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Why is it so hard to create a video cd/dvd on a windows machine?

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techidave:
Just run into this problem today at school and it is driving me nuts.  Definitely not my area of expertise  :-[ :P

We taped our basketball game yesterday to a mini-DV tape.  I am supposed to copy it off on cd or dvd for the coach.  I have a Toshiba DR420 (?) digital vidoe recorder hooked to my tv.  if i copy to this recorder it works fine on a dvd player hooked to a tv.  it finalizes the disk when done and its menu has no options for the type of format you would like it to be in (avi,wmv, etc).  the Sony Handycam HC26 or HCR26 (whatever) doesn't have any options on what format you record in.  Manual has a 2006 copyright date on it.

My computer is Win XP Pro SP3.

If I take said dvd made above, it will not play in a computer.  If I look at explorer, it says it is blank and shows no files or folders.  Put it in a tv and it will play.  go figure.

I tried the Sony Picture Viewer or whatever its called that came with it.  It looks like Windows 3.1.  I can copy to my computers hard drive but my 51 minute tape swells to 10 gigabytes!  I cannot use the sony software even though I am supposed to be able to burn it to a cd.  It doesn't recognize my cd burner.   :(

I can copy from my camera using Windows Movie Maker (version 2) and it will copy it in about 500 meg making it into a wmv.

So now how in the world do I copy that on to a cd or dvd?????  so that it plays in anything???  I am using xp pro and have tried Pinnacle videospin with no luck.  I would prefer a free solution if possible.  maybe Vegas??

Maybe there is a piece of software that will copy it from our Handycam to the computer and then have the option to burn it to a cd or dvd capable of playing on anything.  Maybe it already exists within Windows  XP??

I could order one of those Sony's One touch DVRecorders for about $200 but that will be a last resort.

thanks in advance for any ideas/advice,
Dave 

4wd:
MiniDV has a data cost of approximately 1GB per 4 minutes of footage.

So 10GB will be approximately 40-50 minutes of footage - this is an AVI in raw DV format.

The DV codec is pretty standard on Windows machines so you should be able to use any All-in-one type video to DVD converter, check the thread here.

If you want to do a bit of editing first, then AVIDemux is free and will let you do it - you can then output to a DVD compliant MPG stream, (Auto->Optical Disc->DVD), which can be written directly to a DVD and any decent standard DVD player will be able to read it directly.

If you want to turn the output MPG into a properly formatted DVD then one of the converters in the thread above should do it without re-encoding.

Personally, I use Scenalyzer Live for transferring DV to the computer - nothing comes close to the ease with which this program works.  If you use MiniDV at a consumer level then quite frankly, I don't know how you can not use this program.  It makes the first step of choosing what to keep/remove so much easier.

For editing and encoding, AVIDemux, and for authoring DVDLab Pro - if you're not interested in menus or want simple menus only then the basic All-in-one converters will suffice.

Curt:
and for once with perfect timing: http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/ashampoo-myautoplay-menu/
but be sure to remember to disable MyAshampoo Toolbar during installation!  

However, the gift is of course ment to make you upgrade:
 
As a user of Ashampoo® MyAutoplay Menu, we would like to present to you a new and much more powerful successor version of your current program:

Ashampoo® Burning Studio 10

Now available for you! We would like to invite you, as a loyal customer, to test this new version free and without obligation now. Take the opportunity of our fantastic top offer today and make sure to get your upgrade for the brand-new version.

Buy your upgrade now for only 19.99 USD instead of 49.99 USD
--- End quote ---

Dormouse:
Personally, I use Scenalyzer Live for transferring DV to the computer - nothing comes close to the ease with which this program works.  If you use MiniDV at a consumer level then quite frankly, I don't know how you can not use this program.  It makes the first step of choosing what to keep/remove so much easier.
-4wd (December 09, 2010, 01:00 AM)
--- End quote ---

Do you use the free or shareware version. I note that even the paid version is five years old & pre Vista & 7.

4wd:
Personally, I use Scenalyzer Live for transferring DV to the computer - nothing comes close to the ease with which this program works.  If you use MiniDV at a consumer level then quite frankly, I don't know how you can not use this program.  It makes the first step of choosing what to keep/remove so much easier.
-4wd (December 09, 2010, 01:00 AM)
--- End quote ---

Do you use the free or shareware version. I note that even the paid version is five years old & pre Vista & 7.
-Dormouse (December 09, 2010, 03:03 AM)
--- End quote ---

I bought it more than 5 years ago, (IIRC about 8 years ago - so long ago I no longer have the original email purchase), I used the free version for all of an hour or two before deciding it really was worth the money.

It works fine on Win7 - probably the greatest disadvantage it has is that these days there are very few consumer level MiniDV camcorders available compared to a few years ago.  Everything has or is going to H.264 on flash or HDD and accessed via USB.

Still, I'll use it for as long as my MiniDV camcorder hangs together - although I do eye off the flash based HD camcorders occasionally, especially considering the difference in weight between them and my old Sony TRV-10E.

If anyone has a flash based camcorder I'd be interested to know whether Scenalyzer works with it.  I'm hoping that it's not tied to IEEE1394 and it can just use whatever codecs are installed for it's display.

and for once with perfect timing: http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/ashampoo-myautoplay-menu/
but be sure to remember to disable MyAshampoo Toolbar during installation!  -Curt (December 09, 2010, 02:34 AM)
--- End quote ---

I believe that's for program disc menus, (eg. Installer menus when you insert a CD/DVD), not much good for video DVDs.

EDIT: DOH! I get your point about the Burning Studio - still there's plenty of free programs that will do the same, author and burn.

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