What are the minimum computer requirements to work with Canon's digital video cameras?

Canon does not specify minimum system requirements for working with its digital video cameras. There are too many variables involved which are completely independent of the video camera that you are using.

If you are going to process and edit digital video files, the important specifications are the minimum requirements of the operating system that you are using, the minimum requirements of the software that you are using, and the minimum requirements for the video capture card that you are using, if it was installed separately.

Canon has opted to use IEEE 1394 (firewire) technology for transfer of digital video files for all of its digital video camcorders, because it was 20-30 times faster than any other technology that existed at the time that Canon brought out its first digital video cameras. Firewire is still among the fastest of communications technologies for computers. The size of the files involved also require a lot of 'resources' from the computer processing and editing those files.

When considering what minimum capabilities you would like your computer to have, look at the processor speed, the RAM (working memory), and available hard drive space (storage memory). The higher the processor speed, the more efficiently your system will run -- consider 1 GHz as a minimum, especially if you are editing your digital video files. For RAM requirements, a good rule of thumb is to double the minimum requirements for the operating system you are using. For Windows Me (minimum requirements 32 MB) have at least 64 MB of RAM; for Windows XP (minimum requirements 128 MB) have 256 MB of RAM. In addition to video files using a lot of hard drive space for storage, video editing programs will probably require additional hard drive space while processing these files -- up to 2 or 3 times the space needed just to store the files. Have a hard drive with plenty of free space. (Once you have completed processing/editing a file, consider saving it to a CDROM to free up hard drive space.)