Making DVDs from MiniDV tapes ---> Help

[RichK]

Hi fellow OffCamberites,

I'd like to be able to transfer MiniDV tapes to DVDs, and there is quite an array of software & hardware out there.

Here are my computer & camera specs, if anyone has advice regarding what to buy, please let me know. Thanks.

Dell Desktop with W2K
20GB hard drive
256MB RAM
no firewire card yet
no editing software yet
no DVD burner yet
Camera: Canon Optura 20 MiniDV

I want to be able to:
1. Back up all miniDV tapes to DVD
2. Make simple DVDs with some titles in between tracks, and possibly add music.
3. Not spend a lot.

Is Pinnacle Studio what to get for simple software?
Do I need more computer muscle?
Best DVD writer?
Best firewire card?

[racer2c]

I have that same camera and have been making DVD's for quite some time.

You'll definitely need a firewire port. USB won't cut it.


As for editing software, I use a variety depending on what I want to do and how quickly I want to do it. Surprisingly Microsofts own Movie Maker software that comes with XP is very user friendly and quite powerful. The team that made that should work on other area of Windows. ;)

On the advanced side I use Adobe Premier. Not for the faint of heart. Steep learning curve.

For menu creation (for stand alone DVD playback through a TV) I use Roxio's DVD Studio Deluxe. (a trial version came with my camera and I bought the deluxe). This software allows you to make professional quality splash pages and menus. People will think your movie was made by a pro and it's very, very easy to use.

I don't like Pinnacle. Not for what it does or doesn't do, but rather I thought their software was junk and unintuitive.

[lone_groover]

Don't know much about DVDs, but a ¼ cup of Downy in the final rinse does wonders for my BVDs.

Hope this helps.

:)

[racer2c]

I want to be able to:
1. Back up all miniDV tapes to DVD
2. Make simple DVDs with some titles in between tracks, and possibly add music.
3. Not spend a lot.

Is Pinnacle Studio what to get for simple software?
Do I need more computer muscle?
Best DVD writer?
Best firewire card?

As for your PC, at the very minimum I would recommend a 1.0ghz processor (at the very minimum). video editing is extremelly process dependant. You'll need XP in order to use Windows Movie Maker, I don't know if you can obtain it for a W2K os. I doubt it, but maybe. I know it came with WinMe, so maybe it's available for W2K.

Pioneer DVD writers are very good (they invented the standard). I have a TDK (made by NEC) which I don't like. Make sure it's +R and -R (the -R format is more compatible with stand alone DVD players).

Any Firewire card should be fine, but you will need it. You can't do it without it.

[RichK]

Don't know much about DVDs, but a ¼ cup of Downy in the final rinse does wonders for my BVDs.

Hope this helps.

:)

Well, if I "download" into my BVDs, I will take your advice, thanks!

[RichK]

I have that same camera and have been making DVD's for quite some time.

I know, your advice helped me pick out mine!


Thanks for your help, I will check into the MS software for Windows2000 & look for some deals on Pioneer. :thumbup:

[racer2c]

I know, your advice helped me pick out mine!


Thanks for your help, I will check into the MS software for Windows2000 & look for some deals on Pioneer. :thumbup:

Are you liking it? I still like mine. Especially after I bought an 4x zoom lens ($35 at Best Buy). You can also get color filters and panoramic lens too. I would like to get the external mic because I record my daughters orchestra concerts but they want $150 for last time I checked.

I did some digging around and you would need XP in order to get Movie Maker. I don't know if that's worth it or not to you.

Did your camera come with any software?

