DV & DVDBurner Recomendations?

S

Sogni

*gone*
I'm looking to convert old home movies to DVDs, what are good Analog to DV converters that are not too expencive?

Also can anyone recommend a DVD Burner for my Mac? Internal or External.

I don't have too much money to spend on it, but would like a decent one that, hopefully, works with iDVD...

Are there other ways to make a Video CD that would work on normal DVD Players (and Playstation 2s? <grin>)?
 
Dear Tormente,

It must be your lucky day?! Help is at hand. So you are looking to find a way of coverting your VHS videos into DVD, no problems. I should point out that your home movie will not be at the same quality as comsumer DVD's. they will look kind of blurry and of low quality.

Ok, you will need a few things. Unfortunately, you didn't mention what Macisthosh model you have, wil could of help, not to worry thou. I assume that your Macintosh has a Firewire port in it, which will be a big help. Also, you will need a big hard drive, bigger the better. You want at least 60GB.

You said you are on a budget, so bearing that in mind, you will need:

1. A analog capture device
I recommend you buy Formac StudioDV. It's an external device that converts your analogs sources into DV. More infomation can be found on the website.
http://www.formac.com/p_bin/?cid=solutions_converters_studiodv

Unfortunately, it's only MacOS 9 Classic, so you will have to boot into Classic.

2. Once you have your DV material, you need to edit it. I recommend iMovie for this. If not, I recommend Adobe Premiere 6.5, an excellent piece of software. Better and cheaper than Final Cut Pro in my opinion. It's your choice at the end of the day.

3. Once you have your finished movie, you need to 'DVD' it. I myself have DVD Studio Pro 1.5, which is the Dogs Bolloxs (good), but it is expensive. I haven't really used iDVD, so I can't comment, but I here it's a good piece of software. You might need the QuickTime to MPEG-2 codec, which will set you back some $30.

4. You will of course need a DVD burner. I recommend the Lacie External DVD-RW Firewire. A quality piece of hardware, never lets you down, and you will need a copy of Toast for multiple copies.

Sorry I can't quote prices, because it all depends where you get it.

Well, I hope that I was some help... :)
 
I'm looking to convert old home movies to DVDs, what are good Analog to DV converters that are not too expencive?
Click to expand...

If you have a DV camera, then you can most likely patch your VCR to your camera and dump your video to your Mac. If you don't, some good analog to DV converters are the Dazzle Hollywood DV-Bridge, Formac Studio, and PowerR Director's Cut.

Are there other ways to make a Video CD that would work on normal DVD Players (and Playstation 2s? )?
Click to expand...

Unless there's a hack for it, PS2's don't support VCD. Although, most DVD players support VCD and SVCD. With Toast you can make a VCD but it won't look very good, even with a high quality source. With ffmpegX or Missing Mpeg Tools you can author an SVCD which will have about the same quality as a DVD. The drawback would be that you can oly squeeze about 35-40 minutes of video onto an SVCD. If you have short home movies that you've edited then this is no problem, but if you have those long three-hour home movies that everyone hates to watch, then you're out of luck.
 
Originally posted by ByerlyRips
If you have a DV camera, then you can most likely patch your VCR to your camera and dump your video to your Mac.
Click to expand...

Really??? I didn't realize that! That kills two birds with one stone since I've also been thinking of getting a DV cam! Awesome! :)

Now question is... which Camcorder? heh :D


Unless there's a hack for it, PS2's don't support VCD.
Click to expand...

Aww man... that sucks! :(



If you have short home movies that you've edited then this is no problem, but if you have those long three-hour home movies that everyone hates to watch, then you're out of luck.
Click to expand...

Oh I'm sure there LONG home movies everyone hates to watch, that's why I'm using iMovie to only keep the good stuff! :)

I do have my eye on Final Cut Pro and Premier, but those will have to wait until I go back to work.

Thanks for the info guys, now I'm really excited! I might end up getting a cheap (under $500) DV camcorder just to much around with.

Thanks again! :)
 
Now question is... which Camcorder? heh
Click to expand...

I have a Sony DCR TRV 240. Base cost was around $599, but that was quite a few months ago so it could very well be cheaper now. It works well with iMovie and BTV and I suppose it would also work well with FCP and Premier. It's a Digital 8 camera, so it can still play and record to older 8/Hi8 tapes. Even though it's digital 8 it still has pretty much the same quality as Mini DV. The only brand I'd go with when picking a DV cam would be a Sony or Canon.
 
Can't find the 240, but saw a 140 for $499 (I'll be picking it up personally rather than getting it online I think, otherwise I'm sure I can find a better price).

What's the difference between Digital 8 and MiniDV?

I saw two models of about the same price with more or less the same bells and whistles (all I care about is a light, nightshot and stedy-cam with the ability to use a tripod) - just ones a Digita8 and the other a MiniDV...
 
mini dv is a smaller newer format of tapes. Mini dv cameras can be a lot smaller because the media itself is smaller. We are talking about half the size of a traditional video camera. Digital 8 are smaller than VHS tapes but about 2.5 times as big as a mini dv tape. Thus the camcorders that don't use mini dv will be about 1.5 times larger.

I reccomend that you go to a store like bestbuy where you can hold the camera and see if the size of a Digital 8 is too much for you or if you like it. Personally I like smaller cameras so I would go with mini dv.
 
Hey - the last camera I had was one of those over-the-shoulder ones, so this is going to trip me up either way! :)

Altho I did use a professional Sony DV Camera that I LOVED at college - but those are way, WAY out of my price range! :D

Now... to get someone to drive me to Best Buy! :)
 
I opted for the TRV 240 over the 140. Mainly because it has the analog input option and the ability to play and record to older 8/Hi8 tapes (this option is disabled in the 140). Also, the 240 is a bit less bulky.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top