Burning DVDs - advice

[Alex]

It's about 10 times what you need to spend, but hey, its a free market...

Here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6827152039

NEC Beige 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 4X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache IDE DVD Burner - OEM: $37.99

For the rest of the $360, get a dell and then even surf the net once you are done burning...I forget the website that has all the free shipping codes but I still see no need for a hardware item like that...but hey, again, you are free to choose.

best,
mike

I don't think you're making an equal comparison.

I've heard that burning straight from the timeline to a DVD can be more problematical than outputing to DV tape first.

Integrating the DVD burning program with the NLE editing program that possibly has been integrated with various other programs is where the problems usually come in.

One person told me that on one DVD burning program, it had a nice template feature that they liked, but it was limited to only three burning rates, so they wanted to integrate a second DVD computer program with better burning options than the first, but then that wasn't as easy as it seemed.

Every person sets up their computer with their own set of programs, all with varying degrees of compliance with each other, throw in perhaps one bootlegged software program into the mix, an internet virus or two, and the potential is there to have burning issues on the first few tries.

I also don't see how burning a DVD from a timeline, in which several different editing layers have been rendered into one, is somehow easier to burn to DVD than outputting to DV and worrying about a dropped frame.

How can a computer flawlessly burn a DVD from a timeline yet be incapable of outputing a clean version to DV tape, is that really possible?

The Standalone DVD recorder systems come with it's own basic operating systems, an 80 or 160 gig harddrive, and no internet access so viruses are a non issue. Plus they are also channel tuners so they can record off the air.

Are you guys on drugs? What's the big deal of making DVDs from timeline projects (that are composed of avi files, etc)??? And, as for inserting chapters in realtime, are you nuts? Who the heck wants to babysit an output and be stessed out for when the next scene change comes...No sir, I think that sounds like a truly old school method myself...but hey, I like old school sometimes!!! Long live super 8!

You can pause the DVD standalone Recorder to the frame and then select add the chapter.

I have a slight change to your analogy.

The standalone burner is to a "do it yourself processing" what the pioneer standalone recorder is to a Super-8 camera.

[BK]

Will I be able to expect excellent quality, as good as my mini dv or DVcam original? I have heard of some DVDs being crappy quality for whatever reason. If this is the case I will take a tape and have someone else make the DVDs
Matt

I have been using iDVD on the Mac platform and it gives me excellent results, you have to look very closely to spot the difference in quality compared to the original dv tapes, it's that brilliant. Do you have any friends with a Mac that could help you with your edited tape?

Before I never had much success with making dvds using a PC.

Bill

[mattias]

We've ALL read stories about of people who get 99% of the project burned, it's taken all night, and then the system crashes.

i haven't. and even if i had i'd take the risk considering the much better quality i get compared to a standalone burner. i compress discs every day and burn them even more often, and never had any real problems. i don't mind if you use whatever method works best for you though. if you can live with the limited authoring options and slightly lower image quality i guess the convenience makes it worthwhile.

/matt

[Uppsala BildTeknik]

Also I heard that standalone DVD recorders give less compability (the discs play on fewer DVD players).

[Andreas Wideroe]

Also I heard that standalone DVD recorders give less compability (the discs play on fewer DVD players).

I can confirm this, atleast for the two stand-alone burners I've used. They create a folder called video_rm instead of video_ts which makes them hard to play on most other systems, not to mention importing or ripping to a computer.

Stick with a NEC or a Plextor DVD burner for your PC/Mac. I recommend Sony DVD Architect software. This is great and you can download a free sample version from their website.

http://www.sonymediasoftware.com

[matt5791]

Thanks for all the excellent advice everyone.

From reading the Adobe instruction manual, it seems that it will allow me to export to a DVD for viewing and storing etc.

"...automatically balancing properties such as bitrate and and image quality. A DVD you create using Adobe Premiere Pro automatically plays back from the beginning of the disck when inserted in a DVD player"

However it suggests the use of a separate DVD authoring programme if I wish to create chapters etc. such as Adobe Encore DVD.

