How involved is it to take footage from mindv and put it on DVDs?

Is the process pretty involved? Do I need to purchase additional software to edit footage and convert it to a playable dvd format (on a home dvd player)??? Or does the camera come with software that will do this???

Sucks that you can not demo this aspect at the store. And I don't really trust the sales clerks to give me accurate info.

I create DVD's from MiniDV or Digital8 camcorders using this basic method:

1. Transfer my video data from my camcorder to my computer as DV-AVI files via Firewire which is also called i.Link or IEEE 1394. Because various software can "encode" your video to various undesired formats it is best to transfer the video in its highest quality which is DV-AVI. I use WinDV to do the transfer it can be downloaded at: http://windv.mourek.cz/ or another utility that works well is DVIO: http://www.carr-engineering.com/dvio.htm . Both programs are small and free.

2. Edit the .AVI file in editor as desired. I have used a variety of editors from Windows Movie Maker to Sony Vegas 5.

3. Save edited file as a DV AVI file when finished editing.

4. Import the edited .AVI file to a DVD Authoring program (which encodes .AVI to MPEG-2, makes menus, creates file structures then writes DVD).

There can be some slight variations on the above.

DV AVI files are approximately 220 MB per minute or 13 GB per hour.

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Software - There is a variety of software available for editing video and/or creating DVD menus and authoring DVD's. If you want a good editing package which will do everything above I would seriously consider, Adobe Premiere Elements 2.0, Sony Vegas Movie Studio + DVD, Sony Vegas Movie Studio+DVD Platinum Edition or Ulead VideoStudio 10. They are reasonably priced, have good support forums and there have been many people here who have used them with good results. Here is a List of Video Editing Software which I periodically update.

Dennis Vogel has also written a good DVD tutorial which goes into more depth of DVD creation.

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Another method to create DVD's from a MiniDV camcorder is to output or play the video to an appropiate standalone DVD recorder. (Have never done this, but others have). There are some other explanations in these two seperate posts by DaveC:

Thread: MiniDV or DVD camcorder? View Single Post

Thread: Digitizing Direct To DVD - LiteOn 5005 View Single Post

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Rich

it's me again..i don't wanna be sounded stupid but i really couldn't work this approach out...it's my first time to be doing this but unfortunately,it didn't work...after i've connected the cable and opened windv to capture the videos from my mini-dv to my pc..the window would say...ERROR,no video file found...i've checked all the connections and they're ok...have i missed anything else?...i wish you can help me out...thank you!

Did you record video on your tape? Did you power up the cam? Did you rewind the tape to the start? Did you put the cam in playback or VCR or whatever mode it's called on your cam? All of these are essential before WinDV or any capture program will work correctly.

Sorry if this sounds too basic but people (me included) sometimes forget the simplest things.

Good luck.

Dennis

ok i have a jvc gr-d32u
and i was first of all wondering
it says it can use ilink or mini dv or ieee1394
can i still use firewire?
and i have a fire wire port
is this what itlooks like

and i was also wondering does firewire work with this cam?
how much does a firewire cable cost?
and will firewire work?
cuase its a mini dv cam and i was juust wodnmering if this will work
and btw its for transfering onto the computer

Firewire, i.Link and IEEE1394 are all the same thing.

The JVC GR-D32U has a Firewire terminal, it is usually marked or identified in the manual as the "DV" terminal. Do not confuse it with the USB terminal if your camcorder has one.


The attached picture appears to be a Firewire terminal.
I've seen Firewire cables from $5.00 to $40.00, I think I paid about $15.00 for mine at a computer store a few years ago.


Rich

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I understand steps 1-3, but am confused with step 4. If I am using WMM in step 2, why not just save the "movie" to a DVD?

If you are creating a DVD to be played in a standalone DVD player the video and audio must be encoded into the MPEG2 format also DVD menus and DVD file structures need to be created and then it has to be written to the DVD. Windows Movie Maker is primarily an editor and can only encode to DV-AVI or the Microsoft .WMV format. It can not encode to MPEG2, and it can not create DVD menus, DVD file structures or write to the DVD.

It may be possible to create what is called a "Data DVD" however that will not play on a standalone DVD player.

Rich

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Grammy444, I moved our discussion to your original thread to prevent confusion:

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/bbs/sh...ad.php?t=129862



Rich

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This is the first thing I did when I got my camcorder - nothing could be easier - just pluged it into the DVD player / recorder - I have an LG Hard drive DVD player recorder so I just recorded it onto the hard drive. Although I could do a fair amount of editing on the DVD player it wasn't enough. Well getting it onto the computer is also fairly easy but initally I was trying to do it through a USB port and thats a No No - Must use FireWire. Anyway the guys on this forum helped me sort that out.

