Follow The DV Signal to Final DVD Burn--I'm New and Confused

[usaf64]

Dear Forum Techies, I will be getting my desktop DVD Burner in ten days ((JVC DR-M10S)--but I', so new, I don't know what "ripping" a DVD even means.

I have a older, P3-500 XP Computer and have used Video Studio 5 to sucessfully edit and make AVI, home movies. I use a Sony D8 camcorder to input tape into CPU, then use VS5 to edit, finalize and record backthis movie to D8 camcorder. I have then transferred D8 tape to VHS and all looks just fine.

Now the scary part for a new DVD fella. After reading all the programs, suggestions and DVD formats, its quite an overload to find specific answers to an individual specific needs. Here goes:

Is the best approack to go from CPU held AVI movies, record back to D8 camcorder (via firewire), then hook up firewire cable from D8 to DVD desktop recorder thru its firewire port? Thats the easy question.

1. I know about 20-minutes of my finalized AVi files on my CPU equals roughly 4.3GB's on my HDD. Does 20-minutes of this AVI file ONLY take up about 20-minutes of DVD burn time or space (cause I've read somewhere that DVD disc's only have about 4.7GB's of space.

2. Would it be better to, once captured to the CPU, to use MPEG-2 in VS5 instead of AVI as the file type? Don't know if the DV in on the DVD burner is limited to inputs of AVI or Mpeg. Does anyone?

3. What would I use DVD-RAM for?

4. Yes, its the "I wanna convert my old VHS tapes to DVD" effort. But the size of AVI to DVD is my hang-up. I have no problem with converting these VHS into 60-minute or 120-minute AVI projects on the Computer. My question is, would, then, this 60/120 minute AVI file fit onto one DVD-R without using any other programs to shrink file size?

Look, I'm both excited and overwhelmed at the same time. Shure glad I found this website and forum. There the best I've run across. Thanks in advance!

[lordsmurf]

To edit discs on a PC, ones made from the JVC, use this guide:
http://www.digitalfaq.com/edit/recorderedit/recorderedit.htm

[daamon]

Hi usaf64,

I can have a stab at answering your questions, but before anyone does it'd be helpful if you gave a brief description of what you're trying to achieve, i.e. "I've got footage on my DV cam and want it looking good on a DVD to play on my new player", or "I've got a load of VHS tapes that I want on CD / DVD".

From there, people can answer your questions with your objectives in mind. One thing you'll find with this game is that it takes the saying "there's more than one way to skin a cat" to new levels...

Look, I'm both excited and overwhelmed at the same time. Shure glad I found this website and forum. There the best I've run across. Thanks in advance!

Oh, you don't know the half of it... You'll be amazed at how much you can learn which, in turn, will show you how much more you don't know.

[usaf64]

Daamon: appreciate boiling down my confusion. Now to follow your clear advice. Since I do not have a DVD burner on my computer, I cannot "edit" the DVD on the CPU. I will input my VHS, via firewire to CPU, edit and finalize AVI file in Video Studio 5. Then record back to my D8 camcorder. Up to this point I know how to do it, going beyond this point is my challenge.

Two things I've read on these forum's is that first, AVI and MPEG-2 are pretty much the same--each having advantages and disadvantages. Secondly, very good quality (considering source material) can be achieved if no more that two hours of material is recorded to a DVD-R(VHS quality); however, a 1-hour recorded DVD-R can be equal to the source material. Is that generally a true statement?

Remember I can only do all my video editing on the CPU in VS5, and I can ensure I have from 1 to 2 hours of AVI projects copied to D8 tape(s) to eventually input to a desktop DVR.

Here is where you must guide me. Because I've never seen or operated a Standalone DVR, other than seeing pictures on the web, I'm not sure if:

1. AVI files saved to D8 tape (sony camcorder) in either 60-minutes or 120-minutes (that would be two D8 tapes)will exactly use 60 or 120 minutes to the recorded DVD-R disc? I would assume that some additional space might be needed for chapters or structural files on the DVD.

2. the most boiled down question I have is: will 60 or 120 minutes of this AVI/D8 tape--which could be converted in the desktop DVR to MPEG-2, just use up 60 or 120 minutes of DVD-R recording space? If that is so, I'll be very happy--until I get braver and attempt other things.

3. How the DVD-R disc is authored, titled, subtitled and what not, I'll need to read the DVR's manul.

I truely hope this helps you figure out my AVI to DVD-R recording times questions!

[guns1inger]

Well encoded quality source can give you between 90 - 120 minutes of high quality DVD. Much higher quality than VHS would even give you.

In this country, it is a lot cheaper to buy a DVD burner for the PC than it is to buy a standalone DVD recorder. The other issue is that most DVD recorders equate quality with time in simplistic increments - eg. 1 hr, 2 hrs, 3hrs, or 4hrs. If you have 70 minutes of footage, there is no increment between 1hr and 2hrs to give you the best quality - you get 2hr quality and have to live with it. I know some recorders are offering more granualrity, but for my money, doing my own encoding and burning is a much better option.