Copying video from camera to DVD

[skb1951 Profile Private message]

This is probably a silly question, but I know the experts on this site will provide me with a good answer. What I would like to do is copy the video taken with my video camera to a DVD that will play a DVD player. Is there a particular process that must be done to enable the video to play on a DVD player. I tried just copying to the DVD but when I went to play it on my DVD player it didn't read/play the video. I then put it into PSP and rendered it like it was a show and it played fine. Any suggestions/advice anyone can give me on how to do this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Sue

[VernonRobinson Profile Private message]

Sue,
If you have the video playing in Producer, then you are almost home. I will give you the simplest instructions. You need to do the following steps:

1. Select Create Output
2. Select Create DVD
3. Select the Burning Tab
4. On the top of the screen make sure that your DVD Burner is selected under DVD Writer.
5. Press the Create Button in the lower right corner.

This should render your video and burn to your burner. Some computers have trouble burning directly and have to use the ISO method instead of a direct burn. If you need help with a burner malfunction, search for ISO in the forum. This has been discussed many times.

You can read more about how to burn a DVD, create a menu, etc in the ProShow User Manual. Chapter 13 talks about Creating Output for Television. You can get a copy of the guide here:
http://www.photodex.com/support/resources

if you need further clarification do not hesistate to post back.

Regards,
-Vernon

[skb1951 Profile Private message]

Thanks Veron. I guess I really didn't make myself very clear. What I meant to ask was is there a way to do this outside of PSP?

Thanks again for your reply.


Sue

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

Well, yes and no - you can't copy the output of your camera (in general - it depends on what the camera is generating) direct to a DVD and expect it to play. A DVD is a specific format disk and the video is an mpeg2 file with specific characteristics. What you really need is something like Sony Vegas Movie Studio or Premiere Elements to be able to handle the video, edit it as you want then create a DVD. Typically a DVD has a specific file structure on the disk and the video segments are part of that file structure located in a VIDEO_TS folder. I believe some cameras can write to a DVD directly in a playable format, but that is not the normal for most video cameras - they typically either use tape (usually in a DV format) or many of the newer ones write to either some form of memory stick/card or a hard drive in the camera. Unfortunately, there are quite a few different formats used for video storage by the cameras and you need to determine which format you are using. If you are interested in what a DVD file structure looks like, check out this link --
http://www.videohelp.com/dvd

mikey

[VernonRobinson Profile Private message]

Sue,
Mikey has given you some good advice. The format of your camera typically does not match the DVD specifications. The camera manufacturers are trying to put as much information on the storage medium (e.g. tape, hard drive, memory card) as possible. So there are some standard encoding formats out there (e.g. DV-AVI, AVCHD, etc) and some proprietary formats that camera manufacturers use. A tool like ProShow, Premiere, or Vegas takes these formats, allow you to edit and then reformats them to the DVD, Blu-Ray, or some other format. There was a period of time where people used mini-DV cameras that wrote to 3 inch CDs, that once closed, could be played directly in a DVD player. These have fallen out of favor due to the limited storage capacity of the 3 in DVD.

So the short answer to your question is that youj need some type of editor that will allow you take your camera's format and put it into a DVD format.

Regards,
-Vernon

[Richardh]

The simplest solution is to just buy a DVD player/recorder. They are only around $150 and you just plug your camera into them and record onto a DVD like you would a VHS tape. It is much faster and easier than trying to use a computer for the whole process.

I use to mess around all the time trying to capture video from my Video Camera, render it in the right format, and then burn it. Messing around with interlace and deinterlace, etc. etc.

If you don't need to edit the video, add titles, menus, and fancy stuff, it is a much easier solution. Works great also when you just used your camera to record some footage that you need to hurry and give it to someone.

[skb1951 Profile Private message]

Thanks, Vernon, Mikey & Richard. That is exactly what I was looking for. Mikey, I actually have Adobe Premiere Elements 8. I got both elements and photoshop for Christmas and haven't used elements yet. I'm assisting our local animal shelter. They have been giving classes on proper pet care at our local schools and video taped one of the classes. They asked if I could copy it to a DVD so they could use it as a training tool for training other volunteers. The first one I did do in PSP but it was very slow, so I was hoping that I could use another program that might be a little faster. Guess I'd better get out the elements book and read...lol


Thanks again everyone. You're the best.

Sue