This is most likely a dumb newbie question but hopefully some kind
soul will take the time to read and respond.

I have a new Panasonic mini DV camcorder which came with two Panasonic
software utilities - Motion DV Studio for DV and Quick Movie Magic. I
have been successful in capturing video from the camcorder to my PC
hard drive via USB. The above software capture programs create .avi
files which I can play using WMP. I would like to crete DVDs that I
and other family members can play in a DVD player

When I burn the .avi file to a DVD  to  play in my fairly new JVC DVD
player (which can read DVD+R and several
other formats) my DVD player displays an error message "no disk"

Can someone advise me why this is happening - what am I doing wrong?
Any advice or guidance would be very much appreciated.

Mary

Hello,

Sadly, it's a lot more complicated than that.  I recommend
http://www.videohelp.com/convert#4;10 as a starting point ("How to convert
to DVD MPEG2").  There'll be quite a learning curve but that site has a very
active forum, too.

If you have Windows XP, then Movie Maker (comes with XP) has a Save To DVD
option - I've never tried it but could be what you need.

John.

Show quoteHide quote

Dumb, no.  Newbie, yes.  May I recommend using Google?  This is discussed
very, very often.  However, see below.

I'm not familiar with either program.  However, as a general rule, do not
capture with USB, which is intended only for low-quality video streaming,
e.g. for a webcam, or for transferring stills.  The standard for
transferring D-25 video (which is what you have on a miniDV camera) is
1394/Firewire.

If you're running a PC with XP, you already have a free program that
supports it, as Microsoft's Movie Maker is included in the OS.  Be sure to
download the free upgrade to Movie Maker II.

DVD players can't play AVI files.  Most require a DVD that is formatted
specifically as a video DVD format, though some can play DIVX files.

Here's the work flow for getting miniDV video on to a DVD (I'm cutting and
pasting from a reply I did to an earlier thread):
1.  Video must be captured.  This can be done using an all-in-one package,
or with a stand-alone program.  "Capture" is a misnomer, because it also
applies to transfer digital video from camcorder to computer.  Analog video
is "captured," however, as it must be digitized.


The capture process determines in what format the video will be stored, i.e.
it is at this stage that the storage format (Huffman-AVI, DV-codec-encoded
AVI, mpeg2, mpeg4, divx, etc.) is chosen.  In addition to bringing in the
video, it can also be split into scenes, either physically or by creation of
a cut list, by examining either the time code or the actual content.
Though most editors have capture capability (Vegas, Premiere Pro, Studio,
etc.), I've found that standalone capture utilities, e.g. Scenealyzer Live,
do a better job -- they can batch-capture, preview, and offer more
flexibility in automatic logging and scene splitting.


2.  Video is edited as indicated below.  The format for editing the video
depends, to some extent, on the source material, the intended target, and
the nature of the editing.  Extensive editing (adding transitions, titles,
correction, etc.) is best accomplised with source video that (1) is
compatible with the internal format used by the editor, so as not to require
rendering, and (2) not stored with key-frame-type compression, e.g. mpeg,
divx or wmv.  Most editors work well with DV-encoded AVI.  A very few will
handle mpeg with varying degrees of success.


3.  Video is transcoded to a DVD-compliant format.  Once the edit is
complete, the video must be converted to mpeg2, a process called
"transcoding."  As with capture, many editing packages can do this from
within the program.  However, for maximum quality, transcoding is best done
with a stand-alone program that gives maximum control over all elements of
the transcoding process.  I'm partial to a program called tmpgenc, which is
inexpensive and produces very high-quality results.  Other good standalone
transcoders include Ligos and MediaConcept.


4.  The DVD is authored.  "Authoring" is the process of creating menus,
organizing the DVD, and breaking up the mpeg2 video stream created by the
transcoder into 1 gigbyte VOB files.  As with all other aspects of DVD
creation, authoring can be done from within some editing packages, but is
done best with a standalone program.  I use Adobe Encore.


5.  The DVD is burned.  Most authoring packages will also burn a DVD, but I
prefer to have the authoring program create the necessary files and then
burn the DVD with Nero.  I find Nero more robust and a lot faster.

As an alternative, you can buy a standalone DVD recorder and copy over from
you miniDV camcorder to that.  You will not, however, get as good quality as
you will using the above method.  The process outlined above isn't as
complicated as it sounds.  If you care about quality, or want to get
creative with editing, adding music and narration, DVD menus, etc., you'll
have to do it the way I described.


Show quoteHide quote

Thanks to John Miller and PTravel for their response and advice - very
helpful.

Mary



On Tue, 18 Jul 2006 08:13:54 -0400, ECLiPSE 2002 <fdm2***@comcast.net>
wrote:

Show quoteHide quote

Try Total Video Converter

ECLiPSE 2002 wrote:
to do everything I need to make home-movie quality DVDs. Captures,
edits, titling, chapters and menus, transcoding, burning - the whole
ball of wax. Never had to open a users manual, could figure out most
things with just a little bit of playing around. Tabs separate the main
functional groups - capture on one tab, cutting and editing on another
tab, DVD production on a third tab.

Came bundled with my DVD burner, but costs around $100 if you need
to buy it. That's on the Arcsoft website, may cost less elsewhere.

Last used it a couple of months ago to help my daughter make a
Science Channel-style mock-umentary for her honors science class -
we got an A.

Never tried the Microsoft offering, couldn't tell you how it compares.

Jerry

To the moderator. You should not allow top posting.



On Tue, 18 Jul 2006 17:43:59 -0400, ECLiPSE 2002 <fdm2***@comcast.net> wrote:

Show quoteHide quoteBarry
=====
Home page
http://members.iinet.net.au/~barry.og

Thanks for your input Hanson and Jerry - it all helps my understanding
of the process.

Mary

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