digital 8 to dvd

[bfowler]

first off,
thanks for all the help i've recieved through answered posts and guides on this site.here goes nuthin. i have a sony dig. 8 camcorder that i 'm trying to use to transfer video from my sons hockey game onto my computer and then i hope to be able to make a dvd and distribute it to the kids on the team at the end of this season.
iv'e done some things similar to this like transfering a friends wedding from vhs to dvd using my computer and didn't have any issues. my set up for the hockey is camera to computer via fire wire captured using nero vision express to make the dvd.
i said all that to ask this question. my sons game lasts 56 min. this is dv im pretty sure. when i transfer(capture) this video to my computer it is over 12 gb large. so in order to put this on a dvd5 i'll have to decrease the quality to get it on a single layer dvd? am i stupid or did i screw up somewhere. if i have to decrease the quality to put it on a dvd why did i get a digital camcorder in the first place. could there be a setting i'm missing that is contributing to the large file size? i guess my problem is i've read many places that u can put 1 hours worth of dvd quality video on a dvd5 and thats exactly what i'm trying to do but my file is about 3x as big as i thought it would be. sorry about the long post.

[ozymango]

No problem to fit this on a DVD -- what you've got right now is a DV "avi" file, 13 gb for an hour seems right on the money. You'll need to encode this to DVD spec (mpeg2) for playback on a DVD, and when you do that, your resulting mpeg2 file will be about 3 gb. Maybe a bit more or less, depending on your bitrate, but in any case you'll easily be able to fit an hour on a DVD, with room to spare.

I'm not that familiar with Nerovision, but I'm guessing it has some fairly simple interface for "make DVD" or like that. Are there editing controls in there somewhere? Anyway, when you get your master file all completed, I'm pretty sure Nerovision will then encode your avi file to mpeg2, plus do all the vob and ifo creation to make a DVD. There are all sorts of other ways to do this but if this is what you've got, it should do a decent enough job.

I'm sure some Nerovision users will chime in with more helpful details!

[gadgetguy]

The large filesize of DV-AVI is correct and is identical to what is on the tape. In order to meet DVD spec it must be encoded to MPEG2, and yes it is a lossy format, however when done properly the results are almost indistinquishable from the source when played on a regular TV. If you are seeing a huge difference then there is probably something wrong with your encoding process. Nero Vision Express is an all-in-one tool that hides the individual steps and offers less control, but is easy to use. Separate tools for the separate tasks allow for the most control over the results.
The steps and tools I use to create a DVD from my D8 footage are:
1. Capsfer with WinDV (free)
2. Edit with AviSynth and/or VirtualDub (free)
3. Encode with QuEnc (free)
4. Author with TMPGEnc DVD Author (inexpensive and easy)
5. Burn with TDA or Nero Burning ROM (came with burner)

Edit: Note that my process is not the only or necessarily best available, but it does meet my price range and I'm very satisfied with my results.

[bits]

1 hour of DV avi(which is what is on a miniDV or Digital8 tape), when transferred to HDD should be approximately 12.5GB in size. To burn this to DVD you have to encode it to mpeg2, which will compress it but if done correctly should result in minimal loss of quality.

My personal recommendations;
1. Use WinDV (freeware) to transfer the DV avi to HDD as Type 2 DV
2. If possible edit the video while it is still DV avi. VirtualdubMod (freeware), Ulead Video Studio 8 or 9 do a decent job with DV avi
3. Keep your DV tape as an archive
4. Use a quality mpeg encoder such as CCE Basic ($60), Procoder Express ($60), Mainconcept - My personal favorite is CCE Basic
5. Use TDA to author - You want to stay away from authoring software that re-encodes compliant mpeg2.
6. Use DVD Decrypter or ImgBurn or Nero Express to burn DVD
7. Use quality DVDs - see nomorecoasters.com for info
8. Expect that someone on the team will have trouble playing the DVD you made.

[bfowler]

thanks every one for the quick and helpful responses. i guess i must have jumped to conclusions when i saw the size of my captured file. after encoding with nero the resulting output was right in the ball park for a single layer dvd.
i am going to investigate the other methods given for editing because my output dvd is very dark maybe i can lighten it up with one of the other programs mentioned .

thanks alot!!!