saving dv time and date code to dvd recorder

[alanpo]

Is there a DVD recorder that will allow the DV time and date code to be saved/overlayed onto the DVD being burned? I got the Samsung DVD-VR357. It transfers the DV to DVD well but doesn't have a mechanism to put the DV time and date code to the DVD. For home DV tapes that span alot of time, I find this important.

[guns1inger]

Have a look at your camera settings. I know my camera has an option to overlay the Date/Time stamp on the video as it plays it so it can be recorded conventionally.

[alanpo]

Have a look at your camera settings. I know my camera has an option to overlay the Date/Time stamp on the video as it plays it so it can be recorded conventionally.

I suppose you mean to display the time and date code on your DV camcorder's display, while capturing the video on the DVD recorder via the DV composite output and DVD Recorder analog composite input? However, I wanted to use the DV firewire 1394 input on the DVD recorder, for a true high quality digital-to-digital recording.

[JohnnyMalaria]

Quite honestly, you won't see much difference with the analog-to-analog approach compared to the FireWire approach.

For the convenience of speed and simplicity, guns1inger's suggestion is an excellent one.

If you still want the all digital approach, then you will need to capture all your DV footage onto your computer, add the date/time and then send the DV footage back to your camcorder, record it on tape and then replay the tape to send the footage to your DV recorder. That means that for each hour of footage it will take at least three hours plus the time to put the date/time on the video. If your DVD recorder can work with your PC (not all can) then you can save an hour.

There are a number of programs that can put the time/date on - some are quite slow others are quite fast.

We have software that can do the whole process live - i.e., take your camcorder digital output, add the time/date and send it to an external DVD recorder (if it works with a PC).

However, I'd still just go the analog-analog route.

[guns1inger]

One advantage to taking the PC route is that there are several applications available that will let you turn your Date/Time stamp data into subtitles. You can then author to disc with subtitles instead of having them permanently burned into the video. Want to see when that short was taken ? Press the subtitle button on your remote and get the date. Press it again, and have an uncluttered view.

[alanpo]

It would be nice if there was a DVD Recorder took the subtitle approach to add date/time codes to the DVDs burned from the DV input.

Apparently folks seem to think that the analog-to-analog route produces good results. I will try that. However, I don't want a degradation in quality from the digital-to-digital route...DV is just passable to begin with!

I just noticed that my Camcorder and DVD Recorder have SVideo jacks...any quick comments on this? I'll do some of my own research too.

Any links to further tech info, reviews, specs, etc that compare digital-to-digital vs to the digial-to-analog route?

I have tried various programs to convert the DV to DVD. None worked well enough to say they are close to the original DV in quality...lack of color, scratchy sound, jerkiness were all experienced, as well as hours of time per each 1 hour of video. The DVD recorder worked the first time and was fast. On my PC, the .avi captured from the DV tape was perfect, too, so it was the mpeg2 conversion process that was bad. I don't know if it is my PC, my Win XP OS, my whatever, but all appears to be functioning OK on my PC. It is a 2.1 Athlon XP, 1 gb ram higher-end video card running Win XP w/ all the latest updates. At the least, I tried Windows Movie Maker, Video DVD Maker, SoThink Movie DVD Maker, and a bit of Nero.

I just want to copy my DV tapes to DVD.

[guns1inger]

None of the programs you have mentioned would I put in the top tier or even in the top half of possible solutions for getting good quality. Personally, I would put a good software solution up against a consumer DVD recorder for quality any day - on the basis that it was being run by someone who knew what they were doing. The symptoms you have mentioned all point to bad software choices and lack of knowledge and skills.

If you are serious, start by downloading and trying the trial versions of Vegas Movie Studio and Premiere Elements. If you are just looking to encode, and don't need to edit or use fancy menus, you could give FAVC a try, as a free solution.

[sssyippee]

One advantage to taking the PC route is that there are several applications available that will let you turn your Date/Time stamp data into subtitles. You can then author to disc with subtitles instead of having them permanently burned into the video. Want to see when that short was taken ? Press the subtitle button on your remote and get the date. Press it again, and have an uncluttered view.

