better to make dvd's on PC or standalone?

[kkkkkk]

I have a JVC mini-DV camcorder, and want to back up the home video's onto DVD. I can do them slowly on the PC but with lots of controls to fiddle with (using Tempengc). I've just bought a Mico r311 standalone DVD +RW machine, where it appears i can stream/real-time record the DV straight onto a DVD. I want these to be the best possible quality, not too concerned about the time it takes (encoding on my PC often takes 70-80 hours.....). Is the PC-made DVD going to be better quality than the stand-alone one? any other comments gratefully received

thanks

[offline]

Since you have the equipment to test both you
should do so and let us know what you decide.

I have seen really good results from both approaches
using a high quality source. If you need to lower
the bit rate to fit extra video or the source is less
than perfect one of the many PC filtering methods
may well suit you better.

[kkkkkk]

well yes, that's fair enough and if no-one advises otherwise I will just have to do that; but meantime I was trying to avoid re-inventing the wheel, so if anyone does have any particular observations on the differences between the two methods I would welcome them. One specific thing I wonder about, I don't see there's any way to manually control things like bitrate or whatever on the stand-alone machine; am i correct in assuming that the machine just does what it thinks best? tks anyone.

[offline]

Very well. Although you can set different modes to
fit more or less video on one DVD (bitrate & resolution change) via a standalone, the PC is always going to
produce equal to better video, at a time cost, provided
you know what you are doing.

Again, with editing, while some standalones provide excellent editing features, none compare to the flexibility that the PC method provides.

However the time penalty via PC is sometimes prohibitive. In addition, often the highest quality is overkill, especially with good
TV/SAT/CAT sources.

MY 2 cents. Use both. At a pinch, stick with the PC
method for now.

[bartonarmy]

It depends. At a good bitrate, you will see no difference. May be with a very large TV, like 60in widescreen. The difference would be very small. PC gives you control as adding nice fades, and titles. With a DV source, your source is high quality unlike VHS. Do both, PC and stand-alone, and save them. It is important to have more than one copy of your home video. When it comes to home video, you remember that DVD disc are cheap. You may see the difference at a low bitrate.

[kkkkkk]

OK, thanks guys, one thing surprises me, i know on the mico i can set for std play or long play or v extended (or something like that) but i didn't know i could also set bitrates or anything else; i guess a closer read of the manual is in order! re fading/editing etc, no i'm too lazy and too many other things to do, all i ever get to do is to dump the whole tape onto the h/d of the pc then encode as much as i can and dump it on a disc; if the kids want to edit it, they can do that when they're grown up! thanks again, once i have a few results i'll post a follow-up with any observations........

[akrako1]

You can also re-edit the clips on your PC after recording on your stand-alone. Just make sure to use re-recordable media on your stand-alone, then pop the discs into your computer. Use some handy free software to convert the dvd files to a .mpeg file. Then you can add in fades, change bitrates, use filters, and then re-author out to a new DVD. With all the headaches I've experienced trying to use mpeg encoders and various import devices, it seems like the way to go.

[normando]

akrako1... what freeware programs are you referring to that convert vob files from a dvd+vr disc to mpeg-2?

[macleod]

I have done both (cap card and standalone). My cap card was the TV wonder and the standalone is the panasonic E30.

The best and most efficient way to do this IMO is to capture using the standalone and then do all of the editing on the PC. I record onto DVD-RAM, rip to the hard drive and use TMPGENC DVD Author to do editing.

[lordsmurf]

If source is perfect or near-perfect, recorder.
But a good recorder, like a JVC, LiteOn, Pioneer, etc.
What you bought may not cut it.

If source is damaged, PC capturing.

[spiderman2k1]

I like DVD recorders with hard drives better.

[ZippyP.]

i can set for std play or long play or v extended (or something like that) but i didn't know i could also set bitrates or anything else;

By adjusting the recording time you are effectively adjusting the bitrate, and the resolution as well. I don't think you can adjust each setting independantly.

[spiderman2k1]

The way DVD recorders work are most of them have four recording modes. XP 8000 Bitrate Resolution 720*480 one hour. SP 4000 Bitrate Resolution720*480 two hours. LP 2000 Bitrate four hours Resolution 350*480. EP 1500 six hours Resolution 352*240, and some have eight hours. My DVD record has Flex play I can set my own recording time if I want to set for three hours I can record 720*480 with a bitrate around 3000.

[kkkkkk]

Hi, OP back, thanks all for helpful discussions; I've made one recording so far direct from DV to DVD+RW, quality seems fine. i did it on the highest quality setting, and looking at the back of the disk, one hour of videotape seems to have nearly completely filled it. However in all of this one thing has struck me. The connection from the camera is not the firewire one, it is a video-out one (not the S-video yet, but i'm working on that). So does that mean that the source data is being converted digital-to-analogue by the camera, then reconverted analogue-to-digital by the DVD+RW machine? I guess that has to imply some degradation? and if i am planning to use this as backup, then that kinda leads me to think that the sadly much longer process of tempeng etc on the pc is the way to go? Or given the falling price of DVD+RW disk, do I stream from DV via firewire to PC, then "copy" (??? what exactly do i mean by copy here please?) the resultant huge file onto a DVD? Any other suggestions/comments? thanks

[gshelley61]

It's hard to say if using the analog out on a digital camcorder and capturing directly to MPEG2 (like with a DVD recorder) is really inferior to streaming 5:1 compressed DV AVI into the computer, then compressing it again 25:1 into MPEG2. Try it both ways and let your own eyes be the judge.

[edthesped]

My set top experience is limited and may change with time but last night I burned my first home video via firewire on the iLO DVDRHD04 and the quality was superior and way faster than anything I ever made on my PC using Ulead. The other advantage, which is major in my household, is that we sat down as a family and were almost able to watch the video together as I recorded it. I say almost because a glitch in the HD04 doesn't play audio while it is capturing to the HD But we did watch the movie together immediately after it was copied to the hard drive. In the past it would take hours of me fiddling with everything to put a video together on the PC and as I said earlier the video quality and family happiness meter was inferior to that of the iLO.

[kkkkkk]

yep edtheshred, sounds like you've got what i should have got; one with firewire in! apparently my mico r311 does come as a better model with firewire, but they weren't selling them for 50 quid in sainsbury's!

[normando]

ed,

I too have the DVDRHD04 and was bummed that when I was recording via firewire, the audio cuts out and in and out again during recording. However, I only captured 6 minutes of footage.

I recorded directly to DVD+RW disc. Did you record it to the HD? If so, did an hour long capture onto the HD via firewire have the dreaded audio hiccup at the top of each minute? I am 99% certain that it did.

I am looking forward to the firmware upgrade that is supposed to come out next week.

[edthesped]

normando I only recorded about 15 minutes of video myself but I'm sure any video on the HD will hiccup. The biggest boon for me was that for a change everyone in my family was excited about viewing the video and burning it to DVD. This unit definately eases a few marrital tensions.

I too hope to see a FW fix soon, but more than anything I'd like to see some hacked bios' for this unit.

[normando]

Yeah... it sure would be awesome to be able to load up the HD with DivX and XVid files!

From the email response I got from ilo, they should have the HD audio playback hiccup fixed on the next firmware upgrade sometime next week.