What would you suggest for first time dvd burn

[gkamer]

Hi All,
My new computer came with a combo cd/dvd burner......

I've burned a lot of cd's using Nero, and I have that pretty much down. But a friend has some movies taken with her digital camera. Not sure yet exactly what kind, since I have not seen them yet.

Anyway. she asked me if I could take all these small movies and combine them into 1 big movie and burn it to a DVD. I would like to do a good job for her, but I'm not sure about what type of media to pick up.

This is my first time trying to actually burn a dvd, so I was thinking about picking up a couple of dvd rw to test my project out on, since I beleive those can be erased and used over. Than once I'm happy with the product, burn it to a regular dvd disk, with chapters, you know, the whole ball of wax....

Does that sound like a good way to go? Or does someone perhaps have a better suggestion????

I'm thinking that dvd-r are like cd-r, meaning once used you can't erease them and get that space back, so I don't want to burn a lot of test dvd's that might not make the cut.

[Gees]

I was thinking about picking up a couple of dvd rw to test my project out on

That's an excellent way to go for all projects. Write to your harddrive first. Test in PowerDVD or WinDVD, write to RW next (yes, they can be used multiple times) and then final copy to an R disc.

[SIRCOOKS]

make sure your burner supports dvd-r format burning they are the cheapest and are supported by the majority of dvd players......use tmpgenc to encode then use tmpgenc dvd author to author your dvd aiight...

[Tommyknocker]

You are exactly right. Use DVD-RWs until you get your procedure right. They are like CD-RWs, in that they are reusable, while DVD-Rs are like CD-Rs, one time only good deal. Good luck on your project. You seem to have a good plan of attack. I really would like for you to keep us posted.

[gkamer]

OK Gang,
Well from all your comments, it sounds like I'm on the right track. So I'll stick with the plan I have and keep you guys posted.... Thanks!

[tito13kfm]

You state that she has movies taken with her "digital camera", if you truly mean camera and not camcorder, then you will probably be better off burning a VCD or SVCD, just find out what model dvd player she has then check the list here https://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers to make sure it is compatible with VCD. They can be written to a regular cd, and when working with low resolution videos like those from a digital camera will look just as good as a DVD.

If you do decide to stick with DVD still check the compatibility list to make sure her/his dvd player supports + or - whatever you decide to go with (assuming your drive can burn both, which you can find out about at https://www.videohelp.com/dvdwriters) And definately go to RW first and have them check it out. I noticed that alot of TVs cut off some of the menu's that look fine on my TV so I just create them more toward the center of the screen.

Hope this was of some help and didn't get you more confused.

[gkamer]

Hiya,
Nah, I was following you ok....

These "movies" she was talking about were made with her digital camera. I'm guessing it's those little 15 or 30 second mpeg flicks that some cameras can make. My understanding of them, in general, is they are not real great, quailty or sound wise.

She was supposed to bing the camera to work today for me to take home and download these things, and of course she forgot.

So I'm not sure what I'm even going to get to work with, but it should be interesting at least....

[gkamer]

OK, as promised, heres the latest update....

First, she has a Shapr Digital Camcorder, which also takes still pictures. she explained it to me backwards....

Second, it records onto mini digital tapes. Unfortunatley, from what I read in her owners manual, in order to transfer the tapes to the computer, you need an IEEE1394 cable and pci card, neither of which she or I have....

So bottom line, it appears the project is on indefinate hold until she decides if she wants to invest in the required equipment to finish it.

Thanks for all the suggestions an input thought.