Hi

Can anyone recommend some software for Windows XP/Vista that will help
me to transfer 1 hour MiniDV tapes onto DVD? Either free/low cost is
fine. What DVD capacity is recommended?

thanks

Craig

--
Craig Cockburn ("coburn"). M.Sc., CITP, CEng
Owner, http://www.siliconglen.com/
Home to the first online guide to Scotland, founded 1994.
Scottish blog, FAQ, weddings, website design, stop spam and more!

"Craig Cockburn" wrote in message
...
Hi

Can anyone recommend some software for Windows XP/Vista that will help me
to transfer 1 hour MiniDV tapes onto DVD? Either free/low cost is fine.
What DVD capacity is recommended?

Windows XP/Vista will do it natively.
Capture the film in Windows Movie Maker in 15 minute chunks, then use the
inherent file writing abilities of the o/s to burn the AVIs to the disc. If
you want to use 8.5GB discs (double layer) then you might experiment to see
if you can get as much as 30 mins of AVI onto a disc. DV AVIs are a constant
bitrate, so you should be able to work it out exactly, but I can't remember
the exact data rate.

If you want to get the tapes onto DVD for watching in a player, your best
bet is to use a DVD recorder with "firewire in" (sometimes called "iLink" or
IEEE 1394). You can do it on the computer using software such as ulead's DVD
Movie Factory 5.

Bewa One hour will fit onto a single-layer 12cm DVD at the maximum
available bitrate. However, it's better to record it at a lower bitrate to
avoid skipping and compatibility problems. You won't notice any difference
in quality between 6mbps and 9.8mbps given that it's from a DV source.

thanks for the note below.

Is there any way to get 1 hour of MiniDV onto an 8.5Gb disc using
Windows XP? The PC has USB 2.0 and Firewire

I've also got a laptop with enough processing power to do it so was
hoping to let the laptop do this in the evenings when it isn't being
used (unfortunately no DVD recorder machine as such)


Craig

In message , G Hardy
writes
"Craig Cockburn" wrote in message
...
Hi

Can anyone recommend some software for Windows XP/Vista that will help me
to transfer 1 hour MiniDV tapes onto DVD? Either free/low cost is fine.
What DVD capacity is recommended?

Windows XP/Vista will do it natively.
Capture the film in Windows Movie Maker in 15 minute chunks, then use the
inherent file writing abilities of the o/s to burn the AVIs to the disc. If
you want to use 8.5GB discs (double layer) then you might experiment to see
if you can get as much as 30 mins of AVI onto a disc. DV AVIs are a constant
bitrate, so you should be able to work it out exactly, but I can't remember
the exact data rate.

If you want to get the tapes onto DVD for watching in a player, your best
bet is to use a DVD recorder with "firewire in" (sometimes called "iLink" or
IEEE 1394). You can do it on the computer using software such as ulead's DVD
Movie Factory 5.

Bewa One hour will fit onto a single-layer 12cm DVD at the maximum
available bitrate. However, it's better to record it at a lower bitrate to
avoid skipping and compatibility problems. You won't notice any difference
in quality between 6mbps and 9.8mbps given that it's from a DV source.



--
Craig Cockburn ("coburn"). M.Sc., CITP, CEng
Owner, http://www.siliconglen.com/
Home to the first online guide to Scotland, founded 1994.
Scottish blog, FAQ, weddings, website design, stop spam and more!

"Craig Cockburn" wrote in message
...
thanks for the note below.

Is there any way to get 1 hour of MiniDV onto an 8.5Gb disc using
Windows XP? The PC has USB 2.0 and Firewire

I've also got a laptop with enough processing power to do it so was
hoping to let the laptop do this in the evenings when it isn't being
used (unfortunately no DVD recorder machine as such)


Have a look at this message [1] in the 'No Sound thread a couple of
weeks ago, the software I mention will do what you want but you will
need to have a HDD that you can capture the raw DV to, together with
the ability to burn DVD disks from a ISO file.

[1] reenews.net

"Craig Cockburn" wrote in message
...

Is there any way to get 1 hour of MiniDV onto an 8.5Gb disc using Windows
XP? The PC has USB 2.0 and Firewire

No. One hour of MiniDV is 13-and-a-bit gigabytes, so archiving the tape
isn't possible to disc. Unless you mean for watching through a regular
player, in which case it will fit on a 4.7GB disc with room to spare.


I've also got a laptop with enough processing power to do it so was hoping
to let the laptop do this in the evenings when it isn't being used
(unfortunately no DVD recorder machine as such)

Ulead DVD MovieFactory or similar.

thanks for the note below.

Is there any way to get 1 hour of MiniDV onto an 8.5Gb disc using
Windows XP? The PC has USB 2.0 and Firewire?

