Hoping for help - video on computer, now what?

[disneymom2twins]

Though I don't know if I am doing it 100% correctly, I did manage to get my videos from my new camcorder to my computer. Now what? I thought I could burn to a dvd, but apparently I don't have a DVD writer, just a CDRW. I can obviously save to a cd to clean up my hard drive, but I want to get DVDs. Does anyone know how to do this? Can you upload the video anywhere, a store that will do it, etc?

 

[ukcatfan]

I do not know about stores doing this, but a DVD burner is pretty cheap these days. You should be able to find one for $50 or less. If you do not feel comfortable installing one in your pc, then a USB version is available for a little more. Check for sales and rebates at BB, CC, CompUSA, Office Depot, etc. The price of the media is way down also. I spent $15 for 50 DVDs the last time I bought some. It is also a great way to backup data.

Kevin

 

[disneymom2twins]

Thanks for the advice. I don't mind spending the $$, I just spend $100 on a firewire cable and a port so I could hook up the camera in the first place. (I won the camera in a raffle - so much for it being "free" LOL)

 

[mabas9395]

I'm just getting into this myself. You are also going to need some sort of software that will make the DVD for you. Unfortunately its not as easy as just putting the files on the DVD disk (like you would with your CD burner).

When I capture videos from my camcorder to my computer the movies are in AVI format which a DVD player can't read directly. The software will will put the files in the right format and some can help you with creating the menu buttons, chapters, etc. I'm sure people here can explain it much better, but thats the jist of it.

I don't know if the software will come with the DVD burner or not so you may have to choose which one you want. Some are simple where you just click a button and it will do most of everything for you. I'm trying a product called Sony Vegas Movie Studio (recommended by some people here) which lets me edit the video add photograhs, music, titles, etc. I've only had it a week and I love it even though it has been somewhat challenging to learn.

Actually, now that I think about it, it is technically two software products, one does the video editing and one does the DVD authoring. The editing is optional (and fun) but the DVD creation software is needed.

 

[handicap18]

Windows XP comes with Windows Movie Maker. Its a VERY basic video editor, but I'm not 100% sure that it can burn to a DVD burner so that the DVD can be played in a regular DVD player. I'll have to check that out. There are TONS of software out there to do this. Go to www.downloads.com and then search for movie maker software or DVD maker or something like that. Most will have like a 30 day trial before you have to buy, but at least you can check some out. There are also lots of user reviews to help get you started.

 

[allyn]

if you want to spend a lot of time editing with careful control of every aspect of movie making, i recommend a program called sony vegas movie studio.

if you don't want to spend a lot of time editing, i recommend a program called muvee autoproducer. it ausomatically slices and dices your video and pops out a pretty nice watchable video.

both have free downloadable demos.

you'll need a dvd writer, which as someone else said, should be under $50. if you don't want to open your computer you can get an external drive, as long as you have usb 2.0 ports on your computer (usb 1.x is too slow). the dvd drive should come with basic dvd authoring software. both of the above recommended programs also come with more advanced dvd authoring software.