Movie clip editing .help

I'm really out of my depth here.
All I want to do is clean up a few clips from my camcorder. Save them so that I can view/email them to friends and relations and eventually make a little movie on DVD that I can show on my TV.

But as soon as I start it all becomes very complicated. The sound doesn't work, or the format I save it to won't run because it needs a different "codec" or the file is one that only seems to work in Windows.

I've looked for help on the web. But the help files all seem to conform perfectly to the First Law of Helpfiles, i.e. The first half of any help file will be given over to stating the blindingly obvious, and the remainder will have nothng but endless references to technical terms that were never defined in the first half.


Terry,

EDIT
i was able to do some work using Windows' Movie maker.
But I wanted something a little bit more sophisticated.
Avidemux did the job well, but wouldn't then play back in Windows. It needed a Codec. Which I was able to track down. But it's no point having a video clip that will only open on my machine. Avidemux doesn't seem to have a helpfile that explains what codecs it needs and if it can save in a format that a generic machine can use.

Another EDIT.
As I find out more, the madder it gets.
It seems that anyone writing a video editor may choose to use any codecs they see fit, irrespective of whether the end user is likely to have the right codecs on their own machine. Or even two different ones;
As the Microsoft site says....
"Note that a file can be compressed by more than one codec. For example, one codec might be used to compress the audio portion of a file and another codec might be used to compress the video portion of a file. If you have the right audio codec installed on your computer but not the right video codec, when you play the file you'll probably be able to hear the sound but you won't be able to see the picture."

And I'm rapidly getting the impression that developers ( maybe it's because I'm using freeware ) don't seem to be too interested in using every day standard codecs. So I, reasonably technically aware, can find and use the right codec to view my own edited home movies. but if I then send it to my relations, they, being among the great majority of non-technical people, stand a very good chance of not being able to see it......

What kind of camcorder have you got. DVD, HDD or Mini DV (or vhs, super 8 for that matter).

If it's any of the first 3, I'd recommend Adobe Premiere Elements 2. It's not the latest version, but of the ones I've got (1, 2 & 3), I find this one the most user friendly and efficient. Because it's not the latest verison, it can usually be found on ebay for fairly cheap prices.

It has many of the features of Premiere Pro, plus the ability to create DVDs for viewing on standalone players as well as computer DVD drives (subject to the computer having DVD player software).

Windows Movie Maker is good as far as it goes, but it is limited. Premiere Elements has loads more features and gives you a lot more control of the whole editing process. It can be used to capture from mini dv camcorders via firewire, and it also supports Mpeg 2, which is I believe the format you get from DVD camcorders. ** If importing Mpeg footage, you may need to render it before it plays properly in the preview monitor with this software.