The DVD maker software list quoted by Rich is very useful. I have used pinnacle studio 9 and was disappointed. I could capture, edit and render minidv film but the DVD disc creation would fail all the time. I get a message "create disc failed". It takes a long time to to capture, edit and render and finally the disc is not created. I am not intending to spend any more money to buy another software. Has anyone used any of the freeware that can be used for the above purpose. Just now I am have made a video in windows media player in DV-AVI (PAL) output format and I am using a freeware which converts this into mpg and writes on DVD. The raw data on this programme has extension which is .VOB. Can someone kindly highlight whether this is appropriate and whether the DVD disc play on a normal DVD player.

Many thanks
Sree

VOB files are part of a standard DVD. There are other files and directories also on the DVD.

If it was authored properly it should play on a DVD player.



Rich

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See here for more info on the DVD file/folder structure.

Good luck.

Dennis

Ok for a seamles way to do this you need to cover all the bases.

1) Computer: you need something that's powerful enough to handle all the 'RENDERING'. that means edited FRAMES of footage will need to be DRAWN ('rendered') to either AVI or Mpeg2 (the default DVD compressed movie format). Normally this means having at least a 1.6 or 1.8Ghz computer with at least 512meg RAM. You'd also need a reliable DVD-R/W writer that can do DVD-R and DVD+R and DVD-R/W formats like the Sony DRU-710A. It should also come with a rudimentary BURNER software. This software is used for burning the DVD. The best one out there is NERO 6.0. It should be also be able to handle hopefully the 8.5Gig Dual layer DVD-/+R disks. You need a big HD like 120 gig and ideal is 200gig and up with the first HD around 60 or 80 gig. Preferably TWO HD's, one for all your programs (applications) and OS, and another for all the video footage use ONLY. Look for at least ATA/166 or SATA type of drives with at least 7200 rpm if you can afford SCSI drives use them. You also would need Firewire 1394 and USB2.0 support for some camcorders. Then there is the issue of video card. Most NLE (non-linear editing) software now support 'hardware accelerated' OpenGL transition effects so you need at least a GeForceFX 5200 or an ATI Radeon. A good souncard is a must too like Audigy 2 or Turtle beach Catalina or Santa Cruz.

2) DVD player: The DVD player you need SHOULD be able to specifically say it can play DVD-R and DVD+R disks made from a computer. If your DVD player is older, the DVD you made on your computer may SKIP,REFUSE to PLAY or PLAY only in PARTS.

3) NLE software: This is the actual software you use for editing for imported footage. Most NLE's can import via Firewire directly while others need a dedicated video capture card/device. Pinnacle Studio 9, Ulead VideoStudio,Premiere and Vegas 5.0 are some examples.

4) DVD Authoring software; This is the software you use for making your DVD. This means you sue this software for making DVD MENUs like SCENE SELECTIONS and for making still photo libaries stored on the disk. This is different from a DVD BURNER software although SOME DVD auhtoring software do BURN DVD's for your directly. MOst people prefer to BURN DVD-R/+R using a burner software than let a DVD Authoring do it because its safer. MOst famous of this is Sony's DVD Architect 2.0.

5) DVD media: Now this is where things gets interesting. The DVD media you use (meaning BRAND) CAN affect the compatibility of your BURNED DVD but not always. This is where you need to test things out and stick with either the recommended MEDIA by your DVD BURNER manufacturer.

No most camcorders will not include a NLE or a DVD auhtoring software BUT most DVD BURNERS are bundled with some BASIC CD/DVD burner software. The software included in most camcorders are either really basic NLEs or for DIGITAL STILL PHOTO capture and use only.

Your basic worflow for this is as follows:

1) Capture footage via firewire into computer, it will be saved as uncompressed DV in AVI format.

2) Edit footage in NLE using transition effects.

3) RENDER the edited footage to either AVI or MPEG2.

4) Import the edited AVI or MPEG2 footage in your DVD authoring software and either CREATE PROJECT files or directly BURN it on a DVD-/+R

5) Some people prefer to just CREATE PROJECT and actually BURN the DVD-/+R using a BURNER software like NERO.

6) Play the DVD on your DVD player.

I hope that clarifies the issue.

PS: Sorry Rich I didn't know you replied too

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-Arnold

That is OK. There is nothing wrong with getting two or more opinions. And both opinions seem to be about the same, more detail in some areas, but that is good.

Rich

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