Copy .WMV movie files to a DVD

[w1av]

Hello, I am a NEWBIE for sure with this stuff! What I want to do is create a DVD with a collection of my short .WMV movies I made. So what I do is, I have a DIGITAL CAMERA that takes VIDEOS as well as pictures. I realize the frame rate with digital camera videos is not terrific but I still get good results. Now I take some short clips of different scenes. Like this past weekend my kids and I made a horror movie that is 8 minutes long. Its just a test and my first attempt at a small video. Please bear with me so I can tell you the most information so you can help me. I took small clips between 10 and 20 seconds long. My camera saves video as .MOV files. I can't edit .MOV so I found a freeware program that quickly converts .MOV into .AVI. It works good with no problems. So now I import each clip one at a time into Windows Movie Maker. I then added sepia tone to each clip. I then add the option to make the clips look "old" like an old movie. I have each clip "fade in" from black. I then added a "soundtrack" from mp3 files from an old video game to give it a more creepy atmosphere. The location was an old abandoned mental facility and cemetary. I like the way it came out with titles and all. I kept it short, like I said at 8 minutes. When asked to save movie to computer I choose "small high quality". I realize it's not full screen video, but the small format looks OK to me. When saved, the video is now a .WMV format.
Now what I want to do is make a few more of these movies of different topics and put them on a DVD to be able to watch them on a TV. Do I have to convert the .WMV to some other format that will be able to burn to DVD and play on regular dvd player? I have seem some free software on this site that allows you to convert .WMV to DVD. I have no clue what to do.
I need to get a DVD burner for my computer, which is no problem. So I will get that sometime this month. But I need to know how to burn my little movies onto a DVD. And also how can I make a MENU to choose from? Can I make the menu in HTML? I really don't know much about the DVD format. I am trying to keep my projects within the abilities of my limited equipment. So far I have had good luck with the videos. They are small enuff to store on USB pen drive. So if anyone can help I will be eternally grateful.....bob

[Baldrick]

No, you can't make menus in html if you want it to work on dvd players.

You can use an all-in-one dvd authoring and converting tool like NeroVision or Ulead DVD Workshop and add the wmv and make menus and burn it.
All-in-one dvd authoring tools

Or if you want more control of what you are doing use tandalone dvd mpeg encoder like tmpgenc xpress and convert to mpg file. Then author it with Tmpgenc DVD Author or a free tool like guifordvdauthor to make menus and burn it.
Standalone DVD Mpeg encoders
DVD Authoring tools


And I would recommend that you save as dv-avi in window movie maker instead of the very lossy wmv format.

[mats.hogberg]

You should save out of WMM as DV Video, then encode the DV to DVD spec mpg using some competent encoder like CCE or TMPGEnc (or freeware hcenc), and lastly author with TDA (which will help you with your menu creation too) or other.

/Mats

[thecoalman]

I believe you can import mov files directly into Ulead Movie Factory and Video Studio. Both can author discs...

As you seem to be aware it's not the best source for putting on DVD to begin with... going through all those steps is just going to step all over it some more. If you find you have an interest I'd suggest getting a mini-dv camcorder. Even the cheapest one will give you better video for TV than a still camera. It's easier, better quality, etc.

[w1av]

Hello, well I tried saving my 8 minute .wmv movie as a "dv-avi" in Windows movie maker. But the resulting file was 1.7 GIGABYTES!!!!! What happened? The original .wmv file was 175 MB in size. How did saving the project as a dv-avi increase it so huge? I was wondering why it took almost 2 hours to save!!!!! I did notice the quality was quite good tho but file is too big to do anything with. Especially for an 8 minute shorty movie. I did use effects which probably add to the size, but even so, the .wmv version was 175 MB. .....Any suggestions?

[mats.hogberg]

That's DV. It's huge. 13 GB/hour. Quite normal. And not too big to do anything useful with - on the contatry - excellent source material to do things with.
And for best result - Convert to DV first - then start making edits, fades, transitions & cetera.

/Mats