DVD Media

[Gordy]

I am about to transfer some home videos which are on minidv camcorder to DVD using a dvd recorder. I will also be editing some videos using VS11. So I will be recording using the DVD recorder on the computer aswell as the Panasonic DVD recorder which is hooked up to the TV.

Do I need to be aware of the type of DVD media I should be using?
I am told that DVD-R is the most compatible which will play on almost all types of DVD players.

Also is there a certain grade of DVD media that is required for videos?
Some media is very cheap but may not be good enough for videos.
What is double layer mean?

Thanks

[DVDDoug]

I am about to transfer some home videos which are on minidv camcorder to DVD using a dvd recorder. I will also be editing some videos using VS11.

For the videos you will be editing, it's better to transfer the DV from the camera to an AVI/DV file on your hard drive, via Firewire. DVDs are MPEG-2, which can sometimes be "difficult" to edit. Also, most "real editing" requires de-compressing and re-compressing the MPEG, which degrades the video quality.

AVI/DV, directly from a MiniDV camera is the best format for editing. (The more compressed the format, the more likely you are to have trouble.)

...aswell as the Panasonic DVD recorder which is hooked up to the TV.

In that case, you will be "stuck" with MPEG-2. If you haven't purchased Video Studio yet, it would be a good idea to try editing some of these DVDs with the trial version to find out if Video Studio "likes" the MPEGs from your DVD recorder. ...I have an MPEG video capture card, and I had to buy a special-purpose MPEG editor for these files. Even if you end-up using a different MPEG editor, you may still want to use Video Studio for DVD import (DVD "capture") and for authoring/burning DVDs, and for use with your AVI/DV files.

Do I need to be aware of the type of DVD media I should be using? ...Also is there a certain grade of DVD media that is required for videos?

VideoHelp.com has ratings for several different brands. Personally, I usually just buy whatever's on sale. At least once I've ended-up with a bad batch, and once in a while I get a "bad burn" from an otherwise good batch of DVDs. (This can happen with name-brand diiscs too.)

(VideoHelp.com has a ton of other helpful information, as does DigitalFAQ.com.)

You can get a "cleaner" burn if you burn at lower speeds. 4X is usually recommended. (Somebody here has seen electron-microscope images comparing DVDs burned at different speeds. The burn-spots were somewhat blured on disc that was burned at maximum speed.)

Another trick is to keep the bitrate below 7500 or 8000kbps. This doesn't affect the burn, but some players have trouble with high-bitrate "burned" DVDs.

You can use Nero DVD-CD Speed (FREE!!!) to test the disc after it's burned. It will tell you if there's an error, or if the playback-drive had to use it's error correction, or if it had to slow-down and re-read.

I am told that DVD-R is the most compatible which will play on almost all types of DVD players.

This is true. Your odds are best with DVD-R, but there is a possibility that you'll give a DVD to someone who has a player that plays only DVD+R, or that does not play "burned" DVDs at all. Your odds are worst with "burned" dual-layer discs.

What is double layer mean?

It holds (almost) twice as much data. There are two data-layers, one layer is semi-transparent, so that the player can "see" the 2nd layer. Most commercial DVDs are dual-layer, and all players can play commercial dual-layer DVDs. (Commercial DVDs are stamped, not burned.)

You can fit 90 minutes of high-quality (6000kbps) video on and Dolby audio on a single-layer DVD. You can fit 3 hours of similar material on a dual-layer DVD. (You can squeeze 3 hours onto a single-layer DVD, but you will get lower video quality.)

[sjj1805]

Avoid rewritable discs - those that have the letters RW - I have never had any luck with rewritable DVD discs - and that was with about half a dozen computers and even more DVD burners. Tried various brands of RW disc.

I always burn to a hard drive folder first so that I can give it that final quality check and perhaps tweak the menu further with a third party application such as MenuEdit or PGCEdit. Then when fully satisfied I burn to DVD-R and they have played in every type of DVD player I have had access to.

[Gordy]

Thanks for the valuable info guys.

Gordy

[etech6355]

Gordy,
If you have the panasonic recorder & use dvd-ram disks the unit will record in the -VR format. This mpeg2 format is the easiest to edit meaning cuts/trims/splices or joins. Not really transitions between clips that affect the length/timing. But text overlays shouldn't be a problem.

The other choice is like Steve posted using DVD-R dvd's. DVD-R's are the most compatible to play in other dvd players.

If you capture from your video camcorder using firewire then your videos will have a framesize of 720 as the top number.
If you use the panasonic recorder then your framesize will be 704 as the top number.
This is important to remember to set your project settings to whatever the source videos are and also when outputting/encoding to a new file.
It's usually best to avoid changing the frame size of the original video because this will usually introduce a loss in quality.

Whichever method you use (I suggest learning both methods). When the media is on the timeline, right click on it and select "Media Properties". The video/audio parameters of the video will be displayed.

Dvd recorders are nice because they are fast, but editing mpeg2 video from dvd recorders (or any mpeg2 video) has some drawbacks because it's a compressed video format.

DL = Dual layer DVD, approx 8.5 gig