Ultra novice finished project, trying to burn DVD on VS 11

[flahagan]

I need SO much help, I'm hoping I've come to the right place and someone can guide me through this.
I downloaded the free trial of VS 11 Plus to see if I could put together a "movie" of a trip we made with our grandsons. I used video from a Sony mini-DVD, stills, music and a few titles. It's 41 minutes long (we went to Europe) and on the preview screen it looks great, to me anyway. I'm thrilled with how it turned out.
However, I want to get it onto DVD so we can give each grandson one, keep one for ourselves and play it on a TV screen/DVD player.
Since I didn't get any instructions for this free trial, I've been doing this by trial and error, but I'm scared to death I'll lose what I've done so far. I just want to get it as is onto a DVD and I'll be a very happy camper! I don't want chapters or menus or anything else I've seen listed.

Can anyone tell me what the next step is?

[BrianCee]

It should have been your first step - but its not to late - Please read this tutorial :-

http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic.php?t=13421

**

[screwball2]

I have been using ulead for a long time and have had fantastic results, but, as you are a newbee I would very strongly suggest you start with UVS 9 , I repeat i have been with ulead a long time and in my humble opinion I see no GREAT advantages or advancements with 10 or 11. Only complications - just look at the problems here on this site suffered by others. Few are related to version 9. I personally found the simplest way forward was to compile the DVD in Ulead, then burn in Nero (another programme) the compilation side of Nero is C**p, but burning was easy and was virtually fault free. I have since learned to complete the whole project using UVS9 due to recently upgrading my system (not listed here). If you are lacking an up market system, then my way would be easier. I am sure I will be shouted down or at by others, I am only offering the benefit of my experience. Compiling videos using Ulead has been the most rewarding and artistic experience of my life.
Kind regards

[Black Lab]

I know screwball is entitled to his opinion, but I have no problem with v10. In fact I love it. Haven't felt the need to upgrade to v11 though.

[BrianCee]

Yes - I'm with Jeff - V10 is great - and as I haven't got Vista on my main editing machine and have no intention of going 'HD' at the moment I too am passing on V11 - will stick with V10 for the forseeable future..

[flahagan]

Thanks to all for your replies. I'm sorry I didn't provide more info, guess I'm not thinking straight.
The reason I had to go with VS 11 is I have a mini DVD camcorder, not mini DV tapes, and from what I could find VS 11 is one of only a handful of programs that work with this type of video. That was problem number one!

I couldn't get it to capture directly from my camera, but I uploaded the video into my camera utility, then was able to import it into VS11. Sometimes the video looks jerky during playback on the preview screen and other times it appears OK.

Anyway, here's the information on my computer, and thanks to anyone who takes time to answer. (And I plan to read the entire link one of the posters provided - thanks.

Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2
Hard Drive - 160 GB, 512 MB DDR SDRAM
Optical Drive - DVD+-RW Multi-format Double Layer
Intel Celeron D Processor 356, 3.33GH/533 MHz FSB, 512 KB L2 Cache
Video - ATI Radeon Xpress 200 w/ available PCI - Express slot
Memory Card Reader 9-in-1
Network - 10/100 Mbps Ethernet LAN
Modem 56 KITU V.92

[Ken Berry]

If your camera is a normal mini DVD, then previous versions of VS could also import video from the disc -- well, mostly, depending on the type of disc and whether you had to finalise it or not first...

And putting the mini DVD into the computer is the normal way to capture from discs.

As for your jerky video, that sounds as though it could be a problem of mixed Field Orders. A mini DVD camera will normally use Upper Field First, and when you capture/import the video from it, it will (or should be) Upper Field First in the Properties (right click a captured file). And a basic rule of thumb with video editing is that you must always maintain the same Field Order from the start to the finish, and not mix clips using different field orders in the same project.

The easiest way to do this is to go to File > Preferences > General and tick the box beside 'Show message when first video inserted in timeline.' Next time you start a project, when you insert the first of your mini DVD captured files in the timeline, a message box will appear asking if you want the project properties to match those of the video. Say OK. Then, when you finish editing, go to Share > Create Video File > and select either Same as Project Settings or Same as First Video Clip.