[Audi_A4]

I am considering either a MINI DV Camcorder or a MINI DVD Camcorder, sounds like minid dvd is easier less hassles

[racer2c]

I am considering either a MINI DV Camcorder or a MINI DVD Camcorder, sounds like minid dvd is easier less hassles

The benfit from the MiniDVD camera's is the hassle free, shoot and play aspect (iassuming your DVD player is compatible with MiniDVD's. Not all are.) Although you are missing out on advanced editing and proffesional qualty menus. A MiniDVD R holds 1.46 gigs whereas a full hour of MiniDV will take up two 4.7gig DVD's (apprx) at the hightest avi settings. Two, one hour MiniDV tapes cost about $20.

[KLang]

I am considering either a MINI DV Camcorder or a MINI DVD Camcorder, sounds like minid dvd is easier less hassles

My wife got me a Sony Mini DVD for christmas. I think the hassles are about the same either way. You'll still want to transfer the video to a pc to edit it and add titles before burning to a regular DVD.

[RichK]

Are you liking it? I still like mine. Especially after I bought an 4x zoom lens ($35 at Best Buy). You can also get color filters and panoramic lens too. I would like to get the external mic because I record my daughters orchestra concerts but they want $150 for last time I checked.

I did some digging around and you would need XP in order to get Movie Maker. I don't know if that's worth it or not to you.

Did your camera come with any software?

I love it. I'm a huge Canon fan (have an S30 digital camera and have taken thousands of pictures with it) to begin with. Yes, it came with software that I'll try out first. I'm gun-shy with "free" software bundled with cameras/scanners/whatever, but hopefully this one will do the job.

My daughter is 2 and in her first dance class, so my parents (3000 miles away) are begging for DVDs! The external mic & zoom may be in my future, too.

[indyfan31]

This may not be possible or practical, but if you can borrow someone's Apple PowerBook or iBook, it comes with iMovie and iDVD, one of the most intuitive video editing and DVD burning apps you'll ever find.

[cart7]

still trying to process the OffCamberites greeting. :saywhat: :confused: :gomer:

Nanu, nanu to you too.

[theunions]

Oooh, a subject matter I can really sink my teeth into right now...

RichK, I don't know offhand how you personally feel about Grand-Am, but if it's like the majority of people on OC you hate it...with that caveat, take a look at this, which I just posted for public consumption this morning:

Frisselle brothers at the Rolex 24 (http://www.racingpress.com/videos/rolex24-8.wmv)

This is my first attempt at actually editing (not just capturing) MiniDV footage, using Studio 8. So for those of you here who hate Grand-Am, judge the filmography, editorial content and the editing, not the racing... :gomer:

Much more in a subsequent post...I'm typing this on my laptop with the sticky keyboard right now, and I fear I may delete everything by accident...while the desktop is busy rendering more video!

[theunions]

Now for the geek stuff...the hardware specs:
Aging Dell Optiplex GX200, 1 gb Pentium III
256 mb RAM (I've spent the past six months trying to upgrade to the maximum 512 mb...and Dell keeps sending me the wrong parts :flame: )
Win2000
Almost no internal hard drive space but plenty of externals - for this I specifically bought an Acom 250gb Firewire drive
Belkin Firewire PCI card
HP dvd300e USB2 burner
Sony TRV-33 camera

I've been using a TRV-18 since last year, shooting raw footage at Long Beach and Indy and using Studio 8 to burn basic compilation DVD's - just the raw footage captured, no edits. Ank and Cork can attest to the quality of the end product (I hope!). Then the TRV-18's Firewire port somehow shorted out during a burn, and it was under extended warranty, so Circuit City replaced it with the newer (and much more compact model - a big deal if you're already running around the track with two SLR's like I do).

Prior to obtaining Studio 8 I tried the ArcSoft software that came bundled with the burner. Piece of junk, esp. if you tried to burn a disc for PAL encoding instead of NTSC.

Studio 8 is good for some things, like what I have posted, but has its limitations vs. Final Cut Pro and things I ought to be using if I was trying to do this professionally. You'll notice no ability to pan or zoom still images, for one. I cannot simply overlay one clip atop another and retain audio for both - I either had to lose audio for the background clip or turn the voiceover into a separate .wav file and insert that. Studio 8 sold in North America will also only let you burn NTSC discs, so you can't send your work to people overseas if they don't have region-free players.

