I would like to know how i can make a DVD from the home movies i have so i can play them on my Stand alone DVD Player.
I am transferring them through firewire to my PC using Windows Movie Maker 2 but i dont know how to make them into DVD, i do have a DVD burner as well using DVD+R media , can someone please help i am very new to this i would greatly appreciate any help.
Check out the guides on this website or on dvdrhelp.com.
What you want is accomplished in several steps.
1) Use a proggy to "capture" your DV to your HD. The best is Adobe Premiere but some good consumer-level ones are Ulead VideoStudio/MediaStudio and Pinnacle Studio. Make sure to capture as Type II (better compatibility). It's easier to "split by scene detection" if you have that function.
These proggies can usually do editing, add FX/subtitles and joining.
Warning: It takes about 3.5 GB per 15 min of video.
2) Encode your video to DVD/SVCD/VCD. The consumer level proggies allow this but the output quality is quite poor. I'd suggested a dedicated encoder such as TMPGEnc (free), MainConcept, CCE, ProCoder, etc. Since you have a DVD burner, I'd suggest burning to DVD specs. DV video is quite low-quality so you want to use as high a bitrate as possible. I'd also suggest using a bitrate calculator (such as DV Tool) for best results.
3) After encoding, you need to Author your DVD. That is, add the menus, chapters, etc. Lots of proggies will do this.
4) Lastly, burn your compilation onto DVD-R/RW.
There are mutliple ways each step can be accomplished. I'd suggested you read up on the guides to see what works best for you.
