DVD-R/RW drives

[DishDude1]

I am looking into buying a new computer, is a DVD burner worth it? I have some old VHS tapes it would be nice to transfer to DVD, but I can't even find anything that says if I would be able to do that, I guess I would need a tv card also. Anyones input/advice would be appreciated!

[James_F]

I've been moving VHS to DVD over the past few months. It works really well. The only thing you have to remember is the quality of the source. Some of my old VHS tapes had deteriorated and DVD really brings out that poor quality of VHS.

The good news is that these DVDs should last longer than my old VHS tapes. Now I just have to figure out how to get some of my 8mm on DVD. :)

[MarkA]

Yeah, you'll need a good video input card OR a digital video camera with a video input and a FireWire card (this will allow you with most cameras to hook the VCR up to the camera and the camera upto the computer)

[gcutler]

A digital Video Camera would be overkill unless he has a need for one. As the cost of most available video camera 2x-3x more expensive than most capture devices...

If you want to add a capture device seperate from the machine order, you have a few EXTERNAL options. If looking at any device, it will need to support up to 720x480 resolution @ up to 30 frames per second in order for it to capture properly to be put on DVD.

Here are the ones from Dazzle...

DVC-80 = USB 1.x (around $60 , very specific make sure all needs are met with this one, keep away unless keeping cost down is most important)
http://www.dazzle.com/products/dvc80.html

DVC-100 = USB 1.x (around $150)
http://www.dazzle.com/products/dvc100.html

DVC-150 = USB 2.0 (around $175)
http://www.dazzle.com/products/dvc150.html

Hollywood DV Bridge = Firewire (around $250)
http://www.dazzle.com/products/hw_bridge.html

I think the Dazzle DVC-150 would be a good middle ground. I went with the Dazzle Hollywood DV bridge, and most of the time the $50 difference I didn't need (but sometimes it comes in handy). The DVC models will encode the data on the fly to be ready for DVD (about 2GB per hour of recording using DVD compatible compression), but if you think you will be making alot of edit from what you get from the tapes, the Hollywood DV Bridge is better because the data is outputted in close to pure uncompressed Digital Video (around 12GB per hour using no or little compression) and can be edited easily then turned into Compressed DVD format.

Make sure that you will have at least 40GB devoted to the DVD conversion and authoring process, so a larger hard drive may be in order than what you were expecting.

[Chris Blount]

I love my DVD burner. I've been transferring all kinds of old VHS and 8mm tapes to DVD over the past couple of months.

You will need a fast computer with lots of hard drive space. Gcutler's breakdown above is a pretty good guide to follow. The only thing I would add is to expect to spend a few days learning the software along with the in & outs of DVD authoring. Also, it would help if you had a DVD player that recognized DVD RW discs so you can burn test discs.

You asked if it's worth getting a DVD burner? Yes, just be prepared to spend some serious face time with your computer.

I, for one, wanted to reach the holy grail of DVD authoring so I purchased software that encodes DVD's in Dolby Digital and anamorphic widescreen. It cost me some bucks but it was worth it to me since I have a wide screen HDTV and a Dolby Digital home theater but that's just me. Just know that most DVD authoring software does NOT encode in Dolby Digital. Just PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) which uses up more disc space. Also, you will be able to make legal backups of your store bought DVD's with certain types of software that can be purchased in the store.

[gcutler]

Agree 100% about RW and learning the tools. After the Drive, the Capture Device and the Firewire card, I ended up with 3 editing programs (not inclusing XP's Movie Maker). 2 authoring programs and a bunch of other stuff. They were not all the same quality and it took a few hours to learn all the issues of authoring.

Before you upgrade to better authoring tools (or even the Deluxe version of the freebies given). Try to master one of the Authoring Tools. I ended up buying one tool that I would have saved money if I would have upgraded one of the bundled tools. And of course there are semi-professional / professional tools. Until you know exactly what you want, don't spend anything over $100 on any editing or authoring product. I could go for one of those $500 tools, but probably would only use the advanced stuff 5% of the time.