Transferring Mini DV to DVD without loss of quality

[khalidizzeldin]

I have just purchased a Panasonic GS320 and i need to know what is the best method of transferring the recorded video to dvd without loss of quality..
i can transfer using my pc or my panasonic dvd recorder...
if i use the dvd recorder i can transfer the video
1. using the S-Video cable? or
2. using the DV cable?
what is the best method and what are the differences bt the two... i know that using the svideo cable the date and time will be coppied while using the dv cable it does not appear.
also what is the best or simplest method to use if i wanted to transfer the video using my pc?

is there a way to transfer the minidv video to dvd while having the option of displaying the date and time (maybe as subtitles) ie to turn it on or off.

[aedipuss]

cam to computer is done with firewire(ieee1394/ilink), and usually winDV, but if you want date/time maybe enosoft dv. once the DVavi is on the computer it needs to be edited/encoded/authored to dvd. the tools to do so range from free to thousands.

[thecoalman]

1. using the S-Video cable? or
2. using the DV cable?
what is the best method and what are the differences bt the two...

The firewire cable (dv cable, 1394, I-link) is digital, the s-video is analog.

If you plug the firewire cable into your computer all your doing is transferring the DV-AVI file from tape to your computer, its a bit for bit copy. This file is about 14 gigs an hour. You can't play this from DVD, it needs to be encoded to DVD. I'd assume if you're DVD recorder has DV input it's the same thing.

The s-video or RCA is analog, you don't want to use that because the cam first needs to convert to analog then the recorder will need to convert ti to DVD compliant MPEG.

To get it to your computer you only need a firewire port on you computer, if you don't have one you can purchase a pci card for about $15 and install it. Once on your computer you need to convert it to DVD complant MPEG and author the disc. For that there is many tools avaialable. For starters you might want to look at Ulead video Studio, that will take you from transfer to finished disc.