As my friends locally are now trying to get their own motorsports TV show off the ground, I have now gotten into the habit of videotaping all my interviews instead of just audio only, which led to the production of these features (much longer and more detailed content-wise than anything that would ever air on TV). They tell me I should use less "talking head" shots, always use soft transitions between different speakers, change camera angles during those shoots even though that would interrupt the flow of conversation given that it's just me (no assistants typically) and one camera...I say nonsense; I have no aspirations of winning any documentary filmmaking awards but rather wanted something visually on par with what you'd typically see on the evening news (plenty of talking head shots there, for starters).

The amount of talking head footage used is proportional to how much suitable B-roll I got...often I will have to fill in with the stills I was taking instead. With this particular example, this was the first time I'd seen the Frisselles race in person, and there was no B-roll available anywhere for the nonexistent budget I had, so the 2004 imagery all came from archival stills they had.

So I will be putting this finished feature, plus 35 minutes of raw footage, on a single DVD to be shipped to the Frisselles at week's end. It takes about 8 hours to render disc content for a 59 minute disc (that's the maximum quality in Studio 8 - not 2 hours). So you can imagine the feeling when I returned home last week Thursday, thinking all day during work the desktop was crunching away fine, to find out there was some sort of unspecified error during rendering. It took two days of trial and error to find out it was an undocumented software glitch that caused it to crash because of all the transitions I'd used (transitions which simply didn't exist when I did the raw footage DVD's earlier). I ultimatelly converted that portion into a separate .avi file instead, and that worked fine.

Oh, and you may want to look into getting one of those increasingly cheaper inkjet printers that will let you print on white discs...just shelled out $140 for an Epson R300 and the results are great. I did so because it was now at Costco, along with blank discs (first time I'd seen white ones readily available in a brick and mortar store) for $29.99/spindle of 50. And if I'd waited two days, I could've used the $40 off coupon they subsequently put out... :(

Direct disc printing may be important as Memorex's labels (the ones I always use for CD-R's) warn they CANNOT be used on DVD's or else they won't read properly...that hasn't been my experience on my own machines, but why risk it?

And now that you've read this far...any constructive (in other words, no Grand-Am bashing! :D ) comments on my first stab at filmmaking?

(whew)

[indyfan31]

Ok, my only criticism so far is that the link doesn't work.....or it could be just me.

[theunions]

Ok, my only criticism so far is that the link doesn't work.....or it could be just me.

It's a 15 minute/36 mb file so it may take a while to load...the link should be correct, but you can go to the www.racingpress.com home page instead and follow that to be sure...

[racer2c]

Nicely done union. :thumbup:

[RichK]

indyfan31: I've seen my friend's videos from his Powerbook, and it looks very easy to use and the results were great. He's too far away for me to borrow it, unfortunately!

unions: Thanks for listing your computer & equipment specs. I think I'll get a hard drive that is dedicated for video processing/storage. They are pretty cheap.

I don't hate GrandAm, by the way, I just don't care to watch it. :)

[Gnam]

So for those of you here who hate Grand-Am, judge the filmography, editorial content and the editing, not the racing
Filmography......... :thumbup:
Editorial content.. :thumbup:
Editing................ :thumbup:

I liked the still images during the interviews.

[theunions]

Filmography......... :thumbup:
Editorial content.. :thumbup:
Editing................ :thumbup:

I liked the still images during the interviews.

Thanks...I just wish I could've done a little more with them - specifically zoom and pan. I'm told the workaround to this is to literally shoot the 8x10's or whatever, but given that even relatively small size it's physically difficult (even with a tripod). And these specific images exist on my end only as digital (don't think any were 35mm to begin with), and I simply didn't have the budget, let alone time, to print them up for that purpose...