DVD Burning Software, What Product?

[Guest]

I have been burning digital movies to CD using the Windows Media format. I
just bought a DVD burner and burned my first movie yesterday. I used Ulead's
Video Studio 8. My dad gave me his software as he no longer was using it. I
was very dissapointed in the output. The picture quality when played back on
my TV was poor. I'm not sure if it was due to a setting in the software, or
some other issue. I'm also a novice, so that could be the problem.

Any thoughts, or suggestions on which software to buy for editing digital
movies and creating DVD's?

 

[Cari \(MS-MVP\)]

Save the finalized project in WMM as a DV-AVI file.... which will give the
best resolution.

There are many third party software applications to create a DVD... you may
want to see if there are trial versions you can try out:

WinDVD Creator (www.intervideo.com)
PowerDirector/PowerProducer (www.gocyberlink.com)
Sonic My DVD (www.roxio.com)
Easy Media Creator (www.roxio.com)
Nero (www.nero.com)

 

[Guest]

If I use the suggestion below and save the project as a WMM, how would I burn
the project to a DVD. This method seems to be adding an additional step.?

 

[Cari \(MS-MVP\)]

You can't save as a WMM, only as a WMV or DV-AVI. A WMV is a file of much
less quality (resolution) than a DV-AVI, hence it's looking bad on your TV.
WMM = Windows Movie Maker.

 

[Guest]

Cari,

I'm still not sure I understand why you would save to a file. My end goal
is to burn a DVD. I'm currently using Ulead's Video Studio 8. There doesn't
seem to be an interim step, you just select create DVD. Like I mentioned
earlier the quality was very dissapointing. I was considering downloading a
trial copy of version 9 to see if the problem goes away. One of my
co-workers thought there might be a bit rate setting that needs adjusting,
but from what I understand the quality should be much better then the quality
of Windows Media format that I had been burning to CD.

 

[Cari \(MS-MVP\)]

You're not saving the file that you're editing? What happens if the PC
shuts down half way through? Or is your PC so stable you have never ever
lost a file.

The correct procedure unless you wish to capture directly to a DVD would be
to save the captured video at some point, just in case. Just like you do
with a document.

Import as DV-AVI... edit... then by all means if you never ever wish to view
the video again on the PC, burn it direct to the DVD and then close out the
third party application and lose all the captured video... but it sure saves
time if you need that footage again to save the edited copy of it.

Windows Movie Maker does not and has never been designed for burning DVDs.
If you wish to use a third party software such as uLead, you are welcome to
do so. I'm just telling you that to get the best resolution possible,
capture in DV-AVI format, edit and then re-encode that DV-AVI format to the
DVD. If you want poor resolution, less than a VHS tape, then use WMV. If
you want decent resolution that 'looks' like DVD quality, use DV-AVI. If
you want the best, you make certainl sacrifices, like having at least 12gb
hard drive space per hour of video, large hard drives with plenty of free
space, a fast CPU and lots of RAM.

The very old addage of Garbage In Garbage Out still applies. You can't just
burn a WMV file to DVD and expect it to magically increase its resolution.
It's got to be good to start off with.

 

[Graham Hughes]

I'd suggest having a read here
http://www.ulead.co.uk/learning/videoinfo.htm


--
Graham Hughes
MVP Digital Media
www.myvideoproblems.co.uk
www.dvds2treasure.com
www.simplydv.com