I'm massively confused: Want to fit about 2 hours worth of video on a DVD

[karlcward]

Can anyone help me please? I'm lost in a world of terminology...

I have lots of family video and want to make a DVD of all edited clips from 2009. The clips are captured in .avi format, using a compact camera (not a camcorder). A typical clip is 44 seconds long, is 640x480, has a data rate of 15642kbps and a total bitrate of 16347kbps.

I think I need to convert the files to another format so I can fit about 2 hours worth of video on a DVD, but what format do I need to use? I can't make sense of all the chat about dv-avi, mpeg-2 etc.

I have Windows Movie Maker and Cyberlink PowerDirector on my laptop and would prefer not to buy anything unless it's amazing.

Can someone please tell me what to do to. I'm stumped.

[edDV]

Tell us the camera model and format if you know it. AVI is a container not a format.

[redwudz]

If you want to create a DVD that playable on a regular set top DVD player, you need to convert to a DVD compatible format. That would be MPEG-2 with AC3 or PCM audio most commonly. You need a MPEG encoder. Then you would author that encoded file to a DVD compatible one with a authoring program, then burn it to disc.

I left out the editing part. Best to to that in the original format before encoding to MPEG.

Windows Movie Maker might be able to do all that. Never used it.

Or you can use a all in one converter such as AVStoDVD or one from our 'Tools' section: https://www.videohelp.com/tools/sections/all-in-one-dvd-converters

And karlcward, in the future please use a more descriptive subject title in your posts to allow others to search for similar topics. I will change yours this time. From our rules:

Try to choose a subject that describes your topic.
Please do not use topic subjects like Help me!!! or Problems.

Thanks,
Moderator redwudz

And welcome to our forums.