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Originally Posted by evans Stoke192 Hi,
...since now you got the firewire cable connected it is very easy.
1) first connect your dv camcorder to your pc witht the cable. Make sure your do a defrag of your disk to ensure no lost frames. Turn off all running programs especially your antivirus. Since you have pinnacle software you can use that. I found nero vision express very good in capturing and showing any droped frames. You need at least 13 gb free on your hard disk to convert the dv footage to dv avi file.
2) Once the avi file is on your hdisk you will have to convert it to mpeg 2 file and for this you need a quality avi to mpeg2 converter. This is where quality results matter. I have tested them all found canopus procoder to be the best. VERsion 2. You cant see much difference between the original and the copy. Just load your avi with this program then with the settings use the highest bit rates possible say about 9000 bit rate. VBR variable bit rate. Use mastering quality or high speed quality DVD and pal. Then press go to convert and start. Please note that there is two options for the audio on procoder one is for seperate audio/video file and another is both on same file after conversion. Best to chose the latter.
3) .....
4) You then need another program to convert MPeg 2 to DVD, the best and easiest for is Tmpgenc authoring v1.6. All you have to do is load your MPeg 2 file in this program and it will convert to DVD files. Which you can use this program to burn onto disk or use Nero burning to write onto disk. The conversion doesnt take long about 40 minutes from Mpeg2/dvd files.Tmpgenc 1.6 also can make a very good Menu and it is very easy unlike many other programs. It is also very good at cutting scenes you dont want in your final production.
With programs like Pinacle etc you wont get as good results as with canopus procoder v.2 as the encoder is superior. The only thing these programs do is make a more fancy production with tittles effects etc.
hope this long explanation helps you not spending 3 months like me!!  |
The above advice is comprehensive and is probably " learnt the hard way"
I would suggest a simpler route for now.
If Pinnacle Studio can do it all ( without crashing) use it. If it behaves well with you ( like it does with me, Im now on 10+.) , we are in the minority.
If you can get hold of
Ulead Dvd Moviefactory4 or earlier (it is only £29) do try it:
Here
It will enable you capture (AVI or mpeg), do some simple trimming, encode to mpeg2 ,then author ( read :make) it into DVD format with Menu. and burn the DVD all in one program,. Wonderful if it works just so eh?. Dont expect Hollywood quality though but the DVDs produced should be presentable.
With regards the above advise I would caution aganst using bitrates higher than 8000 as many domestic players (older ones and lately : cheaper ones) have difficulty decoding the higher bitrate ( albeit higher quality) encoded dvds. I recently had a friend who said a highbitrate DVD I made for him kept freezing on his dvd player whereas it played perfectly well on all of mine.
While the advise above is technically
very sound and you may wish to explore the steps , I feel it is a bit of a steep learning curve for a newbee and might put them off if they dont persevere.
I have 2 PCs a 2.8 P4 and 3.2 AMD64 bit each with 1G Ram. and Fairly decent graphic cards with 256m ram : even they do not encode or build dvds any faster than slightly more than real time so patience is a virtue here
Although the suggested programs are available in various ways, If you needed to buy TMPGenc, and Canopus Procoder ( i have both and think the differences are a much of muchness) you would be spending a fair amt of cash.
Sure ...the results are worth it but the time investment to learn the programs is unavoidable!
Good Luck
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