New to DVD Authoring & Frustrated!

[Michael Astfalk]

I'm really frustrated with DVD authoring. My problem is that I can prepare a movie - either a home movie from my camcorder or an old movie from VHS - and go through every step correctly EXCEPT burning the movie to the DVD. Once I do that, either the video plays properly and the sound is off by a few seconds OR, in the case of trying to record old VHS movies to DVD, the play back is jerky and completely unwatchable.

The files play right on the computer before burning. Somehow, when I burn them to DVD it just isn't working. I have an HP Media Center PC & it can handle the two programs I have. It was designed for this type of work to begin with.

I use either Roxio or Arcsoft Show Biz (this one came with the PC). Please advise me on what I might be doing wrong here. Any help is appreciated - I'm about ready to chuck this whole PC out the window.

Michael

[Baldrick]

We need more information.

Are you capturing to mpeg2 dvd with your hauppauge card? or capturing to avi? what settings?
What are you capturing with? roxio,arcsoft?
What are you converting with? roxio,arcsoft?

[bdf24]

I've been plagued with audio sync problems befere. All I do is re-capture to fix. sometimes I get them, sometimes I don't. I always capture to AVI. Then I encode to mpeg.

As far as the jerky video goes. I used to get this by setting my field order wrong while encoding (before I new any better). Make sure if your encoding after you capture that your setting your field order correct. Either top field or bottom field first. My old Hauppauge card captures in Top field first.

This may not be the cause of your problems. But it's issues I've had in the past. Just thought I'd throw em out there.

I'm by far no expert at video capturing. Really only dabbled it it a little bit. Sometimes I'm successfull, sometimes I'm not.

There are though many around here who know there stuff with it.

[Michael Astfalk]

We need more information.
Are you capturing to mpeg2 dvd with your hauppauge card? or capturing to avi? what settings?
What are you capturing with? roxio,arcsoft?
What are you converting with? roxio,arcsoft?

Thanks for the reply!

Some of these were done several months ago, or even in the spring. I was so frustrated (went through at least 10 DVDs burned with the sound off by 2 seconds or more) that I had to put it aside.

I capture to mpeg2 for dvd. I'll have to check the settings - but they're probably default settings. I haven't messed with setup too much. However, I'm willing to start from scratch and walk through a capture/edit/burn session with some guidance/advice from the forum.

I'm capturing with Roxio for the majority of what I do -

If I capture from my miniDV tapes on my camcorder I use Roxio.
If I capture from the VCR connected to the PC, I use ArcSoft.

At this point, I'm getting my feet wet & figuring out which program is best for which application. I like Roxio better any how - the interface is easier to navigate and use.

For the sake of simplicity and to avoid confusion, it is probably best to start with the Roxio issues and tackle that, then move to the VCR problems if that makes sense.

In other words, if I use Roxio to capture my home videos to mpeg2 for dvd and burn them to disc, what am I doing or not doing that causes the audio to be 2 seconds off?

Thanks in advance.

Michael