Looking for a bit of expert advice...

[DavidG99352]

(I haven't found anything that specifically addresses in searching thru the forums. My apologies if this is a repeat question).

Up to now I have been creating VHS compilation tapes of video clips copied from various sources including TV, other VHS tapes, vid-cams, etc. These clips are typically short, maybe 30 seconds to several minutes in length. I end up with literally hundreds of these short clips on a 2-hour VHS tape. My question is this --- can I do this same thing on DVD? If so, what is the best approach, stand-alone DVD recorder or PC DVD burner?

[rkr1958]

Welcome to the forum.

Up to now I have been creating VHS compilation tapes of video clips copied from various sources including TV, other VHS tapes, vid-cams, etc. These clips are typically short, maybe 30 seconds to several minutes in length. I end up with literally hundreds of these short clips on a 2-hour VHS tape. My question is this --- can I do this same thing on DVD?

Sure.

If so, what is the best approach, stand-alone DVD recorder or PC DVD burner?

It depends on what you want your DVD to look like. Do you want menu(s)? Do you want a DVD to play these clips back to back? Do you want your DVD to play a clip, or group of clips, and then return to a main menu? Or track menu? Do you own a stand-alone DVD recorder? Do you own a PC DVD burner? Do you have a way to capture your VHS tapes to your computer? Do you own any software that does capturing, encoding, authoring and / or burning? You can do this on the cheap but this will require learning and reading on your part. But you'll have more flexbility in what your DVD looks like and end up with a good to high quality product. Or you can do this with a all-in-one package which will cost you $100+, you'll have less flexibility in what your DVD looks like and end up with a fair (acceptable) to good quality product.

[jdizzy40]

Repeat question? No such thing on this website. Things get repeated several thousand times, but thats why we use it. What kind of camera do you have? Does it have a firewire port?

[thecoalman]

My question is this --- can I do this same thing on DVD? If so, what is the best approach, stand-alone DVD recorder or PC DVD burner?

Yes you can and for that amount of short clips I would suggest the PC route since you will be doing a lot of editing. Recorders work well (at least I'm told :P ) but they record in mpeg which is not very suitable for editing. Also I would imagine it would be a very cumbersome way to edit video with a lot of scene changes.... but I have never done on a recorder so I'm no expert.

[edDV]

FWIW

I harvest lots of clips and TV programs. Then I store them to DVD as data. My goal is archive storage not continuous playback. I save the MPeg or DV-AVI files as data and enter each into an excel database so I have a way to search and find the clips later.

[DavidG99352]

Answer to rkr1958: Menus are not needed. Just looking for continuous playback of clips same as would be on VHS tape. I have a PC DVD burner and would prefer this route.

For clarification, I have all the necessary hardware and software on my PC to capture from video sources. It is the authoring process that has me mystified. My intent is to "record" all of these various video clips to DVD disc that will play back on standard DVD player. I may be off-base, but my understanding is that DVD file structure "standards" limit the number of individual video files (VOB) to 99. If this is the case, I am somewhat limited by the number of video files (clips) that I can burn to a single DVD --- am I understanding this correct? FWIW, I have experimented with DVD-Shrink which created individual video files (VOB) for each clip I saved, and is limited by the "99 file rule". If there was a way to combine all of these smaller, individual VOB files into one larger, single "compilation" VOB file, I guess this would get around the limit? I just don't really know enough about DVD file structure to understand how to do what I want to do. Maybe I got this all wrong, I just don't know.

Thanks for help.

DavidG

[thecoalman]

Answer to rkr1958: Menus are not needed. Just looking for continuous playback of clips same as would be on VHS tape.

If that is the only thing you need a standalone would be perfect providing you don't need/want to edit the scene changes.

I may be off-base, but my understanding is that DVD file structure "standards" limit the number of individual video files (VOB) to 99. If this is the case, I am somewhat limited by the number of video files (clips) that I can burn to a single DVD --- am I understanding this correct? FWIW, I have experimented with DVD-Shrink which created individual video files (VOB) for each clip I saved, and is limited by the "99 file rule". If there was a way to combine all of these smaller, individual VOB files into one larger, single "compilation" VOB file, I guess this would get around the limit? I just don't really know enough about DVD file structure to understand how to do what I want to do. Maybe I got this all wrong, I just don't know.

Just about any editor or all in one app will allow you combine your clips into a single mpeg for authoring. If you wanted to get super simplistic with your project you could capture your video, import it into an editor, cut the portions such as the crap at the beggining and end of each clip, add transitions between each clip, create a single DVD compliant mpeg, use the single file as a first play video in an authoring program and burn it to disc.



DavidG