An external video device includes inputs for receiving an audio video signal from a source. The device includes in one enclosure audio and video processor portions configured such that the audio and video processors use a general purpose external bus for coupling electrical signals from the video device to a host computer. In one embodiment, the general purpose external bus is one of an IEEE-1394 bus or a USB bus. The general purpose external bus is used to transmit video from the host computer to the external video encoder and thereby to enhance the encoding efficiency.