I am assuming that the longer the sequence for export to DVD is the lower the quality will be set by the program?

Just to calrify something else - I dont want to edit from these DVD they are purely for distribution so does this mean the "MPEG 2" format is OK?

Many thanks again,

Matt

[matt5791]

Having read further it seems that I can manually adjust the bitrate and other settings and add chapters - seems like a contradiction, so I dont need a separate authoring program :?

Matt

[Uppsala BildTeknik]

Perhaps if you want a menu on your disc you need to use another DVD authoring software? It sounds as if the "premiere DVD" is a "play only" disc, it starts to playback the film immediately after inserting the disc.

It doesen´t sound as if there is a menu at all.

[mattias]

there's so much more you can do with a real authoring program besides menus. scripts ("if playall selected then next else menu"), multiple tracks (audio, subtitles whatever) and so on.

/matt

[matt5791]

Sounds excellent. Looks like I will find an authoring program.

Matt

[super8man]

Vindicated again...the defense rests.

[Alex]

We've ALL read stories about of people who get 99% of the project burned, it's taken all night, and then the system crashes.

i haven't. and even if i had i'd take the risk considering the much better quality i get compared to a standalone burner. i compress discs every day and burn them even more often, and never had any real problems. i don't mind if you use whatever method works best for you though. if you can live with the limited authoring options and slightly lower image quality i guess the convenience makes it worthwhile.

/matt

This initial question was about "first time" attempts. Once one gets through the pitfalls of using the computer the benefits are there, it's just that the pitfalls vary from person to person and tends to relate to the proficiency of the person's computer abilities and how cooperative the overall computer system is.

Perhaps as Super-8 man suggests if one starts "fresh" with a completely new system, it may be easier to get the DVD to work on the first attempt as compared to what's come before, but if one already has their own working computer, sometimes the integration of new software doesn't go as well.

As for quality being less on a standalone DVD, that hasn't been my experience. From the computer one exports DV firewire to a mini-dv tape, then from the mini-DV tape back into a standalone DVD recorder via firewire, now one can choose the exact quality setting they want. Plus, one now has a DV Edit tape master, which is still essential to have anyways.

The results are stunningly good whether loading in from mini-dv or BetaCam SP into a standalone DVD recorder such as the pioneer line.

Even the transcoding of an analog signal to the standalone DVD recorder is of a very good quality.

[mattias]

This initial question was about "first time" attempts. Once one gets through the pitfalls of using the computer the benefits are there, it's just that the pitfalls vary from person to person and tends to relate to the proficiency of the person's computer abilities and how cooperative the overall computer system is.

i tend to agree with that. i have rarely had any problems, but i was into computers, film and video for a decade before dvd's were even thought of.

/matt

[Alex]

Also I heard that standalone DVD recorders give less compability (the discs play on fewer DVD players).

I can confirm this, atleast for the two stand-alone burners I've used. They create a folder called video_rm instead of video_ts which makes them hard to play on most other systems, not to mention importing or ripping to a computer.

Stick with a NEC or a Plextor DVD burner for your PC/Mac. I recommend Sony DVD Architect software. This is great and you can download a free sample version from their website.

http://www.sonymediasoftware.com

The Pioneer manual does mention that there are two settings one can use, VR or Video mode, and that one method is more compatible than the other, so it appears that issue has been addressed.

Andreas, I'm curious which standalone's you've used.

I figure by sticking with Pioneer, I'm stickiing with a company that has been in this field from the beginning. So far I haven't gotten any negative feedback from a couple of DVD jobs of significant size that I have run.

I only use standalone's with Hardrive's built in, I don't go directly to DVD, first to the standalone's hardrive, then to DVD.


"not to mention importing or ripping to a computer."

That's not necesssarily a bad thing if someone wants to sell a copy of their DVD product and not make it easily available to be downloaded onto the internet.

[mattias]

...and i have a mac.

(actually five, but that's beside the point) :-)

/matt