Disk formats

[Guest]

If I understand correctly, if I save a project as a movie in WMM, I need to
convert the format so that it will play on a home DVD player. Correct? I
downloaded TMPGEnc. Is Nero easier for the novice? Also what disk formats
should be used. Thanks. This is a great discussion group, particularly for
a beginner.

 

[Guest]

Yup....you need DVD 'authoring' software like Nero. First it converts your
'format' to VOB and then you burn your disc. There are others like Sonic,
Ulead's Movie Factory etc. A few of us on here like Movie Factory a lot,
but it generally is a matter of personal preference of how it works for you.
You can try Movie Factory as a trial....and it costs $50 if you decide to buy
it. You can find it at the Ulead site at www.ulead.com Personally I
have found Movie Factory to be more stable than others....because when
something goes wrong you will not be able to use your blank DVD again if you
use DVD-R or DVD+R's. Most newer DVD players, progressive scan, will play
the various formats. But you may run into non-playable results on some
certain players. As far as the formats, I generally will use the DVD+RW or
DVD-RW as my blanks. That is because they are readable and writable more
than once.....I mean, if you mess something up on them you can erase it and
use it over again. With the +R and -R you can't do that. The DVD
authoring software programs I have seen have all had 'erase' capability.
The + and - RW's cost a bit more but I find it much more comforting that I
don't have to throw dvd's away.... ha ha ha I'm 'almost' a beginner too
and I agree with you about this newsgroup......if you become an avid reader
of the posts in here you will be surprised at what you can learn....I run
across things I never thought of all the time in here!
Good luck.

 

[Guest]

Jim,

You don't necessarily need to do any converting. It depends on what
authoring software you use. MyDVD (Sonic) came with my burner. I just import
the saved DV-AVI file and the software does the rest. I'm sure Nero does the
same thing. I don't have any experience with Ulead. Unnecessary conversions
take up hard drive space, time and a little quality I'm sure. Don't do it if
you don't have to.

Steve

 

[Wojo]

As Steve said you don't want to convert the file at all. Converting will
just create quality issues.
Save in DV-AVI format and use the DVD authoring program of your choice and
that program will do the converting for you. As dickmr says there are many
choices out there for you as far as DVD authoring programs go. I also very
much prefer Movie Factory but I tried quite a few before coming to that
conclusion. There is a small list of the ones I've tried along with links to
their sites on my website in the "DVD Programs" section.