I'm trying to do an hour's worth of tape in one go rather than 15 minute
blocks if at all possible. What's the best software for doing this
without too much loss of detail?

thanks

Craig

In message , G Hardy
writes
"Craig Cockburn" wrote in message
...
Hi

Can anyone recommend some software for Windows XP/Vista that will help me
to transfer 1 hour MiniDV tapes onto DVD? Either free/low cost is fine.
What DVD capacity is recommended?

Windows XP/Vista will do it natively.
Capture the film in Windows Movie Maker in 15 minute chunks, then use the
inherent file writing abilities of the o/s to burn the AVIs to the disc. If
you want to use 8.5GB discs (double layer) then you might experiment to see
if you can get as much as 30 mins of AVI onto a disc. DV AVIs are a constant
bitrate, so you should be able to work it out exactly, but I can't remember
the exact data rate.

If you want to get the tapes onto DVD for watching in a player, your best
bet is to use a DVD recorder with "firewire in" (sometimes called "iLink" or
IEEE 1394). You can do it on the computer using software such as ulead's DVD
Movie Factory 5.

Bewa One hour will fit onto a single-layer 12cm DVD at the maximum
available bitrate. However, it's better to record it at a lower bitrate to
avoid skipping and compatibility problems. You won't notice any difference
in quality between 6mbps and 9.8mbps given that it's from a DV source.



--
Craig Cockburn ("coburn"). M.Sc., CITP, CEng
Owner, http://www.siliconglen.com/
Home to the first online guide to Scotland, founded 1994.
Scottish blog, FAQ, weddings, website design, stop spam and more!

"Craig Cockburn" wrote in message
...
thanks for the note below.

Is there any way to get 1 hour of MiniDV onto an 8.5Gb disc using Windows
XP? The PC has USB 2.0 and Firewire?

I'm trying to do an hour's worth of tape in one go rather than 15 minute
blocks if at all possible. What's the best software for doing this without
too much loss of detail?

Don't know - DivX or similar at 18mbps will be virtually indistinguishable
from the DV source.

Personally, I'd find it more convenient to split the DV. It's the quickest
solution, by far; and you maintain 100% quality. The only downside is
maintaining records for two discs, and the 40p extra it costs for media.

Depends how much value you put on your time, I suppose. I can't justify
tying up a PC for several hours just for the cost of a disc, even if I was
maintaining absolute quality and could be certain of audio synch!

In message , G Hardy
writes
"Craig Cockburn" wrote in message
...
thanks for the note below.

Is there any way to get 1 hour of MiniDV onto an 8.5Gb disc using Windows
XP? The PC has USB 2.0 and Firewire?

I'm trying to do an hour's worth of tape in one go rather than 15 minute
blocks if at all possible. What's the best software for doing this without
too much loss of detail?

Don't know - DivX or similar at 18mbps will be virtually indistinguishable
from the DV source.

Personally, I'd find it more convenient to split the DV. It's the quickest
solution, by far; and you maintain 100% quality. The only downside is
maintaining records for two discs, and the 40p extra it costs for media.

For me the downside would be only being able to watch 15 minutes without
changing DVD on playback and of figuring out where is a good time to
split the 1 hour recording.

Depends how much value you put on your time, I suppose. I can't justify
tying up a PC for several hours just for the cost of a disc, even if I was
maintaining absolute quality and could be certain of audio synch!

In my case it's a spare PC that would otherwise be idle in the evening.

I'll look into DivX for this, is there any other recommendations for
tools?

thanks

Craig

--
Craig Cockburn ("coburn"). M.Sc., CITP, CEng
Owner, http://www.siliconglen.com/
Home to the first online guide to Scotland, founded 1994.
Scottish blog, FAQ, weddings, website design, stop spam and more!

In message , G Hardy
writes
"Craig Cockburn" wrote in message
...
thanks for the note below.

Is there any way to get 1 hour of MiniDV onto an 8.5Gb disc using Windows
XP? The PC has USB 2.0 and Firewire?

I'm trying to do an hour's worth of tape in one go rather than 15 minute
blocks if at all possible. What's the best software for doing this without
too much loss of detail?

Don't know - DivX or similar at 18mbps will be virtually indistinguishable
from the DV source.

With DivX do I hook up the camcorder and play the tape so that DivX
converts and compresses as the tape plays or is it necessary to transfer
the video to the PC first?

--
Craig Cockburn ("coburn"). M.Sc., CITP, CEng
Owner, http://www.siliconglen.com/
Home to the first online guide to Scotland, founded 1994.
Scottish blog, FAQ, weddings, website design, stop spam and more!

"Craig Cockburn" wrote in message
...

snip

I'll look into DivX for this, is there any other recommendations for
tools?


Also use Xvid as a search term, Dvix needs to be paid for (encoding
wise), Xvid is free ( GNU GPL license) - also be careful of cheap or
shareware Dvix, I've seen reports that some versions can harbour
mal/spyware.