Digital video

The process of digital capture, editing, and archiving video has become an important aspect of documenting arthroscopic surgery. Recording the arthroscopic findings before and after surgery is an essential part of the patient's medical record. The hardware and software has become more reasonable to purchase, but the learning curve to master the software is steep. Digital video is captured at the time of arthroscopy to a hard disk, and written to a CD at the end of the operative procedure. The process of obtaining video of open procedures is more complex. Outside video of the procedure is recorded on digital tape with a digital video camera. The camera must be plugged into a computer to capture the video on the hard disk. Adobe Premiere software is used to edit the video and render the finished video to the hard drive. This finished video is burned onto a CD. We outline the choice of computer hardware and software for the manipulation of digital video. The techniques of backup and archiving the completed projects and riles also are outlined. The uses of digital video for education and the formats that can be used in PowerPoint presentations are discussed.