I have a bunch of Sony TRV120E digital handycam tapes which I want to
transfer to DVD. I am not interested in any editing but want to
transfer the complete content of the cassettes "as-is". I have a
Pentium4 processor with 256MB RAM and around 12GB of free space on my
hard-drive. I prefer not to invest in any additional HW at this time.

What else....well I have tried Nerovision Express software which kept
crashing, and the quality for DVDSanta was not really good either.

So..what is the best way to do this without losing quality? No need
for lengthy answers, simplicity will do .

Thanks in advance
Chenywenny

---

Clarification of Question by chenywenny-ga on 10 May 2005 07:11 PDT

This is for triwav-ga only

Hi Brian,

Sorry, I have a firewire card and cable and a DVD burner.

Premier elements looks like a good and simple to use solution. A
coulpe of questions (you will have enough to qualify for an answer):

1 - I indicated that I have 12 GB free on my hard drive. Will this be
enough for a 90min movie (recorded in Long Play)?

2 - Please guide me the 5 steps max. your suggested (camera to DVD)

Thanks Again

Chenywenny

Ok a little more info about your system would be useful. Most
importantly whether you have what's known as a firewire port on your
computer. An easy way to figure this out is to right click on my
computer click properties go to hardware then device manager. This
should bring up a list. If it has something that looks similar to IEEE
1394 Bus Host... then you're in business. All you need then is a 4 pin
to 6 pin cable to run from the firewire output on your camera to your
computer. You will need some program to capture the files. Since
you're on a low budget you probably could get away with using Windows
Movie Maker, however you'll still need a program for converting your
footage to the DVD format which is MPEG2. I know you said you didn't
want to do any editing but... if I was you I'd go ahead and get a copy
of premiere pro elements which can be had for around $90 to $100
here's an example site.
http://www.superwarehouse.com/p.cfm?p=440496&CMP=KA18442 Now the nice
thing about this is it'll mean less work for you since it can both do
the dvd encoding and capture it in the same program. In addition, you
have the capability of doing some pretty advanced editing should you
ever decide to mess around with it. If you choose Premiere Elements
let me know and I'll guide you through transferring from your camera
to DVD. It's really easy like 5 steps max. Ok... so there's software.
Now as far as hardware goes I assume you have a dvd burner yes? If not
then there's no way to get around this without spending some money. If
you do then the next thing is the firewire card if your system doesn't
have it then you'll need to get one. They can easily be had for around
$12 bucks online. If you need help finding a site and installing it I
can help with that too. So we're talking around $50 to $120 to get you
up and going depending on what your variables are. NOW... if you wanna
go the really simple route, you could just get a dvd set top burner.
Here's an example http://www.liteonit.com/DC/english/lvw_5001_2.htm
they can be had for around $120-140 if you find a good deal and all
you have to do is connect the two with a firewire cable and hit record
and play couldn't be easier. The disadvantage is this doesn't give any
more room to grow. Well let me know what you think of all this and let
me know what you want to do. I hope this helps you out some.
-Brian Leighty

I have a bunch of Sony TRV120E digital handycam tapes which I want to
transfer to DVD. I am not interested in any editing but want to
transfer the complete content of the cassettes "as-is". I have a
Pentium4 processor with 256MB RAM and around 12GB of free space on my
hard-drive. I prefer not to invest in any additional HW at this time.

What else....well I have tried Nerovision Express software which kept
crashing, and the quality for DVDSanta was not really good either.

So..what is the best way to do this without losing quality? No need
for lengthy answers, simplicity will do .

Thanks in advance
Chenywenny

I helped my dad transfer our 30+ VHS tapes and 25+ 8MM tapes to DVD
using a laptop computer with wonderful success.  We bought an HP Movie
Writer dc3000 (they may have a slightly newer model).  It is a
combination external DVD Writer and external video capture unit which
you can plug your VCR or Camcorder into.  It comes with an easy
transfer wizard to write to the DVD+R in one shot if you don't want to
do any video editing.  If you want to do some basic editing, it comes
with ArcSoft ShowBiz, which after applying the updates from the
website, works fairly well at producing good quality DVDs and effects.

The capture quality is very good, in fact significantly better than
what I was able to get using my TV Capture card (WinTV Theatre).  Even
if you have already invested in a DVD recorder, this unit might be
worth the $200 that you can buy it for, if for nothing else, the ease
of use.

Ok first off, the 12GB thing will be a limitation. Unfortunately it
doesn't matter that you recorded in long play. It still captures at a
constant rate of around 3.5MB per second. This comes out to around 4GB
every 20 minutes so with 12 gigs you have enough for an hour of
capture, however you also have to take into account that premiere
creates a temporary file before burning the dvd so you're talking
another file around 4GB there. So the maximum length will be somewhere
around 40 minutes unless you can clear off some space. Their really
isn't any easy solution around this. I know you said you didn't want
to invest in any other hardware but I don't see an easy way around it
unless you can clear up some space. If you have a dvd burner then you
could possibly burn some stuff on your computer to dvds that way you
can still hold onto them. If you don't have anything you can delete
than I'd suggest getting a 160GB hd. You can find them for around $50
if you know where to look at that'll give you plenty of space. Just
make sure that your machine can accept another hard drive. One other
possibility I thought of is if you have another computer that is
networked together you could try putting the avi files on there. The
reason this works is that the dvd authoring is not done in realtime so
it wouldn't effect it to much.

Ok onto question 2 the 5 steps. Adobe has a demo of premiere elments
on its website http://www.adobe.com/products/tryadobe/download.jsp?ftpID=2673
however if you don't have a broadband connection it'll take quite a
while. It'll give you 30 days of unlimited access on everything except
dvd burning so you can try it out and see if you like it. Ok starting
with
step 1 Connect your camera to your computer through the firewire
cable. Load up premiere elements. There'll be a box come up click
capture it'll ask you for a name type in a name and click ok.
Step 2 go to the beginning of your tape click the green play button
and capture. You should be able to just walk away while it captures.
When it's done it should put it on the timeline.
Step 3 is optional. If you want menus and chapters click on the dvd
icon in the upper right corner. If not then go on to to Step 4. When
you click it a box will come up. Click apply a template for DVD with
Menus find one you like and click on it. If you want to add scene
selection go through the captured file on your timeline and find the
spots you want the chaptures at. Click the DVD Marker button on left
of the timeline. A box will come up asking you the name of that scene.
Repeat this for however many chapters you want.
Step 4 In the upper right next to the dvd button from step 3 there's a
button that says export click it and select to DVD. Unfortunately I
can't see the steps for that 'cause it won't let me get in there but I
assume that is also fairly straightforward as well.
If you have any problems you can email me at
brianlovesmoney@yahoo.com. Hope things work out for you.