Downloading DV to the computer....

[RickSp]

Only problem I'm having now, is I found out I don't have a DVD burner. Thought I did but it's only a CD-R/CD-RW burner. Supposedly you can burn the movies on a regular CD-R as a video file that most DVD players can read.

Anybody have any opinions or advice on the different output formats for playing on a DVD player?

Thanks!
WD

You can burn VCDs (Video CDs) which can be read my most but not all DVD players. VCDs are fast, cheap and can hold about an hour's worth of footage. The problem with VCDs is that the quality is slightly worse than VHS. If you get use to DVD quality, VCDs start looking horrible, at least by comparison.

DVD burners are relatively inexpensive these days. I have an external burner - an HP DVD Writer dvd420e. It is old enough now that there is a probably a new model out by now. You will also need good authoring software to convert your edited footage into a DVD. My favorite now is Sony DVD Architect, but there are lots of packages out there in every price range.

 

[JeffG]

You can burn VCDs (Video CDs) which can be read my most but not all DVD players. VCDs are fast, cheap and can hold about an hour's worth of footage. The problem with VCDs is that the quality is slightly worse than VHS. If you get use to DVD quality, VCDs start looking horrible, at least by comparison.

DVD burners are relatively inexpensive these days. I have an external burner - an HP DVD Writer dvd420e. It is old enough now that there is a probably a new model out by now. You will also need good authoring software to convert your edited footage into a DVD. My favorite now is Sony DVD Architect, but there are lots of packages out there in every price range.

You can also burn S-VCD's. They have good quality. A CD holds about 20 minutes of video at this quality.

But DVD burners are so cheap now its the way to go.

I ended up using ULEAD as my editing software. It was easy to use and faster than most of the other packages out there (and has enough bells and whistles to keep most techno geeks happy).

 

[diversteve]

Most, but not all of the multi-format home DVD players, the ones that play CD-R's/CD-RW's etc. will play VCD's. Although I have two of them, the odd thing is that the cheap one(Apex) plays everything, while my better Sony won't. They both list the same formats in their specs. though.

I saw a Sony 16X DVD burner for under $80 at Fry's Electronics this weekend, I'd replace your existing drive so you won't have compatibility issues. And you can author longer DVD's than VCD's if desired - 4.7GB vs. 800MB. And the quality will be much better.

What RickSP probably wasn't aware of is that Pinnacle Studio9 has DVD Authoring and menu creation built-in. Though not the best, it works. If you buy a DVD burner, a lot of them come with Nero Vision Express, it will burn DVD's with menus, transitions etc.

And fwiw, I've had much better success burning DVD -R's than DVD +R's to be read in a variety of players at friends/families.

 

[manumit]

DVD+R is used for data backup rather than video.

Kurt
---

Most, but not all of the multi-format home DVD players, the ones that play CD-R's/CD-RW's etc. will play VCD's. Although I have two of them, the odd thing is that the cheap one(Apex) plays everything, while my better Sony won't. They both list the same formats in their specs. though.

I saw a Sony 16X DVD burner for under $80 at Fry's Electronics this weekend, I'd replace your existing drive so you won't have compatibility issues. And you can author longer DVD's than VCD's if desired - 4.7GB vs. 800MB. And the quality will be much better.

What RickSP probably wasn't aware of is that Pinnacle Studio9 has DVD Authoring and menu creation built-in. Though not the best, it works. If you buy a DVD burner, a lot of them come with Nero Vision Express, it will burn DVD's with menus, transitions etc.

And fwiw, I've had much better success burning DVD -R's than DVD +R's to be read in a variety of players at friends/families.

 

[PerroneFord]

DVD+R is used for data backup rather than video.

Kurt
---

I'm sorry, this is simply incorrect. DVD-R and DVD+R are both video storage formats. They are competiting standards both with their own advantages and disadvantages. I prefer the +R for any number of reasons. Both are about equally compatible in players. A bit of internet searching will land you a comparison of the formats without me having to display my bias here.

I produce about 20 DVDs a month, and have capability to produce +R, -R, +WR, -RW, and also the Dual Layer formats which hold 8GB per side of either Data or Video.

 

[RickSp]

I think you must be referring to DVD-ROM which is a data format. DVD+R and DVD-R are competing video formats. The concensus these days is that DVD-R is slightly more compatable with most players than DVD+R but both are popular and both are usually just fine for video.

 

[PerroneFord]

he concensus these days is that DVD-R is slightly more compatable with most players than DVD+R

Not trying to be argumentative, but where did you hear/read this? I spent about 2 months researching this early this year and didn't find anything giving any kind of consensus. I selected DVD+R for its compatibility without finalizing, for it's thumbnail generation, and some other technical reasons.
Just wondering. Both work just fine in my 2nd generation DVD player, but neither work in my 1st generation DVD player.

 

[RickSp]

Not trying to be argumentative, but where did you hear/read this? I spent about 2 months researching this early this year and didn't find anything giving any kind of consensus. I selected DVD+R for its compatibility without finalizing, for it's thumbnail generation, and some other technical reasons.
Just wondering. Both work just fine in my 2nd generation DVD player, but neither work in my 1st generation DVD player.

I've burned both and have never noticed the difference. I have read from several sources that DVD-R is slightly more compatible that DVD+R. The figures I've seen vary but suggest that -R compatibility is in the high 90s while +R is in the high 80% range of compatibility. DVD Media Format Compatibility Tests

I read it on the internet so it must be true. (Which is to say that I can't really confirm the reliability of the data.)

 

[diversteve]

Videohelp.com lists similar results, 93% for -R, 89% for +R. They also break it down by media mfr. and player mfr. if you want to wade through all the detail.

http://www.videohelp.com/dvd

 

[PerroneFord]

Videohelp.com lists similar results, 93% for -R, 89% for +R. They also break it down by media mfr. and player mfr. if you want to wade through all the detail.

http://www.videohelp.com/dvd

Excellent! Thanks for the links guys.