy.

how much skrilla do you want to put out... start with ubuntu for free and realize how much time you really want to waste vs how much is valuable

For a very basic setup I would buy a decent miniDV camera and use either Windows Movie Maker or iMovie (both are free with windows or the Mac OS) if you have a Mac. If you want a little bit more of an advanced set up I would buy a very decent miniDVD camera, a small light kit, a boom mic, and either Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premier.

Depends on what videos you want to make. The minimum requirement these days is a half decent smartphone with a camera like a Samsung Galaxy S4 for filming, and a laptop, either Windows or Mac for editing. Hitfilm 4 Express or DaVinci Resolve are two free non-linear video editors that work on both Windows and Mac. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAPhYKM-PWY

It depends on what kind of video you want to make. If you just need to make a simple video, a cellphone with camera is enough. Then you can use Joyoshare Media Cutter to edit the video. You also can use Adobe PR, AE, but they are profesional and high cost.

Nothing much if you're looking to make Youtube videos or just starting out. Audacity and Filmora9 are good to start. then you can move up to the paid packages as your skill increases