Excuse the thick headedness, i have studied, read and am still at a loss, i am transferring dvd ram using factory 4, i add the clip, it scans and puts in a file in a desktop file, what do i do with the file it has created. do i have to open that again and convert into dvd burnable material and use my nero ?, does anyone have the simple steps it needs for me to work this damn thing !!
cheers in advance.
moviefactory 4 newbie question
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torgo3k
first question - are you really using DVD-RAM? (That's a totally different format from DVD-R, DVD+R, and DVD video formats, so I thought I had better ask.)
next question - when you save your file, are you actually saving the video (as an image file or DVD folder) or just saving the project file?
I'm new at this too, but here's a walkthrough of how I burn mpeg files from my hard drive to DVD...
1) open DMF4. At the initial menu screen, select "Create Video DVD", which should be the first item on the list. (If it says Create Video CD, move the mouse pointer over the DVD icon to change over to the DVD options.) On the right side of the screen, choose "DVD-Video or DVD+VR".
2) In a few seconds, the Add/Edit Media program will open. It's basically a four step process. First, add your video file(s). In my case, I'm adding video files from my hard drive, so I choose the second icon at the top of the screen - the one that looks like a piece of movie film with a little plus sign in its lower left corner. (If you move the mouse pointer over each of the icons, they'll tell you what they do.) Browse the hard drive and add the desired video file. (If your file is already in DVD video format, you may need to use the fourth icon rather than the second one.)
3) Normally I don't bother editing the video much, but sometimes I trim off unwanted stuff at the start or end of a clip. The slide bar moves you through your file quickly, and the little shuttle wheel moves you a frame or two at a time so you can find the exact edit point you want. Use the [ and ] icons to mark the edit point as the start or end of your video.
4) I usually don't bother with menus or chapter menus either, but I do like to auto-add chapters so that I can skip through a long video file quickly. The trick is that you don't have to have a main menu to add chapters. I uncheck the Create Menu box (the disc will automatically play when you pop it in a DVD player) and then click on Add/Edit Chapter. I have it auto-add chapters every 8 or 10 minutes. I click OK, and if it asks if I want to add a chapter menu, I choose NO.
5) That wraps up screen #1 of 4. Click NEXT to go on. If you do choose to have menus, screen #2 is the menu editor. If not, you skip that screen and go directly to screen #3, the preview mode. I usually just skip this step as well and immediately hit NEXT.
6) That brings me to screen #4, the saving and burning screen. A few important notes here -
There is a "Normalize Audio" feature. You'll find that some people have had problems with audio getting out of sync with video towards the end of long movie files. I have found it only happens to me when I use the normalize audio feature. There's a bug there somewhere, so I never use it. You can experiment with it, but I'd suggest only using rewriteable DVDs if you do...
If your file is too big to fit on a disc, you can use the shrink-to-fit tool (one of the BEST features of DMF4) to make it fit on your disc. It's the little vice icon at the bottom left of the screen.
The video files that I use are already DVD compliant MPEG-2 files, so I save time by telling DMF4 not to re-render them. To do this, click on the little gear icon at the very bottom of the screen (left side) to open up the Project Settings menu and make sure the box telling it not to convert compliant MPEG files is checked on. (The process is MUCH faster if it doesn't have to convert files first. This is a HUGE time-saver.)
7) I like to save my project before I burn it. Click the icon at the very bottom left corner of the screen - it's right next to the gear icon that opened the project settings - and select Save Project.
I also prefer to burn the video to DVD folders or images first instead of burning directly to disc. I uncheck the Record To Disc box and create an image file or DVD folder instead. Name the image file or folder to be created and click the Burn icon to start.
9) Since I create image files or folders rather than going straight to disc, I have one more step. When it's all done, hit CLOSE and you'll be taken back to the very first menu. Choose Copy Or Fit Disc, then choose either Burn Image To Disc or Burn DVD Folder To Disc, depending on whether you created a disc image or a DVD folder. Browse and find the image or folder you created, pop your blank disc in the burner, and let it rip.
Good luck...
next question - when you save your file, are you actually saving the video (as an image file or DVD folder) or just saving the project file?
I'm new at this too, but here's a walkthrough of how I burn mpeg files from my hard drive to DVD...
1) open DMF4. At the initial menu screen, select "Create Video DVD", which should be the first item on the list. (If it says Create Video CD, move the mouse pointer over the DVD icon to change over to the DVD options.) On the right side of the screen, choose "DVD-Video or DVD+VR".
2) In a few seconds, the Add/Edit Media program will open. It's basically a four step process. First, add your video file(s). In my case, I'm adding video files from my hard drive, so I choose the second icon at the top of the screen - the one that looks like a piece of movie film with a little plus sign in its lower left corner. (If you move the mouse pointer over each of the icons, they'll tell you what they do.) Browse the hard drive and add the desired video file. (If your file is already in DVD video format, you may need to use the fourth icon rather than the second one.)
3) Normally I don't bother editing the video much, but sometimes I trim off unwanted stuff at the start or end of a clip. The slide bar moves you through your file quickly, and the little shuttle wheel moves you a frame or two at a time so you can find the exact edit point you want. Use the [ and ] icons to mark the edit point as the start or end of your video.
4) I usually don't bother with menus or chapter menus either, but I do like to auto-add chapters so that I can skip through a long video file quickly. The trick is that you don't have to have a main menu to add chapters. I uncheck the Create Menu box (the disc will automatically play when you pop it in a DVD player) and then click on Add/Edit Chapter. I have it auto-add chapters every 8 or 10 minutes. I click OK, and if it asks if I want to add a chapter menu, I choose NO.
5) That wraps up screen #1 of 4. Click NEXT to go on. If you do choose to have menus, screen #2 is the menu editor. If not, you skip that screen and go directly to screen #3, the preview mode. I usually just skip this step as well and immediately hit NEXT.
6) That brings me to screen #4, the saving and burning screen. A few important notes here -
There is a "Normalize Audio" feature. You'll find that some people have had problems with audio getting out of sync with video towards the end of long movie files. I have found it only happens to me when I use the normalize audio feature. There's a bug there somewhere, so I never use it. You can experiment with it, but I'd suggest only using rewriteable DVDs if you do...
If your file is too big to fit on a disc, you can use the shrink-to-fit tool (one of the BEST features of DMF4) to make it fit on your disc. It's the little vice icon at the bottom left of the screen.
The video files that I use are already DVD compliant MPEG-2 files, so I save time by telling DMF4 not to re-render them. To do this, click on the little gear icon at the very bottom of the screen (left side) to open up the Project Settings menu and make sure the box telling it not to convert compliant MPEG files is checked on. (The process is MUCH faster if it doesn't have to convert files first. This is a HUGE time-saver.)
7) I like to save my project before I burn it. Click the icon at the very bottom left corner of the screen - it's right next to the gear icon that opened the project settings - and select Save Project.
I also prefer to burn the video to DVD folders or images first instead of burning directly to disc. I uncheck the Record To Disc box and create an image file or DVD folder instead. Name the image file or folder to be created and click the Burn icon to start.9) Since I create image files or folders rather than going straight to disc, I have one more step. When it's all done, hit CLOSE and you'll be taken back to the very first menu. Choose Copy Or Fit Disc, then choose either Burn Image To Disc or Burn DVD Folder To Disc, depending on whether you created a disc image or a DVD folder. Browse and find the image or folder you created, pop your blank disc in the burner, and let it rip.
Good luck...
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neiltracy00