This is a common problem where people are buying HD camcorders but their computers don’t have the powerful system resources to work with it. I think it’s like the camcorder manufactures put the cart in front of the horse. What they do to get around that is to include a limited function software program that will barely get you by. It’s also a marketing tool because they usually include a limited edition (LE) program and as soon as you want to so some sort of editing function, you can’t because you need to upgrade.

If you really want to be able to edit HD with lots of fun options, then buy a full-featured consumer grade program like Premiere Elements 8 or Sony Vegas Studio 9. That said, those two do require a system like yours to run. Never look at the minimum system requirements to get you by for HD editing. It requires much more processing and memory, etc than the minimum. The kodak Zi8 records as H.264 (MOV). You won’t know how well your system will work until you start working with HD video files.