Saving home video to DVD-Help a newbie

[mfanclub]

I have read many of the articles here, and I know you do not like people to ask general questions about software and hardware, but I am stumped. I have tried doing this and not had good luck, so I am hoping for a little advice and if I give enough details maybe someone will steer me in the right direction?

I am new to this process and have VHS, 8mm, and Digital 8mm tapes I would like to move to DVD. I have a Sony DCR-TRV350 video camera, a TDK 840G burner and a a ATI 9700 All in Wonder video card. I have a P4 2.4 CPU and 1 Gig ram.

I have not yet tried doing the VHS, but I have tried with both 8mm formats using my camcorder and a firewire cable directly to the PC. I used Roxio 6 to try this and the quality of the video is awful, I have also tried using Pinnacle Studio 8 to create mpg then using Roxio just to burn it and the same result happens. If anyone can give me some ideas on how to get the best quality either with my current software or a different program (the software I have I received with either the burner or the video card) that would be better suited for my needs I would REALLY appreciate it. Since I am very new to this process I am a bit lost, even after reading some of the information on this web site. Also if there are any books you can recommend that would be welcome as well.

What formats are best to use to archive these videos onto DVD? There are so many formats I have no idea which are best for what purposes.

I am open to any tips you can provide.

Thank you!

[jbrett14]

I too am new and have been using Roxio DVD Builder 6, only I am getting excellent results. Make sure your compression setting (File \ Preferences) is set to "low compression" and not "high". Does your Sony cam have an analog-to-digital passthrough converter? Is your bad video quality on a burned DVD or directly on the computer? I like the Roxio over the Pinnacle for ease of use and stability.

[mfanclub]

I am using high compression after I edit because otherwise one hour of film is 10 Gb and too large for the DVD. Yes my camcorder has a analog to digital converter...I think, since it can take both type of tapes? How would I find out for sure?

Thanks!

[Rell]

ive got the same handycam as yours, a DCR-TRV350, and it definitely has a digital pass thru. it can also play analog Video8/Hi8 tapes and converts it to DV on the fly.

on the conversion of DV-AVI to mpeg2(dvd), you can try out TMPGEnc plus for encoding then Roxio for authoring/burning.

here's a link to lordsmuf's site...

http://www.lordsmurf.com/capture/avivsmpeg.htm

also, browsing around "dvdrhelp.com" will give you enough info to lead you through the process of video editing related stuffs. ive already bookmarked this site ever since coz ive learned alot from the people here...im still a noob though. happy reading!

[jbrett14]

Using high compression is part of your quality problem. You will not get great results with this compression. If you use Roxio to do the entire project (capture, edit, burn), using low compression you will be able to get about 80 min. of video on a DVD. I generally like to cut out about 40 min. of boring video from my 2 hr. tapes anyway, so it works out great. But if you absolutely need the entire 2 hr. on DVD, I would still use low compression and burn it onto 2 DVD's. I would never sacrifice quality just to keep it on 1 DVD. Probably within a year, consumers will be able to easily (affordable) buy double-capacity DVD media.

[troyy01]

Check out this article that I wrote...I have the same camcorder and it took me quite some time to realize that I need to buy it and ditch all the POS capture devices out there. The quality is not even comparable.

http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=30624

[DaBarrister]

Now this is a matter of taste, but it really isn't worth archiving hours and hours of raw video footage in the hopes that you might want to look at it in the future. At 4 gigs for 17 minutes of video, that's 7 DVDs of raw AVI footage for a two-hour tape. At higher compression levels (trying to fit all of that onto one DVD) it is not worth the effort. Here's DaBarrister's simple guide:

1) Capture at highest resolution.
2) Edit with your favorite program. (If you can get more than 80 minutes of useful footage from a 120 minute tape, then you're a better videographer than most of us).
3) Author and burn a DVD or two (MPEG2) from the edited footage. You won't see a significant degradation in the picture quality from AVI to MPEG2.
4) Delete the captured video.
5) Keep the old tape, sealed in plastic and away from heat/cold extremes.

[troyy01]

Now this is a matter of taste, but it really isn't worth archiving hours and hours of raw video footage in the hopes that you might want to look at it in the future. At 4 gigs for 17 minutes of video, that's 7 DVDs of raw AVI footage for a two-hour tape.

Definitely a matter of taste, IMO, but I'd never store it as raw AVI files. I capture that way (because it is best if you are editing), then author it to DVD, which puts it in MPEG2 format, which is sometimes about 25% of the raw AVI file.

[mfanclub]

Thanks for all the help and ideas everyone. I will give these a try and let you know how I do. I want to make good quality DVD's, and they cost enough that I really don't want to make many coasters, but I also don't want to take several DVD's for each movie. How do movie companies fit two hours or more on one DVD, but we can't?

[jbrett14]

They use a different type of DVD media than what is readily available to the general public. The media they use will hold twice the capacity of what you and I are using. Sounds like your in a dilemma: you want 2 hours of video on one DVD but don't want to sacrifice video quality. Can't be done. You need to choose what is more important to you. As for me, quality is first. 2 DVDs are still better than one VHS tape.

[troyy01]

They use a different type of DVD media than what is readily available to the general public. The media they use will hold twice the capacity of what you and I are using. Sounds like your in a dilemma: you want 2 hours of video on one DVD but don't want to sacrifice video quality. Can't be done. You need to choose what is more important to you. As for me, quality is first. 2 DVDs are still better than one VHS tape.

What's the saying? "Good, fast, or cheap...pick any two."