Can you recommend some applications that support this? I have tried to find this feature - unsuccessfully - in Nero and Pinnacle.

[guns1inger]

You need to use something like DV_Datecode : http://www.skydiver.de/stef/datecode_en.htm to extract the date/time codes into a format suitable for use as subtitles. If you cannot use ssa subtitles in your authoring tool, use Subtitle Workshop to convert them to .srt format, which most capable authoring tools support.

Either encode and author with FAVC, which supports srt subs, or encode with your favourite encoder and author with a tool that supports subtitles. Suitable tools include DVD Lab Pro, GUIForDVDAuthor, DVD Workshop 2, Tmpgenc DVD Author (current version) amongst others. Pinnacle and Nero are not suitable for authoring, period

[jimmyp]

Actually there used to be one DVD recorder that had that feature. Unfortunately it broke on me about 2 months ago. It just wouldn't play or record DVDs. It is a Philips DVDR 75. Since then I tried and returned many others, including Philips, but none of them had that feature. I am very disapointed also, since I found that feature extremely convenient. If somebody finds one, please let me know.

[rosie4tune]

I would actually like to know how to remove the burnt on date/time from an HDV tape - shot using sony hvr-z1p 1080i50...
Will be editing in Final Cut Pro... date shows when sending out via A/V to DVD recorder and also via firewire to iMovie. Is there an option on the camera to switch it off? or does burnt really mean burnt...
All info appreciated,
Thanks

[guns1inger]

There will be an option to turn it off, unless there is also an option to record it into the image. Generally DV doesn't put it in the image because it doesn't have to. It can store it in the data stream instead. Consult your camera manual.

[alanpo]

Regarding the Philips DVDR 75 recorder: Would it take the datecode from the DV tape (not the date/time the DVD was burned, but the date/time of the DV footage) and burn it to the DVD in some manner? If yes, how would this appear on the DVD: As a subtitle? Always in a corner? On a new scene? In the DVD chapter menu? Or?

[RThornhill]

I have been using Philips DVDR75 for about 4 yrs to copy from VHS and MiniDV. My early MiniDV videos were taken with a JVC GR-DVL9000U which never transfered the Date/Time to a DVD as a subtitle - a feature described in the Philips manual. Spent a lot of time on the phone with Philips trying to get the feature to work and gave up, I was at least getting my videos to DVD so I could watch, share and archive. Picture quality at 2 highest speeds is indistinguishable from tape when watched on a normal 36" TV. I've copied probably 75 miniDV tapes, there is no way I could have taken the time to read each tape into a pc, rendered, and burned to DVD.

My first JVC died last year and have been using my daughters new JVC MiniDV camcorder. Discovered by accident, that all the DVDs created from tapes recorded her camcorder have the Date/Time created as a subtitle on my Philips DVD recorder. Each title on the DVD menu has the beginning Date/Time also. My older tapes don't create the subtitle on a DVD created by playing on the new camcorder. Must have been my old camcorder. All my new recordings have the subtitles displayed, lower right of screen, just by turning subtitles on/off during playback.

I'm looking for a new DVD recorder with dual layer support. Still lots of DV tapes to copy. Only the Sony products seem worth trying - unfortunately the users manuals all have something like "You cannot record the date, time, or contents of a DV/D8 format tape onto the disc" in the section about DV/D8(firewire) input.

I have not been able to confirm - have Digital8 tapes ever had their Date/Time turned into subtitles on a Sony DVD recorder?

[rosbif08]

You need to use something like DV_Datecode : http://www.skydiver.de/stef/datecode_en.htm to extract the date/time codes into a format suitable for use as subtitles. If you cannot use ssa subtitles in your authoring tool, use Subtitle Workshop to convert them to .srt format, which most capable authoring tools support.

Do you know of a program that can extract the datecodes from mpeg files ? I want to do the same thing but I have a DVD camcorder not a DV one.

Edit: Sorry I've just realised this might be in the wrong place... well if anyone knows anyway