How to back up video to dvd without losing any quality?

mitacal · Post by **mitacal** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 7:28 am

Hi, this is my first forum and my first post. I have a 700 GB hard drive full of home videos. Most of them are from my Canon Optura 60 digital video camcorder in widescreen. I used Windows Movie Maker to capture them. Most are captured in DV-AVI, some others are MPEG and WMV files. I was just learning how to capture when I did the MPEG and WMV capturing. I always want the best quality. Since my hard drive is full and I just bought Video Studio Pro X2 2 months ago and have little time to learn how to use it, I want to burn my videos to dvd to make room for more. But, I don't want to lose any quality when I do this. I'll want to use the dvds later to edit, add titles, and etc. I record a lot of video so I need the hard drive space. I can't afford to just keep buying new mini DV tapes and keep them until later. I am trying to put together my first production when I have time. So, I guess after all this being said, I have two questions. 1 - How to back up my videos to dvd without losing any quality? Should I use another program or is vs pro x2 good enough? 2 - I am very new at useing vs pro x2 and would like step by step help on putting my first production on dvd with the best quality ( the share step I guess ) Most of the videos are under one hour and even if they are longer I am ok with splitting them to an hour or less per dvd. I just want them to be the best quality possible. I guess I've used the word quality enough, sorry. Family memories are important. I have looked at the share part and I don't understand the save video file stuff. I thought by capturing in DV-AVI it would look great on dvd. The first dvd I burned didn't look that good. I went straight to the share step because I'm a noob I guess. Thanks in advance. I'm anxious to here from anyone. Brad

Trevor Andrew · Post by **Trevor Andrew** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 8:09 am

Hi Brad

Welcome to the forum

Have a look here for a guide from camcorder to DVD
http://forum.corel.com/EN/viewtopic.php?p=65780#65780

then read My Quick Guide DV-Avi from the link below.

Gives a list of the working process I use.

OK

If your family memories are so important you have to preserve the original DV-AVI tapes.

Capturing from the tapes using firewire to DV format is the best option. This produces a DV-Avi file 13 Gb per hour. There is no re-coding during capture, the process transfers the data to the pc, no changes, what you have is what you get DV-Avi

Editing these files in DV-AVI format is the best option.
Then you can downsize them to burn to DVD.
Share Create Video File-DVD option, will create a MPEG 2 file suitable for burning to DVD.

There is no quick way of downsizing to edit later and maintaining best quality

Post by **Ken Berry** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 10:50 am

I get the impression that you are wanting to archive the captured video for later editing, rather than actually prepare an actual video DVD right now. If that is indeed the case, then quite apart from Trevor's suggestions about DV/AVI and preserving your original tapes (with which I agree), VS is not the program you are after. It is, of course, a video editing program capable of burning an edited project to DVD. But if you are just wanting to create an archive disc, you just transfer your mpeg or DV/AVI or WMV files to a DVD using the Windows files transfer facility. No more, and no less.

Incidentally, I am surprised you say you used WMM to capture some of your video in MPEG format. I though WMM was only capable of capturing in either DV/AVI or WMV formats...

Clevo · Post by **Clevo** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 1:56 pm

So.... basically you can use the tools you have in Windows to save your DV/AVI files as a DATA file on your DVD.

The only problem with that is the space limitation on the DVD discs.

You might be in a position to purchase an external hard drive and use that as storage....they are not too expensive these days for the basic ones and it would save you time - trying to work out how much would fit and burning to DVD - but also the ease of use of an external hard drive.

Last year I bought an empty External HD case that plugs in and is powered through the USB port for only $25 (AUD). I'm still using it today for the Laptop

mitacal · Post by **mitacal** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 6:14 pm

Thanks Clevo, Ken, and Trevor I really appreciate your input and time.
Ken, I had forgot, but when I first started capturing I was using Roxio Creator 8. Thats where the MPEG files came from, sorry. I tried the files and settings transfer wizard and it didn't give me the option of picking my videos. Thanks, Brad