Program for DV camera to Computer to DVD

[videogirl]

I am looking to transfer live from a Sony PD-170 into my laptop. (several hours at a time) I would like to use my computer as a monitor as well. I then would like to transfer the video back onto DVD. There will be little editing done. Can anyone tell me what the best program would be for this.

[guns1inger]

A pretty general question, so you will get a pretty general answer.

Premiere Elements or Sony Vegas Movie Studio are both solid entry level programmes that can capture, edit and create DVD output. They both have good pedigrees, given that they are essentially cut down versions of Premiere and Vegas respectively.

That said, depending on what you expectations really are for editing and DVD authoring, you might find these a little limited. If you can be more specific on your needs I could answer you with more details.

Also be aware that you will be eating a lot of disc space, with DV requiring around 13GB per hour of footage.

[videogirl]

I do realize how much space is required. I have a 200 GB hard drive and a 500 GB External. Currently I have downloaded the free trial of DV rack. Which works well for monitoring the video but everytime you pause your camera it makes a new clip. I am using this video for legal depositions so it needs to be seamless. Mainly record straight from the camera, into the computer, be able to see it live on the computer (as a monitor) and at the end copy to DVD. I really do not need editing.

[guns1inger]

Most software will break if you pause or turn off the camera. You might be able to get around it by turning off device control so that capture program just takes the feed regardless of what the camera is actually doing, so long as you don't turn it off. However if you do pause, chances are the program will continue to record, not pause waiting for you.