2Dogs wrote:If you keep your old pc, it might be best to burn your DVD's with that rather than with the laptop.
Hi Don,D Stanley wrote:In my use of VideoStudio 8 SE DVD, the DVD burning happen together at the Share stage. When you press the button to burn, it begins by compiling / rendering then it burns, all at the same time, one after the other.
That workflow is the one described in VS manuals. Many people can use it successfully, but others find that they have problems. VS users developed a different workflow, that splits the operation into separate parts. First, you use one project to edit all your clips, and then "render" the project to a single large DVD compatible mpeg2 file. If you are starting from DV avi source video on the timeline, the rendering will necessarily take some time, depending on the speed of your pc.
You then insert that file into the "create disc" step of a new, blank project, and "author" the disc - i.e. set up all your menus and chapter points. The key thing in this second step is to match the output properties with the properties of the mpeg2 file. This enables "Smart Render" to occur, so there is no re-encoding of your video, and the disc creation process happens quite quickly, generally in only a few minutes.
Suggested Workflow by SJJ1805
Unless you're starting out with DVD compliant mpeg2 footage on your timeline, it will always take time to render your project to mpeg2. If you make extensive use of video filters, it can really slow things down. One way to overcome this to a certain extent is to have the pc render the project overnight, but if you want to speed up this step of the process, you need a faster pc. As for the time you take to edit your clips - some of that comes down to practice!D Stanley wrote:The problem is that one of the reasons I'm thinking my computer may not be sufficient is the time it takes to render (although the time it takes in editing is by far my greatest concern).
No. I would suggest that you output the project either to DVD folders or to an ISO file, and copy those onto your desktop pc for burning to disc.D Stanley wrote:Anyway, what I'd like to know is how this would work out in practice. After editing the show on my new machine, would I then copy the project file to the old computer and open it in the Share tab and proceed as I currently do, ie. adding chapters etc. then burning? Would version 11 or 12 be any different in this respect?
No, in my suggested use of the old desktop, the time-consuming rendering would be done by the laptop, but only the burn to disc would be done on the old desktop.D Stanley wrote:I just feel that if I still have to render the show on my old machine, then I have gained something, but not everything I wanted to achieve.
It might. One advantage of a desktop pc is that it's easy to upgrade it or add components. A laptop offers great convenience, however, along with much lower power consumption. Modern processors enable laptops to be pretty powerful.D Stanley wrote:Perhaps a desktop may be a better option than a laptop.
One factor perhaps worthy of consideration is that up to now, VS hasn't been able to fully take advantage of multi-core cpu's, such as the mainstream Intel QX6600. It looks like the upcoming VS12 might address that problem. There aren't too many laptops available with quad core cpu's, since they generate about twice the heat and use about twice the power of an equivalently clocked dual core - so you could potentially buy a quad core desktop pc that would be significantly faster than a laptop. But it's your decision in the end, and there is that laptop tax break that started the whole thing off.
There might be laptop owners howling in protest at my slur on laptop DVD burners. The fact is most people never check the burn quality of their discs.D Stanley wrote:You also said that:
"In general, however, a slimline laptop DVD burner achieves significantly lower burn quality than a "full size" 5 1/2" drive as used in a desktop pc."
Would this always be the case? What does a "lower burn quality" mean? Would it be possible to attach an external DVD+-RW to a laptop and thereby avoid using my old machine?
Lower burn quality means more errors on the disc, with more chance of glitches in or failure of playback of the disc on the pc or in other DVD players. My own C2D laptop has a terrible DVD burner, that is really finnicky with playback. I would only use it to burn a disc in an emergency, and even then it would have to be a DVD-R disc, since it will not write to DVD+R.
You certainly could attach an external DVD burner, and get comparable results to using a desktop pc burner. Most external burners are connected by USB, so it can limit the burn speed to 16x - but that seems like a sensible maximum to me anyway.
My thinking was that if you were going to keep the old pc, rather than selling it on or passing it on to friends or relatives, it might still do duty as a disc burner. For single layer DVD's, you would need to transfer up to 4.35GB of output from your project on the laptop to it, either by networking the two pc's or by the use of some kind of removable media. You might well consider this additional step an inconvenience, in which case you would need to burn the disc either with the internal laptop burner or an externally connected burner.
The simplest option would be to use the laptop internal burner - but I have yet to read a laptop review that gives any meaningful information on write quality from the burner, so it might be pot luck on finding one that gives good results. They will always have much lower read and write speeds, since power and heat build up is a problem.
It may well be cheaper to buy a laptop with a plain "Combo" drive (DVD reader, CD burner) and an external DVD burner than a laptop with a DVD burner.