Sony handy cam HD & buring to dvd?

[kgreen]

I purchased a Sony HD AVCHD Handy-cam. I've shot a few random videos, playing around, but hadn't put them on the computer to review & burn to DVD. This past week, I shot a video for my nephews 8th grade graduation. Thinking this would be an easy burn to DVD & give him a DVD of his graduation. I never thought it would turn into such a mess. I read the manual, but obviously skipped the part where, if you set he handy cam to record videos in HD, you would need special software to be able to burn that video to a DVD. I just assumed, HD was better quality, & chose that over the standard setting. Now, when I tried to burn to a DVD with no success, I turned to the internet for answers. Apparently, if you shoot in HD, you need to purchase special software in order to archive to a DVD. Or you can only view on the handy cam itself, or the computer. The file format is MTS, I found a paid software online called Aimersoft DVD creator that will convert the file, so that it can be written & archived to any DVD, not just blue ray. When I noticed this, I changed the setting to standard for future videos, but it's too late for the video I shot for my nephew. I should have done a little more research, but it's frustrating to buy an HD camcorder, & not even be able to use that format without purchasing separate software. Now I will have to purchase this or some software to do the job. Looking for recommendations. Thanks

 

[Skywise]

You want to stay in HD as you can also burn your videos to blu-ray and the HD video downconverted to SD for the DVD will always look better than SD recorded by itself.

I use a program called TMPGEnc Authoring Works 5 which will handle the importing from the camcorder and then allow you to author a DVD or blu-ray disc complete with menus. (TAW 4 is still available and will probably be fine for your needs - 5 adds more blu-ray features)

Once you've got the files/menus designed you "build" the DVD and TAW will make a directory of folders/files that you then burn to the DVD with whatever tool you use to do burning. For this I use Nero to burn a DVD-Video (or Blu-ray video) but I think any tool that will burn the files should work fine.

 

[kgreen]

Thanks Skywise! Exactly the advice I was looking for. I found TMPGEnc Authoring Works 5 online for $100. Looks fairly easy to use, & will definitely solve my problem. I really would prefer to record in HD over standard. They also have a 14 day trial, I could use now & purchase the full license next week. Thanks for the good advice

 

[Skywise]

Thanks Skywise! Exactly the advice I was looking for. I found TMPGEnc Authoring Works 5 online for $100. Looks fairly easy to use, & will definitely solve my problem. I really would prefer to record in HD over standard. They also have a 14 day trial, I could use now & purchase the full license next week. Thanks for the good advice

Forgot - that I should point out that the program IS a little buggy/quirky. I like to put HD images of my trips as backgrounds on the menus and this sometimes makes TAW crash, especially when changing the background that already has an HD image on it. My advice here is save early, save often on the project. I'll generally get all the video files downloaded, assigned to tracks and given names and then save that off as a project, then do the menus, saving often.

Another quirk is that if you specify chapter names/titles when building up the tracks they'll get auto-assigned to menus when you go to the menus. This feature went away when I went to TAW 5 then started working again after an update patch (or it became an option in the settings and the default was NOT to transfer the names and I switched it... I forget which now ).

For the most part though I really really like the program compared to just about any other dvd tool I've seen. (Sony Vegas is usually the big name tool but it doesn't do menus)

 

[kgreen]

Okay, Thanks for the tips! I haven't downloaded the 14 day trial, because usually they will add watermarks until you purchase the full license. But I do plan on buying it next week. Thanks again

 

[Skywise]

Okay, Thanks for the tips! I haven't downloaded the 14 day trial, because usually they will add watermarks until you purchase the full license. But I do plan on buying it next week. Thanks again

No Prob! I just didn't want you to think everything was trouble free from here on out!

 

[hakepb]

FWIW, my (cheap LG) BluRay player plays full HD AVCHD files, so I just burn those files to a DVD data disk for the highest quality playback

I'm curious if you have Sony PlayMemories Home. (It's the software that came with my still camera (also does AVCHD video). PlayMemories had an option to export as .wmv. Wmv is the Windows movie format so Windows Movie Maker could use that to author a real DVD.


I'm sure a dedicated software (like recommended above) would make the process easier.

 

[kgreen]

FWIW, my (cheap LG) BluRay player plays full HD AVCHD files, so I just burn those files to a DVD data disk for the highest quality playback

I'm curious if you have Sony PlayMemories Home. (It's the software that came with my still camera (also does AVCHD video). PlayMemories had an option to export as .wmv. Wmv is the Windows movie format so Windows Movie Maker could use that to author a real DVD.

I'm sure a dedicated software (like recommended above) would make the process easier.

Yes I have the play memories at home software. I really didn't get that far into it. I couldn't even figure out how to simply play a video. How do you export as .wmv. format? I have windows movie maker too, so this could work. It would be great if I can work with what I allready have on my computer. Thanks

 

[ThurlFan]

Sony Vegas video authoring software is reasonably straightforward to use, and will work with .MTS files to make a standard DVD. I know, because I have a sony HD camcorder myself

 

[hakepb]

Yes I have the play memories at home software. I really didn't get that far into it. I couldn't even figure out how to simply play a video. How do you export as .wmv. format? I have windows movie maker too, so this could work. It would be great if I can work with what I allready have on my computer. Thanks

This might help
http://support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp/www/disoft/int/playmemories-home/operation/edit/wmv-convert.html

This is more step-by-step
http://support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp...ories-home/operation-v1/edit/wmv-convert.html

You might also be able to directly create a DVD video disc with PlayMemories Home
http://docs.esupport.sony.com/dvimag/PMH_Help_guide/en-US/index.html
(Although some of those options only work with some AVCHD bit rates)

 

[kgreen]

This might help
http://support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp/www/disoft/int/playmemories-home/operation/edit/wmv-convert.html

This is more step-by-step
http://support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp...ories-home/operation-v1/edit/wmv-convert.html

You might also be able to directly create a DVD video disc with PlayMemories Home
http://docs.esupport.sony.com/dvimag/PMH_Help_guide/en-US/index.html
(Although some of those options only work with some AVCHD bit rates)

This is very handy! You're Awesome! Thanks