Canon ZR camcorder analog capture, burn to DVD

[BJBBJB]

I am definitely a newbie when it comes to burning DVD's, but hopefully my PC and AV background can help me.

I am currently trying to put together a PC that will also allow me to take some old analog video and convert to DVD..... along with taking Mini-dv to DVD. Want to make sure I get the right thing. Of course I will use it for a lot more, just want to make sure it can do this!

A key point - I DON't CARE about editing for most of these. Just take a 1 hour or 2 hour analog tape and make a DVD.

I have read a lot on this site. But still more to learn.

Questions:

How much hard disk space is needed to hold say 2 hours of video passed through the Canon ZR via firewire? And what is the best tool if I am not concerned about editing? I will be using the Canan ZR50 as the source, so no video capture card. It also looks like you need to have enough room for your captured AVI file and then your rendered MPEG2 file?

The Canon does come with Showbiz which I do understand is one of the capture tools that is discussed a lot on this site. However when I reviewed the FAQ, it was not mentioned. I also read that Shobiz stopped the capture every time the analog tape started a new scene (ie. the camcorder was started and stopped for a new scene). This could be a real pain if you are trying to just capture the tape as is.

I have learned that the video is captured as an avi file. You then have to run it through an MPEG 2 converter. Looks like that the MPEG 2 option does not come with the basic showbiz software but is an additional cost. Not a problem , just trying to sort out the needed tools. The showbiz manual makes it sound like that if you have the module, you can use Showbiz to take that AVI file, MPEG 2 encode it , and burn it to a DVD without using any other tools?

Seems like a lot of people like MyDVD, may be a better tool, Showbiz just came with the Canon.

Still learning..

Thanks for the help, this is a great site and forum.

BJBBJB

[yg1968]

You can capture and edit DV with Windows Movie Maker. DV takes 13 gig per hour. For encoding to mpeg-2, you should use TMPGEnc. A DVD is 4.3 gig. Your DVD burner will come with the necessary software for most of your needs. However, many people do not like the software provided with their dvd burner. I use Dazzle DVD complete (they have a trial version).

Here is a link to download Moviemaker2 (beta):

http://download.microsoft.com/download/WinXPHome/Install/2/WXP/EN-US/setup.exe

A useful site for DVD burning:

www.dvdplusrw.org

[G-man]

I have the same camcorder, check out my reply in this thread:

http://www.vcdhelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=109535&highlight=