Video to DVD

Dummy

I have loads of home movies, birthdays, holidays etc.

How do I convert these to DVD? What hardware and software do I need?

chopster

You know the easiest way would be to buy a standalone dvd recorder these days and just record directly from video rather than going down the pc route as it can be messy and take a lot of time. Especially now that you can pick up really cheap recorders these days. Just my 2c worth.

Lump

Yea, probably best to do as chopster said. You can do some crude, but simple editing on the DVD recorders and it is the quickest easiest method. Pop over to the Editing board if you're looking for something more comprehensive. I can do it for you, at a price, I'm based in london, but am the cheapest transfer service you're likely to find in England or Ireland.

John

Boro

If you still want to do it the PC way then pop over to http://www.videohelp.com/
Lots of guides there.

Basically, you would need a video input such as a TV card would have or go the more professional route and get a dedicated Video Capture card or device. Then you record the video input to mpeg, use a dvd authoring program and burn to dvd.

As the lads said, a standalone DVD recorder would be easier, especially if you have lots to do. And its also a really nifty gadget.

Dummy

Thanks everyone.

I'll drop into Powercity on the way home some evening and check these recorders out. Sounds like a good idea as the video camera is being used more and more these days with baby's first steps etc.

I imagine it is best to burn the entire tape onto DVD and then edit the DVD on a PC. Can anyone suggest good editing software.

Lump, thanks for the offer but I have loads of tapes that need to be transferred and would like to have the capability to do this at home.

Thanks everyone.

Lump

If you are going to edit on the PC, I would advise getting a capture card and doing it that way. All you need (Assuming your Camera is Digital and has Firewire out) is a firwaire card and so software, pinnacle I guess would be the best. If you copy to dvd, you would then have to rip it, import it into the software edit it, then burn it a second time.

John

Dummy

Thank you John. I'll get cracking on this.

chopster

As Lump said some recorders have some form form of crude editing and if you find a recorder that has a dv-in socket then you're sorted.

trap4

Don't mean to hijack the thread but as I'm intending to get a new laptop with DVD burner I would appreciate advise on whether it will be possible to burn 3GP formatted videos from cameraphone to DVD for playing on TV? The phone is a Nokia 6630 and the video is pretty decent. But I don't know if its possible to burn 3GP and/or Quictime .Movs to DVD for playing on TV?

pickarooney

There are (free) tools available to convert QT and 3GP to AVI and thence to MPEG2/DVD. I imagine the quality would be atrocioous going from phone -> PC -> DVD via two codec switches though. How do you transter the clips from the phone to a PC?
Can you not connect the phone to the TV somehow and play them directly instead?

trap4

I transfer my 3GP clips to PC via bluetooth. I recently uploaded one directly to the net from my phone (after editing it on the phone). I believe there is a Noka product available for playing directly on the TV, yes, but I'd love to be able to distribute family videos to all the family on DVD.

Hmmm, so there's no way of converting 3GP to DVD directly? Not to worry,... thanks anyway.