Copying DVD

[Gazzadfc]

I have decided to purchase a liteon 5005 due to compatability issues and the fact that it has i-link (firewire) as I wish to make my own DVDs straight from my mini DV camcorder. The question is once I have made my DVD I will then need to make several copies of it for family and friends etc, would it be possible to connect both my older DVD player and new DVD recorder so I can then play a disk on one (DVD player) and make another copy on the DVD recorder? as this will save me a huge amount of time.

Thanks for any advice.

[jtoolman2000]

Yes, that is one possible option but most DVD recorders can accept a direct connection from your MiniDV camera via firewire and thus allow you to record from your DV tape onto DVD.

If you want a more prefessional result you need to first capture the video through a video editing program on your PC, compose the various clips in the order you need them to be, trim the clips, add effects, trasitions, music as needed. Then you render your new composition out to MPG2 or AVI. That MP2 or AVI is then imported onto a DVD Authoring program which allows you to create the menus and the proper DVD file structure so that a stand alone DVD player will recognize and play them. Once the folder set
( AUDIO_TS and VIDO_TS ) for your movie project have been made, they are then finally burned to DVD using your burning software.

Once you have that 1st DVD in your hands, you can if you wish, pop it into a player and feed it through to your DVD recorder. You will no gain in time as you will be recording in real time. In other words, it will take as long + a bit more as the full length of your movie. YOu will also loose your nice menus you made and replace them with the recorder's own menus which are not always as nice as those that you make.

A better choice is to simply burn multiple copies from your DVD files you crated wihen the movie was authored. Even a full DVD ( 4.38 gigs ) can be burned in about 14 minutes a piece at 4x. Even less if you go with 8x burner / media combination. Remember that DVD recorders burn on the fly and so they are always in real time. If you need to record 1 hour of incoming video, it will take one hour. In comparison you can burn a two hour project in 15 minutes at 4x through the computer.

Hope this cleared it all up for you.