DVD burn for TV: hard disk camcorder mpeg-2 files edited in Vegas

[h08]

Hi,

I edited a short video using my Panasonic SDR-H18 hard disk camcorder as the source files. The clips were recorded in ratio 4:3 and in XP; the highest recording quality of the camera's three modes.

The files were originally imported from the camera to my pc's hard drive via Image Mixer 3 software that came with the camera. (I think it converts MOD files to mpg during import.)

It was edited in Sony Vegas Movie Studio 8 Platinum.
I am using the trial right now and it doesn't appear to have DVD architect -but I could also download the trial of that if it is recommended for this situation...

I do have Nero OEM version 6.6.0.19 and other Nero programs that came with my DVD burner - there is a burn DVD movie option...

Are the files I am editing already mpeg-2? When I render in Vegas; what render settings should I choose - MPEG-2? WMV?


Would it be pointless to burn a high quality AVI to be converted (I assume?) to mpeg-2 for DVD burn?

It's only 2 minutes long and has a stereo music soundtrack - a high quality AVI, (720x480/Best render quality), comes out to almost 500 mb.

A (320x240) WMV is about 16 mb.

I have DVD+R blanks, but am thinking of burning the actual on LightScribe. Should I pick up +R or -R?

I want to burn a DVD to be able to be viewed on a TV's DVD player. The thing is: I know that the person I am sending it to has a DVD player and TV - but I don't know what kind it is; how old, specs...
So, I want to make the DVD as universal as possible.

Thanks a lot for any advice.

[redwudz]

You can use Gspot 2.70 to see the format of your files and what their specifications are.

WMV doesn't serve any purpose if you plan to make a DVD.

Any time you change formats and re-encode, you will have some quality loss. You want to avoid as many re-encodes as possible.

For that short of a video file, you could use a MPEG-2 bitrate of about 9500Kbps and a frame size of 720 x 480 pixels. Audio can be PCM, as you have the room, or use AC3 with sample rates of 48000 Hz for either. Video framerate needs to be 29.97fps. All that is from the DVD specification.

If it's in DVD compatible MPEG-2 format, all you really need to do is author it to the DVD format and burn it. See 'WHAT IS' DVD to the upper left on this page for the DVD format, structure and specifications. Movie Studio should be able to do that. If not, you could use NeroVision or better would be a authoring program like TMPGEnc DVD Author or the freeware GUI for dvdauthor.

To make the most compatible DVD, you might want to use Verbatim or Taiyo Yuden DVD media. DVD + is slightly more compatible with older players, if you use booksetting. A information page here: http://www.booktypefaq.com/ Most newer burners and burning programs can do this, but I would recommend ImgBurn most times for burning DVDs.

[h08]

Thanks for your response and the software links/articles...that booktype setting is good to know.

I ended up downloading DVD Architect trial and using the MPEG-2 render with the DVD NTSC template.

It has the dimensions and frame rate you you recommended.

The DVD looks pretty decent.

[redwudz]

Glad it worked out for you. Most important is to understand the format and how it all works. Then you can use quite a few different programs to get to the same end product.