What is best resolution to Capture MiniDV to burn DVD's

[JJordan]

I boght a cheapo $20 firewire card to transfer my DV off my camera to the computer in the hopes I will be able to burn high quality DVD's and not have to keep the "tapes." I am still researching DVD burners, but want to start transferring to my computer now. The issue is -- what resolution and format should i use to get good quality DVD's from my digital camera. Do I need to buy software to do it or is Windows XP capture software good enough to use to capture it -- I do not plan to do a lot of editing for now, just capture. I am extremely new to this so if there is a tutorial I should read, ppint me the way

 

[JJordan]

Any help ? I transferred about 20 minutes at 720x someting and it was 6 GB of data. That won't work I assume for creating a DVD since I would like to have a little more than 20 minutes per DVD.

 

[oldfart]

DV is 720 x 480. DVD is 720 x 480. The best res for capture is...you guessed it, 720 x 480. Capture @ max quality for best results. The file will be ~ 13 Gig for 1 Hr.

After it is captured, you will need to render it to an MPEG2 DVD format. Once that is done, it will fit on a DVD disk. What program are you using?

 

[JJordan]

WOW, so how do I ever get that onto a 4.2 Gig DVD when I buy a burner ? Can you only get 15 minutes per DVD ?

 

[oldfart]

Missed that part of your post. The capture is in AVI with DV compression. You need software to convert to MPEG2/DVD format. Then it will fit.

 

[JJordan]

Thanks, I am just capturing (or learing to capture now) and using the windows capture program. Iam not going to be doing any real editing, just want to copy my tapes to DVD so they will play without camera. The firewire card came with a very basic Ulead video software. I know I need to buy something better, but do I need it now when I am just capturing the video ? I guess I probably do and will need a burner pertty fast since I only have an 80 Gig HD to play with before I have to start burning What is easy and basic for a job likethis ? And thanks for the information

 

[AnitaPeterson]

For capturing, especially through FireWire, any program will do. I suspect you got a SE version of Ulead VideoStudio, yes? Which version? If you have something like 6 or 7, then you might even try to see how it converts the AVI to MPEG2 (the compression is pretty good in these versions)... Otherwise, people I know use Pinnacle Studio 8, and there is even some freewares available.

Why don't you go to dvdrhelp.com and check out the tutorials?

 

[oldfart]

Pinnacle Studio 8 is pretty nice and is easy to use. It has capture/edit/author features.

 

[JJordan]

Video Studeo 5.0 is what they sent me. I had been to the dvdrhelp site and it is helping but for me at least not very easy to figure out -- maybe it is information overload. Thanks for the help and tips. I will read more.