MiniDV -> VideoStudio Pro x2 -> DVD w/o loss of qualit

[Scott Clark]

I'm a frustrated man

I have a simple desire:
Create Archival DVD-Rs of Family Videos that play on most DVD players and preserve the resolution of my camcorder.

I capture my videos using a VRD-MC5 Sony DVD Recorder onto a DVD+RW disk (I do not have a video capture card on my PC.) I use the highest quality setting available for DVDs

I use the resulting DVD+RW to import into VS Pro x2 installed on my XP Pro machine. This works great so far.

I use "auto scene select" and I choose a basic menu from the palette of menus. The machine runs XP Pro and has tons of RAM and HD Space..

Lastly I use "Share Burn DVD" (Single Layer High Quality) onto archival grade DVD-Rs in the PC (it has an ASUS-DRW-1814BL DVD writer.)

But...

1. The 60 minute MiniDV video won't fit onto a Single Layer DVD-R (< 60 minutes with a menu)
2. The resulting DVD just freezes when I choose a chapter on my Sony BDP-S350 DVD/Blueray Player (supposed to be format-flexible)

I have poured over VS Pro X2 documentation and tried many disks without success. Nobody seems to provide any suggested settings...

I'm begging for simple list of settings

[Black Lab]

Please read From Camcorder To DVD With VideoStudio.

First thing, you should be capturing from your mini-dv cam via firewire. Capturing that way (actually it's really just a transfer) produces DV-AVI files, which are a lossless file type that is ideal for editing. Capturing using your method produces MPEG-2 files, which are a lossy type that will lose quality during editing and re-rendering.

A 60 minute project at 8,000 kbps should fit on a single layer DVD. For a longer project you would have to reduce the bitrate. A Bitrate Calculator can come in handy.

[Scott Clark]

I've ordered the needed cables for Firewire.

But I have a lot of 8mm video tapes and the (old Canon) camcorder does not have any DV cable ports - only RCA.

So in that case I'll still use the sony stand-alone recorder to get things off the camcorder and onto DVD+RW so I can Hard drive them.

So I'm in the same boat there I guess.

Thanks much.

[skier-hughes]

I have a simple desire:
Create Archival DVD-Rs of Family Videos that play on most DVD players and preserve the resolution of my camcorder.


impossible to do.
dv.avi is about 5 x compressed when compared to uncompressed video
mpeg2 at high quality is about 20x compressed.
The programme you use the settings chosena dn the video being converted from dv.avi to mpeg2 all make a difference in the end quality, which is why holywood use a compressor that costs hundreds of thousands of pounds and makes over 20 passes to compress a movie you buy in the shops.

Now, you can using modest programmes, create dvds that are completely watchable and the degradation is barely noticeable.

[Scott Clark]

Thanks for the technical details.

I guess what I should have said is

"I want to get as close to the original resolution as reasonably possible using consumer equipment and software"