Burn Home movies

[Tailgunner9]

What is the best software and codec to use to get the HIGHEST resolution, when I burn home movies to DVD for playback on home DVD player??? Thanks guys...........

[Nilfennasion]

So many variables have been left out of this question that need to be addressed.

In order:

* What is your source (format, resolution, Interlaced/Progressive, that sort of thing)?
* What media do you want to play it back on?
* What equipment do you wish to view it on?
* What is your level of expertise/obsession in video?

There are supplementals to each question, but these will suffice for starters.

Because with the phrasing of your question as it stands, you could get a whole heap of strange answers. If you merely wanted the highest resolution possible, you would be told to burn your source to a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD recordable, just for example. Resolution is a very source-dependent thing. If we do not know what your source is, then our ability to help you is going to be very limited at best.

[redwudz]

What kind of DVD player? If it only plays DVD, then you have to use that format. Some players can also play Divx/Xvid files.

For a regular DVD, see 'WHAT IS' DVD to the upper left on this page for the DVD specifications, format and structure. You will have to follow that to create a DVD complaint file.

What format are your home movies at present? If they are from a DV camcorder, you just need a FireWire card and cable most times to get them to the computer. If they are other formats, you would need a capture device.

The 'best' software and codec is a subjective choice. Most all the MPEG encoders are capable of similar quality. It's in the codec settings where the output quality is created. Mostly from the bitrate settings. Higher is better, but higher also makes a larger file. You should be able to get about one hour of high quality video on one standard DVD-5 disc. Freeware, try HC. You can use a front end program like FAVC to encode with. Or there are plenty of payware encoders. After encoding you need to author to the DVD format, then burn to disc.

And you may be able to do all this with a DVD recorder, so you might consider that option.

[Tailgunner9]

Sorry. My home player does not play Dvix. Too old I guess. Camcorder uses Mini-DV tape not HD. Used my Firewire to capture to computer. So need to get it burned to DVD now with the best picture quality. Running Vista and P4 3.06 HT 1Gb ram, 256Mb video, if this helps. Thanks for your help. New at this.

[MOVIEGEEK]

Free:
WMM (included with Vista)

Low price:
MyDVD
Ulead DVD MovieFactory

Mid price:
Ulead VideoStudio
Pinnacle Studio
NVE

High price:
Ulead MediaStudio Pro

All of them will encode,author and burn.Just select 720x480(576 PAL) and choose the bitrate:8Mbps for 1hr or 4Mbps for 2hrs.

[redwudz]

Keep your video running time to about one hour and try FAVC. It's freeware, so it's a good place to start. You can add HC as an encoder as it seems to be better quality than QuEnc. Vista already has the .net framework, so you shouldn't need to add that.