And once that has finished and you have a new DVD-compatible mpeg-2 of your project, and you open the burning module, make sure its timeline is empty, insert your new file produced above, and tick the box beside 'Do not convert compliant mpeg files' in the Project Settings icon in the middle of the three in the bottom left of the burning screen. This will ensure that nothing is changed during the burning process either.

[flahagan]

Ken,
Thank you so much for your response. I am going to print out and try to do everything you have suggested, and I'll let you know how it turns out.

I can only imagine how stupid I must sound, so I appreciate your patient replies.
Thanks again,
Joyce

[Ron P.]

Ken,
Thank you so much for your response. I am going to print out and try to do everything you have suggested, and I'll let you know how it turns out.

I can only imagine how stupid I must sound, so I appreciate your patient replies.
Thanks again,
Joyce

You certainly have a long ways to go, to sound as stupid as I do Joyce... We all start somewhere. No, you don't sound stupid at all..

[flahagan]

Ken, I could just KISS you all the way from Florida! I followed your directions and it worked - I now have FIVE DVD's of such great quality that it brought my husband and me to tears. Really, I'm preparing my Oscar speech. I'm sure my family will award me with one after they see this. The video clips have such a sharp image that I'm amazed, the transitions look professional ( to us, anyway), and the music just adds so much to the spirit of the film. I may just have to BUY this program for future projects - I can't wait to see the instructions!

And Ron, thanks so much for your kind words of encouragement. But really, I'm so dumb about these things that you can't even imagine. I feel like everything I read is in a foreign language. That's why I'm so elated that this project turned out as well as it did. I'm hooked!

Thanks again.

Joyce

[Ken Berry]

Congratulations! We'll be keeping an eye out for the Emmy nominations next year!!!

[flahagan]

Well,, I guess I boasted too soon. I thought I had burned a number of extra copies last night, but actually must have only burned 4. One of the discs is bad and gets hung up at the same spot every time, so we've thrown it out.

I thought I could just go to the file in my documents, right click and burn to more dvd's, but it won't work. I'm surmising that now I need ANOTHER program to burn something from my hard drive - is this correct?

I also was going to try burning to DVD+R's to see if they were more compatible with my older DVD player, but maybe that makes no difference. With the 3 good remaining discs (DVD+-R), I can only play them on my computer with Cyberlink PowerDVD, as Real Player and Windows MediaSmart evidently aren't compatible.

I don't want to install any other programs (for burning) unless I'm told it's necessary to do the job. So I'd appreciate your suggestions, once again. Otherwise, I guess I'll have to carry my DVD player around with me to show the film to the family! Looks like this movie will have a very limited viewing!

[Ken Berry]

Do you have Nero on your computer? If so, you could just use Copy DVD.

If not, I am not quite sure what your problem is. If you saved your project before shutting down Video Studio -- you did, didn't you??? -- reopen Video Studio, and open the project. If you then go to Share > Create Disc, everything should be there, including the menu settings.

If you really want to make sure you can burn more copies easily, then as well as actually burning a disc, also select on the final burning page to burn to a Disk Image, which produces an ISO file of the final disc. But you will need a program like Nero to burn this as well. Previous versions of VS used to have an auxiliary program to burn these, but it seems to have disappeared from VS11 (though I could be wrong).

Otherwise, you still have your DVD-compliant mpeg-2 Idon't you???). Well you could always reconstruct the menus and burn it again... But that is the most labour-intensive option.

[flahagan]

Thanks, Ken
Of course, once again it worked when I followed your directions. I think I'm trying to make things more difficult than they are. Unfortunately, I tried burning to a DVD+R disc this time, and it didn't work in EITHER of my DVD players. At least with the DVD-R disc, I have one player that will accept it. I just thought maybe the plus R's might be more compatible with more players.
And it sounds like I need to get Nero if I plan to do this again, and I would definitely like to - seems like it could be addictive!

Oh well, at least I have a few copies that will play in SOMETHING! Tonight, we're having the "world premiere" - going to our daughter's after dinner and showing it to them. Our grandsons who went with us on the trip will also be there, so it should be a fun evening. We're taking our DVD player just in case.....

[Black Lab]

At what speed did you burn? Some users experience better burns at a slower speed (4x). The brand may matter also.