[matth1j]

Hi- we've got a Panasonic GS11EB DV camera that we've used to record home videos over the last few years. Now we'd like to transfer them from DAT to some more accessible format, say DVD. As far as I can see there are 2 main options:

1. Get a cheap DVD recorder and just record the camera's AV playback output direct onto DVD.
2. Buy a firewire PC card/cable and take the digital route.

I've never done any video editing before and it's not something that I'm desperate to have a got at, although I guess it might be useful to do basic stuff such as topping and tailing. I'm reasonably confident option 1 would work using a £50 recorder such as this, and this would be simple to do. But then it looks like I could do the same thing digitally for under £20 using this, but this would require a bit(?) more fiddling around with some sort of video editing package.

Your expert opinions would be much appreciated.

Cheers
John

PC: home build Celeron 356, nVidia 7900GS, 250Gb HD, Sony DVD R/W, no Firewire

[MarkE19]

You have a few options depending on how much time & effort and money you want to put in.

Analogue from cam to DVD recorder, or spend a bit more and get a DVD recorder with a firewire input to give better quality as you are in digital all the way. If the recorder also has a HDD then you will be able to do some basic editing.
The PC route will take a little more time and bit of a learning curve, but will generally give better quality as you will have more control over the way things are done. Simple software such as Windows Movie Maker that is part of XP & Vista (so free) will capture and edit the footage, plus Nero or similar for DVD creation (Vista version of WMM can also burn a DVD). Have a look at Movie Maker to see what you can do with the free WMM.

Mark.