Easiest, Fastest DV->DVD

[glenn71x]

My friend has asked me to convert a few of his DV tapes to DVD.These require no editing. I have Vegas, but I am looking for the easiest, quickest way to capture and burn direct to DVD. All suggestions welcome! Thanks All

[lumis]

standalone dvd recorder with DV input, such as the pioneer dv-320s

if it were me doing it, i'd go the DV->pioneer way, extact the video from the dvd to my PC, then create menu, chapters, etc.

i rarely capture video with my PC anymore, dvd recorders do a create job at 1:1 speed, with excellent compatibility.

[GeorgeW]

I would agree with the DVD Recorder as it is often less painful than capture, author, burn.

But, if you want better menus (well, slightly better), you can use something like Ulead's DVD MovieFactory 4.0DC that has a direct-to-disc function. You setup some menu templates that you want to use, set it to insert chapters every "x" minutes, or at every scene change, and then start the capture process. It captures/encodes/burns direct-to-disc. You will need to have a somewhat fast computer in order to get this to work properly...

[glenn71x]

Yeah I am definitelylooking more towards a software solution as I don't feel like dropping $300 on a machine just for my buddy! Ha

[GeorgeW]

lol, I hear 'ya

There are some DVD Recorders with DV-In that go for under $100. The nice thing is that they can be used as an mpeg encoder, and the more you use it, you will find it will replace your VCR...

[glenn71x]

Really Under $100?? Any particular you are thinking of? Point Me there!

[GeorgeW]

CompUSA recently offered the LiteOn LVW-5005 for $99 (after rebate).

There's a DVD Recorder forum down below -- others might be able to point you towards their favorite (if I were in the market today, I would get one with a TBC and a builtin hard drive -- but it would be much more than $100).

[State Of Mind]

WinDV
VirtualDub + With auxsetup.exe (frameserver) installed.
TMPGEnc Plus
TMPGEnc DVD Author
DVD-/+R

[ktnwin]

The stand alone DVD recorder is the best way to convert analog / DV tapes to DVD. On top of that, you get a DVD recorder for future usage (record TV programs, etc...)

There is an other option using PC and software (in real time): use neoDVD software (better if have AC3 plug-in to compress video). I can capture DV to DVD in near real time (using 1.2GHz Athlon). This software is cheap. YOu can search neoDVD under Authoring Tools to see what this can do. There are a lot of infos about it in this site.
I converts lot of my VHS and DV tapes to DVD using this method as I do not want to spend money on DVD recorder yet. It's fast with excellent quality.

[Soopafresh]

The absolute easiest way via PC:


WinDV http://windv.mourek.cz/

DivxtoDVD (which will work on other format files as well). This is the fastest Mpeg2 encoder I've found, and will make the correct .VOB and .IFO files all in one step.