Ulead VideoStudio 11 Plus

Offers video editing and dvd authoring.

VideoStudio Editor has the tools to let even inexperienced users create their own edited home movies. User can follow the step by step software so that they can spend more time working on their actual video editing project rather than on the technical aspects of video editing.

The Movie Wizard is tailored to users that are new to video editing. You can select from the embedded dvd themes, and the program creates a great looking opening sequence for you. The program lets you import photos that automatically create photo slideshows with pan and zoom. It takes about three steps.

The program includes a DV to DVD wizard that makes it very fast to get from your digital video footage to a newly created DVD. You hook up your video camera, choose the scenes from the video that you want, and in two steps you will have a finished DVD with dvd menus, dvd titles, transitions between video clips, and background music.

The software includes the ability to import and edit high definition video.

You can create PIP (picture in picture) effects and can overlay up to six tracks.

The Plus software automatically created opening footage that is comparable to movie opening sequences. It also includes Dobly Digital 5.1 surround sound so when you play your new dvd on a surround sound system, it will sound great.

There are automatic color filters, tone filters, desnowing technology, cleanup of video, mpeg optimizer, and dvd authoring. You can create 16:9 widescreen DVDs, and have the ability to customize the backgrounds and buttons on your dvds. It includes support for MPEG4 files and H.264.

Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum Edition

Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum Edition

Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum Edition allows you to edit video, produce audio, and author dvds. It is a self-inclusive software application that allows you to create quality movies, corporate training video, DVDs from wedding footage, and archive family movies. It allows you to edit video in many of the most popular formats as well as high definition HDV and Sony AVCHD.

There are advanced tools in the package that allow for video compositing and color correction. You can also use the advanced tools to do extensive sound mixing. It has built in DVD authoring and the ability to output files online.

Drag and drop import of video is included. There are built in DVD layout that can be used to burn your project to DVD. They also include interactive training videos that help you get started using the video to dvd transfer software.

Some of the features included:

--creation of high definition files

--export to Sony AVCHD files

--use of surround sound mixing and encoding of video files

--lots of video restoration tools

--includes many professional 2D and 3D video effects for your video movies

--titles and filters

--included transitions

--real time DirectX effects (audio)

--animattes video compositing mattes

MiniDVD

A MiniDVD is an 80 mm diameter disc that is used in many of the newer camcorders. When recording at standard DVD quality it will hold about 30 minutes of video footage which takes up 1.4GB of data. If the slow play mode is used the quality is equivalent to a VHS recording and a standard MiniDVD disc will then hold about 120 minutes of video. MiniDVDs can be played back in most consumer DVD players.

In most video editing programs, you can import the video footage from a MiniDVD by going to File:Import DVD.

Another video import option

Many computer users do not have the technical experience (or the equipment) to import their video footage into their computer. This is especially true of older computer or cheaper models, many of which do not have a firewire port.

The Studio MovieBox Plus is a good option. Using a high speed 2.0 USB connection to the computer, the MovieBox allows users to capture video from both analog sources (such as a VCR) or DV sources (such as digital video cameras).

The Studio MovieBox Plus also comes with Pinnacle's Studio software which allows for the editing of the video footage.

Please note: the quality of the video import will be directly related to the speed of your computer and the quality of your video card. If your computer is too slow or the video card too old, you may run into problems with the audio and the video not synching up (your movie will look like a dubbed Japanese horror movie).

External DVD recorder or Video Capture Card

In today’s fast-paced digital world, VHS, 8mm, Hi8, Digital8 and MiniDV tapes are not very useful for the person on the go. Having your video footage imported into your PC computer can give you access to these files on the road through a laptop or through a portable video player (such as Zune or video iPod). Many people who want to convert their older video recordings to DVD. Our service will make this conversion for you, or you can choose to do the transfer yourself. This article describes two ways to transfer that VHS tape of your special event, family gathering or Christmas party to DVD so that you can have a more permanent digital copy to share with family and friends, and have the ability to take your video on the road with you as you travel.

If you want to transfer your video to DVD without importing the footage into a computer first, a DVD recorder is a video device designed to record to DVD. This is a good option if you are one of the many people still around that still does not have a computer. You cannot record video footage that is copy protected, in most cases your video footage will be the same as it is now because video editing is not an option, and the units are very expensive. Also, depending on what model you choose you may or may not be able to play your new DVD on a consumer DVD player—you may have to play the DVD on the DVD unit you record it on.

First, you need to connect the DVD recorder to the video source (your VCR, or connected through cables to your video camera). If the option is available use an S-video cable because you will get a higher quality conversion. If that is not an option, you will need RCA cables (the ones with the red, white and yellow connectors).

Second, you need to select a blank DVD that will work with your DVD recorder. Caution—stay AWAY from DVD-RAM unless you only want to use your DVD recorder to play your new DVDs. We highly recommend using DVD-R blank DVDs, as they have the highest compatibility with consumer DVD players and computers.

Next, press play on your VCR or camera and make sure that you have a good signal of the video showing up on your TV screen. If it looks good, rewind to the beginning of the tape, press play and when you get to the point that you want to start, press pause. Press the record button on the DVD recorder, and then press play on your VCR or camera. You will need to watch so that you can be there when the tape ends so you can stop the recording.

