Who are the DVD Gurus here?

[Chuki]

Thanks Chuki,
Is Vegas Video easy to use? I am a complete dunce when it comes to this stuff. I would like to find some software that I can more or less setup and walk away. Is there such a thing???

Sorry for hijacking your thread TC.
Chad

Using nero as an example and saying nero is easy, then by all means NO. Vegas video is stuff amateurs and soon to be profressionals use. By amateur I'm talking about those who are making a career out of this stuff. The software isn't cheap either. If your fairly computer savy and have patience you can learn to use Vegas Video. I will also let you know Vegas video is not an all in one suite either, its a Video editor (where you put your video together), then you use Vegas DVD Archictech to actually contruct your DVDs menus etc...

If you want an all in one similar to Nero, I would recommend maybe trying the new Nero 7 if you haven't already (I have never used it) or for quick compilations I have used Ulead DVD Movie Factory, and Sonic My DVD both are adequate although the overall quality isn't that great.

Uhmm google is your friend, and if you want some good quality, basically you want to capture the quality of your camcorder. I'm sure when you import the video to your PC it looks alright, but when you author the dvd it looks like poo. I would recommend googling info in this order.

You want to be able to render or encode your video yourself, search mpeg2 encoders, once you kind of master editing video, then you need some good software to construct the dvd but wont meddle with your video, I have recommend DVD lab. It's been awhile since I've used DVD lab it may also handle your video needs as well.

If ya need anything just hollar.


*EDIT* did some searching, this may be of use to you also...
http://www.mediachance.com/video/index.html

Seems to be worth a look. I'm downloading the trial version to see if its any good.

 

[flexntj2001]

Hey Thanks Chuki!

1st off....From the Optura Xi I download to the PC via firewire. The quality when viewing from the DV to the TV is awsome (looks just like a high quality DVD). When I put it on the PC it still looks great, but it is when I burn it to a DVD (I usually use Verbatim) that the quality drops. I am also only talking about a 20 to 30 minute video too (somewhere in the neighborhood of a gig or more of space), so I am not even trying to compress the video at all.

Thanks for all the help. I will look at the link in a little while.