AVI files to DVD to watch on DVD player

[leegutcher]

I have about 5 hours worth of footage from my DV camcorder that I want to put onto DVDs so I can watch my home videos with ease on a DVD player.

I have put my videos onto the PC as AVI files as I want the best quality I can get and that is at a price of 13GB per hour.

Whats the best way to put them onto DVD-R discs? Use alot of 4.7gb ones or the dual layer discs, are the Dual layer dics any good as ive never tried them?

Can i convert my AVI files into smaller files but yet maintain a quality resolution.

What do you do to watch your DV camcorder videos on DVD players?

I want the quality of my videos as good as when I hook my DV camcorder to the TV and watch them direct from the camcorder or as near to that as possible.

Kind Regards
Lee

[redwudz]

You should be able to get about one hour of DV converted to MPEG-2 at about 8500kbps in the DVD format and author and burn to a DVD-5 disc at fairly good quality. If you want more at the same quality, try a DVD dual layer. But I would advise only Verbatim DL+ and ImgBurn to burn them to DL.

Or you can reduce the bitrate down to about 6000kbps and get fair quality with MPEG-2 at full D1 specs. (720 X 480) This will get you about 2 hours or a little more. Below 6000kbps, you might want to consider 1/2 D1 at a lower bitrate for a lower quality. 5 hours of MPEG-2 will be poor quality on a DVD-5 disc. You can look to 'WHAT IS' DVD to the upper left for the DVD specifications and formats. <<<<<<

You can use a bitrate calculator to see what the bitrate will actually be for your video running time and the size of your media with a bitrate calculator like the VideoHelp Bitrate calculator. Encode a short representative sample of your video, maybe 5 -10 minutes to see what it looks like with some different bitrates . DV with a hand held camera takes a lot of bitrate to look decent. I would stick with one hour per DVD myself.

Or you could go with Divx or Xvid and get 4 hours on a DVD with fair quality. But you would need a computer or a settop Divx player to watch it.

I know there is a lot to learn.

[Richard_G]

You need to encode the DV files to DVD compliant mpeg and then author them to DVD files. There are numerous ways of doing this using any amount of different software. If you want to make the process reasonably straightforward, try downloading the 30 day free trial of Ulead DVD MovieFactory from www.ulead.com . If you stick to one hour of footage per DVD, the quality will be as good as you can get. If your camcorder footage has been shot properly you should not be able to detect any degradation in quality.

[leegutcher]

so what free (and easy to use) encoders are they to convert DV files to DVD compatiable mpeg files?

[guns1inger]

Did you get any software with your camera, firewire card or PC ? usually something from Ulead is bundled.

[leegutcher]

Didn't get anything with my camera. I bought a fire wire and use that to transfer my videos to windows movie maker. From there i edit then publish my videos as DV-AVI files.

Can't i just put these avi files straight onto DVD using nero 7? What benefit do i get if i encode them?

I am new to all this and my head fried with all the reading and information!! haha

Regards
Lee

[Richard_G]

You can put DV avi files onto a DVD disc but only a pc will be able to play them. They need to be encoded to DVD compliant mpeg and authored to play on a stand alone DVD player. Nero 7 will encode and author them if you tell it to create a DVD video disc. However, it doesn't do a particularly good job, but it will do it. You usually get some software bundled with a Firewire card, often a cut down version of the Ulead software I mentioned. Try the trial, it isn't expensive to buy when the trial has ended if you get on with it and it does a far better job than Nero ever will.

[leegutcher]

now when i think of it i did get Ulead studio with the firewire cable. I thought Ulead was just an editing kit. Can i still edit with windows movie maker (as i find that easier to use) and then burn a dvd (that will play on a stand alone dvd player) using ulead studio?

I really appreciate your help. Its cleared alot of things for me!!

[guns1inger]

You can edit with movie maker, but it won't create a dvd for you. You will still have to encode and author

[leegutcher]

will Ulead studio encode and author a dvd for me with a better quality than nero 7

[Richard_G]

ANYTHING will encode in better quality than Nero....... Depending on what version of Studio you got, and how cut down it is, it may well do encoding and authoring.

There is a big difference between an editing package and an authoring package. Most authoring packages, including DVD MovieFactory, will allow you to trim the ends of clips and do simple cuts from one clip to another but that is about all. Editing packages allow you to do much more. As long as the edited footage is saved as either DVD compliant mpeg (which Movie Maker can't) or DV avi, the clips can then be imported into the authoring software, chapter points and menus added and the final DVD .vob, .ifo and .bup files created.

[leegutcher]

and there was me thinking nero was the best thing since sliced bread!!

I think ill just do all my editing with windows movie maker as im comfortable using that and then publish them as .avi files.

What will be the best encoding program for me to use that is either free or quite cheap. Did you say Ulead DVD movie factory was probably the best one?? any other suggestions?

Thanks alot
Lee

[Richard_G]

For burning Nero used to be the best, then they started to try and make it into a do everything application and it became a jack of all trades but master of none. There are a few different DVD authoring applications around, some free, but the ease of use varies.

I installed DVD MovieFactory on my machine for my partner and teenage daughter to try and both of them were able to just use it without constantly bothering me! The encoder that Ulead incorporate (specially tweaked Mainconcept) is one of the better ones and does a very good job if set on the high quality setting. You've got nothing to lose by trying the free trial and seeing if you get on with it.

[mats.hogberg]

What will be the best encoding program for me to use that is either free or quite cheap.

HCEnc. Free, but comes at the price of a steep learning curve, since it requires AviSynth to feed it.

/Mats