Converting home movies to DVD....

[LarryBoy]

I have a Canon Hi-8mm camcorder. I would like to copy my home movies to a format that will play on my DVD player (DVD, VCD, SVCD?). I would like to be able to copy it at the best resolution/quality possible and include different tracks if possible.

What will I need to do? How much will it cost me in hardware/software
purchases to do this?

I'm new to this and haven't found the answers I need on the website. If this is covered in detail somewhere, please provide a link.

Thanks for the help.

[kitty]

1) Go to the capture cards section - buy a card that will capture at SVCD or DVD resolutions ($50-$500)

2) Go to the Capture Section - you may need to buy capture software, probably not

3) Go to the authoring section - you probably want to buy good video editing software and maybe a DVD or SVCD authoring package ($90-$600 and free to $100)

4) If you will author to VCD or SVCD buy a CDRW burner if you don't have one - check the DVD players list to see if your player will play these formats.

Otherwise for best resolution maybe DVD. Again check the DVD writers list at left vs. your DVD player to see if they are compatible. Buy DVD burner ($400 and up)

RTFM to know how all this works (there are books listed at http://www.vcdhelp.com/faq.htm#books) or for free read the site for a week or two.

Seriously - this is not a ABC 123 type thing. Many products, different approaches, different philosophies. You cannot do this ad hoc. Are you committed? If so read all you can get your hands on.

[LarryBoy]

Thanks Kitty...

I forgot to mention that I have access to a DVD burner on a PC.

My question is how do I get the video from the camcorder using a S-video cord to the PC so that I could then burn to a DVD?

Obviously, I'm very new at this and need simple instructions!

Thanks,

LarryBoy

[kitty]

Buy a capture card. Look at the WinTV PVR, Snazzi III, or Canopus ADVC-100 (if you have a firewire port). $180-500 will buy you a good solution. http://www.vcdhelp.com/capturecards.php

Most come with software to help you author & capture.

[rallytbk]

Ok, now for a bit of additional information.

Once I buy the capture card, learn about video qualities and junk... Is it possible and feasable to capture video for the VCD format (since most people, my self included, record video footage in LP and SLP modes) for archives? Before I got into creating VCDs I archived family videos on standard VHS tapes (in either SP or LP modes).

Knowing that the DVD format (higher res, etc) is way better than the VCD format, I thought I could with a lower res video put more footage on DVD media, considering that people have medium to lower end VCRs recorded in SP and LP modes... Do you think if I burned footage created in VCD format burn in to DVD media, will these kinds of DVDR play on DVDs, or DVD/VCD players? Which one and please explain.

<Reply requested>

[LarryBoy]

A question on quality of converted movies....

Will the quality of home video burned to DVD or SVCD be the same as if I was watching the video directly from my Hi 8 camcorder on TV?

I'm looking for a way to copy my movies to a longer lasting format without any loss of quality. Is this possible?

[kitty]

The best possible solution is probably to capture at DVD resolution and burn to DVD-R. You might get a SVCD to look as good as the tape at a lower cost but in the long run if you are looking for archival for the long term DVD will be around long after the SVCDs.

Still if you are on a budget the SVCD with proper settings will probably look fine. SVCDs don't play on every DVD player so look in the DVD players list at left for compatability. Also a CD-R is a dime and a DVD-R $2 and up. A CD burner is <$100 and a Pioneer A04 DVD-R Maybe $400.

Food 4 thought.