Ultra Newbie Seeking Step by Step Instructions

[jpa2825]

* - Bought the I/O Magic 4x DVD+/- writer from CC ($80 after MIR).
* - Installed by removing DVD player that came w/ my COMPAQ and plugging that cable into the I/O Magic (didn't use anything else or mess w/ any "jumper" settings).
* - Played DVD in the I/O Magic and it seemed to work fine.

THEN I THOUGHT ABOUT BURNING A DVD.

* - Installed all the software that came with the I/O Magic, a separate I/O Magic CD writer that I also bought ($20 after MIR) and the Dazzle Fusion I bought a year ago when I thought I would undertake this task. (Roxio, Studio 8, WinDVD, OnDVD, Pinnacle Instant CD/DVD, Dazzle, etc.)
* - 1st - w/ all the new software, I couldn't import from CD into iTunes for my iPod.
* - 2d - I couldn't get the DVD to write to anything.
* - I bought 10 Liquid Video DVD-Rs and 10 Liquid Video DVD+Rs (both 2.4x) ($8 ea. 10 pk. after MIR)
* - In Pinnacle (I think), I was able to create a slide show of digital pix and try to burn. Took a huge amount of time (like 4 hrs.) and crapped out at 50% twice.
* - In Dazzle, I was able to capture the video stream from my analog camcorder and put a menu on it, but when I go to try to Burn the DVD, options to pick a writer are greyed out and it has a RED invalid media notation.

My primary goal is to burn analog camcorder footage to DVD, possibly do the same for old VHS tapes I have, burn digital pix to DVD (w/ menus, captions & background music) and maybe eventually burn some TiVo programming to DVD.

I uninstalled all of the new software and iTunes is working like it used to.

Where do I go from here? I'd love to be able to accomplish some of the above goals. I've been struggling w/ this for a week or 2 and am starting to feel frustrated. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[smearbrick1]

Check out some of the guides on the LEFT <<<<<<<<. With a little research, followed by more research, followed by more research and a little luck... you will be able to attain your digital goals.

Also, you may want to try one piece of software at a time (I.E: don't install two dvd burning apps at the same time because of possible conflicts). Try starting with simplest of tools (as recommended by the users of this site) and find what works for you. Don't go crazy and install every piece of software related to DVD/CD burning/Video Editing all at once... it will only cause confusion, and may, as in your case, cause computer problems.

Take it slow.