Need some advice re: AVI to mpeg for DVD ...

[cmeisenzahl]

Very glad to have found this forum. I took a good look around but frankly I was overwhelmed by the amount of info on this site.

For my hardware I have:

-Celeron 2.0 overclocked to 2.6 ghz, 512mb OR RAM AND 128mb Radeon card, NEC dual layer DVD burner
- 12" G4 iBook with 1.2gb RAM and ComboDrive (can't burn DVDs, only CDs)
- JVC MiniDV Camcorder

Software:
Windows XP
Nero 6.0
MovieMaker

OS X Panther on the iBook


I've been able to hookup my camcorder to XP via the firewire cable. I can import video into Moviemaker ok. I chose .avi over .wmv since it seems .avi might be better for eventually moving my data to DVDs?

I would ultimately like to move my home video to a DVD that can be played in the DVD players w/ our TVs. My DVD player also supports VCD.

Now that I've captured some video to my HD, what's next? What tools do I need to get them to a video DVD I can give to grandparents, friends, etc.?

Which tools are freeware or open-source? I'm not a complete newbie, I know how to burn CDs.

What tools should I grab? What are my next steps? Any tips or words of wisdom? A specific FAQ I should read? Anything I didn't even know enough to ask?


All info and advice very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance and have a great day,

Chris


p.s. I used some freeware I found to make a VCD out of a QT .mov on the iBook a few days ago. It looked horrible on my TV, all pixelated and the sound was about 2 seconds out of sync from the video.

[jdizzy40]

Knowing how to burn a CD is lightyears away from knowing how to convert files (encode) and produce a DVD with or without menu. Time for you to do some homework. Look to the left of this web site under "How To""Convert" and you will find how and what tools to use to convert your AVI to MPEG. It's your choice wether to get "Freeware" or "Pay" for your tool. Next you will want to "Author" your video. If you want to keep the footage untouched without fancy stuff like transitions, then go straight to a neat little program like TMPGEnc DVD Author. You can try out the full version as a trial and see if it works for you. Its stable, consistant and easy to use. You may also want to invest in a seperate MPEG Editor to whop and chop any unwanted scenes out if you choose to use another authoring/DVD Building program like Vegas Movie and DVD. Hope that gives you a start in the right direction. It's very important to become familiar will the glossary of terms and their meaning so that you can communicate what you want to do. Words do have different meanings. Good luck! And please post back on your efforts.

[edDV]

You can edit your DV-AVI in Movie Maker 2 but it will not encode there. If you edit there, be sure to save the timeline in DV-AVI format.

If you upgrade your Nero to 6.x Ultra, then you can edit, encode,author and burn a DVD from there.

If you want a better solution TMPGEnc DVD Author is good. A somewhat simpler and cheaper program is ULead Movie Factory. Another approach is ULead Video Studio 8 Suite. Sony makes a simplified version of Vegas called Vegas Movie Studio. It includes DVD authoring software. Adobe makes a DV format only program called Premiere Elements that also includes basic DVD authoring.

These products will work well.