If you have more than one tape, do the same thing over again to add your additional tapes. If your tapes are long, you won’t get many on the same DVD. Read the instructions with your DVD recorder to add chapters, titles, etc. before finalizing the DVD. If you do not finalize the DVD, it will not play on other DVD players. If you added more than one tape, each tape will be shown on the DVD menu. You’re done.

If you are going to use your computer’s capture card for your video to dvd transfer, you will need a connection between your computer and your vcr or video camera. Most of the time this is done through a firewire, but if you are using a VCR you will need a device like the Pinnacle capture device which allow you to connect the RCA cable from the vcr to the Pinnacle device, and then the Pinnacle device to the computer.

If you choose to use your computer capture card, it is a very simple process and it also allows you the ability (depending on your software) to edit the video, remove bad spots, remove blank spots, add music, and add transitions between scenes. If you have an older computer, you may not want to choose this method because if the computer is too slow, the audio and the video may or may not sync (you’ll see and hear that the audio of people talking doesn’t match the video of them talking—like a badly dubbed Japanese horror movie). You will also need a very large hard drive because the new files from the video that you import will be very large. An external hard drive is recommended not for the actual process, but to store the new files when you are finished making your DVDs. You will need either an internal or external DVD burner.

Next, you need to select a blank DVD that will work with your DVD burner. Caution—stay AWAY from DVD-. We highly recommend using DVD-R blank DVDs, as they have the highest compatibility with consumer DVD players and computers.

Now you will need to configure your video capture card. If you want very high quality, choose the AVI format. If you want very good quality, choose MPEG-2. If you want good quality, choose MPEG-1. If you’re doing a video to dvd transfer of only one tape, choose AVI. If you plan on doing more than one video file on the same DVD, choose MPEG-2.

Connect the video card of the computer to either your video camera (using a firewire cable) or to your Pinnacle capture device as described before to hook up between your computer and VCR. As before, do a test to make sure that you can see your video playing on the computer screen and follow the steps as before to start your recording. Note that you are not recording to the DVD yet—you are just capturing the video to your computer’s hard drive.

When finished, use software such as Sonic MyDVD or Roxio Media Creator and import the video footage into the program, set up your menu and chapters, and burn your new dvd. If your software has the option of video editing, you will be able to delete bad footage, adjust the lighting, adjust the volume of individual clips, add background music, and much more. Understand that the video editing process is long and tedious. If you’re not a very patient person, skip it.

Pinnacle Studio 10

Pinnacle Studio 10 is an excellent video editing program. We especially like the ease of applying transitions to the video footage, and the fact that when video is imported through the program OR when video you've already stored is imported, it does an automatic scene detection which makes editing a breeze. The only time that the automatic scene detection becomes a problem is when a scene with many light changes takes place (such as a strobe light being used during a wedding reception).

Once the video transfer is done, you can add transitions, lots of special effects, cleanup effects, background music tracks, lots of audio cleanup, and titles.

It is HIGHLY recommended that you have a fairly new computer, and we have had no problems with 2GB of RAM (we tried it with a computer with 1GB of RAM--it was ok, but not nearly as responsive as with the higher RAM. Also, read the software description for minimum required video card options.

We have used Pinnacle Studio since version 9. Both are great programs and we highly recommend them. Easy to learn.

Sonic MyDVD 6.1

Sonic MyDVD 6.1 is one of the best video to dvd transfer programs that we've used. One of the little known secrets of the program is that it has a "Fit to DVD" option, which in many cases can fit as much as 8.5GB of video footage on to a 4.7GB dvd-r or dvd+r disk. It does this by recoding the footage you add and the results are really good.

You can use Sonic MyDVD 6.1 to do you video to dvd transfer, then use the built in menus (we especially like the dvd motion menus) to burn your DVD. We should note that obviously the faster your PC and DVD burner, the better this program will work for you.

It has some basic editing features which let you trim the start and end of each video file, and also the ability to add chapter points. When you add chapter points to your DVD, make sure you choose "NO" when the program asks you if you want to create menus based on your chapter points. This saves disk space and you can easily skip through the chapters on your DVD without going back to a menu.

While Sonic MyDVD 6.1 may be hard to find (since Roxio took over Sonic a few years back), it's definitely worth finding to produce your video to dvd transfer project.

Adobe Premiere Elements

Adobe Premiere Elements is another good program for video to dvd transfer. At the link below, you can download the free tryout and see whether or not it will meet your video to dvd transfer needs. It's also a good way to practice importing video from your VCR or your video camera:

http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere-elements.html

Importing video to the computer

Importing video to the computer can be one of the most difficult aspects of video to dvd transfer. In most cases, you will need a fast computer with lots of RAM and hard disk space. If you try using a slower computer, your audio and video may not match, making your new imported video look like a dubbed Japanese horror movie!

If you are importing a VHS tape, you will need to use an RCA cable (red, yellow and white connections). Next, you will need a connector between your computer and the VCR which will capture the video. While we don't recommend one device over another, if you do a google search for "video capture devices" you will get a good idea what's out there. Most of the capture devices will connect to your computer via a USB cable.

If you are importing an 8mm, Hi8, Digital8, or MiniDV tape, you will need a firewire cable that connects from your video camera to the capture device OR to the computer directly. If you are able to connect to the computer directly, you will get a much better video capture than if you have to go through the video capture device.