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Newbie to DVD-video needs advice

P

PolymerTim

Senior member
Hey guys,

I'm brand new to digital video and was hoping to get some advice on a few things. First, a short description of what I have:
-A digital video camera that records to miniDV and has USB2.0 output.
-A relatively new computer with Windows Vista
-Windows Movie Maker and DVD Maker standard with Vista

So, I figured I had everything I needed to at least get started and everything seems to be going well except for a compatibility problem on my parents DVD player. I can burn the DVD, watch it on my computer, and watch it on the DVD player built into my TV, but my parents DVD player doesn't recognize the disc. I'll have to get the specs on their DVD player, but its not very old at all. It is one of those VHS-DVD burner decks that can convert VHS directly to DVD-R. I even tried using a disc from the same pack they use to copy VHS tapes to rule out media problems.

Basically, I'm looking for advice on how overcome the compatibility problem. If buying some DVD authoring software will help me, I'm open to that, since I was considering that any way. Nothing too complicated, just something that gives me a little room to grow and experiment. Any suggestions?

Along the same lines, what software do people prefer to use? What would you reccommend in my situation? I've found some great guides on the internet, but it seems like they were all published between 1999 and 2005. Can't help but think that software reccommendations in those are pretty outdated. Does anyone know of anyone newer good guides?

Thanks guys,
Tim
 
Thanks for the referral, I will definitely try out video help.

As for media type, I know that they require DVD-R, but I've think I've ruled out media as the problem by trying a DVD-R off of the same spindle they are already using to burn there copies of their own VHS tapes.
 
It may be an issue with the codec you are using, or the format the DVD is being burned in. Are you burning the disc as a DVD-video? Are you encoding them in MPEG2, which is pretty standard for DVD movies?
 
That's my best guess at this point to, but, unfortunately, the software that comes with Windows Vista gives you no options at all on how it is encoded or burned. The only info I could find in the help file is that it is burning a DVD-video disc and the audio encoding is Dolby Digital Recording at 256 Kbps, but no info on the video encoding. But from the description of the software, its sole purpose is to create DVD videos that you can play in a standard DVD player for your TV.

My best guess is that it is close enough to standard DVD-video that most players accept it (like mine), but apparently not all of them (like my parent's). I found a free trial of the TMPEGen software that I'm going to try and see if that solves the problem. I don't mind buying some software as long as it can solve the compatibility problem.

Thanks for the responses guys. Let me know if you have any other ideas.

-Tim
 
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