I need to make regular DVD's!

[AKPakrat]

:rolleyes:Hello all;
I need your help!! I am a truck driver here in Alaska that runs the Dalton Highway for a living( Yes.... I AM a ice road trucker...I even work for Carlile...) I am a pen pal to a class of special ed kids down in Washinton state and I want to make videos for them since they are mostly visual learners. I date back to vhs tape machines, ok? I see all this new tech out there and throw up my hands!! LOL
I finally went digital with a Canon xti two years ago and love it! I have some good glass..70-200 2.8, tamron 28-75 2.8, tokina 11-16 2.8, 1.4x, 2x, and the kit lens that came with this body.
What I want to know is;
1. Should I stick to dslr's for video?
2. If not, what camcorder should I get that isn't over $1k...
I want to keep this simple, ok? I want to be able to produce a regular DVD that will play on anything.

Thanks for you input!!

[westernminnguy]

David,

To make a DVD that will play on a regular DVD player(called Standard definition) you will need a software program.

Some software programs come with a computer or you can buy one such as Adobe Photoshop Elements.

Whether you can make your video with your DSLR depends on:

1. How long a continuous video do you want?

2. What kind of sound do you need?

3. You will need to learn to convert your high definition video from your Canon(if that's what you shoot) to standard definition.

Lots of folks make standard definition videos from the video format of Canon DSLR cameras.

Good luck.

:)

[EVANDIXONdotCOM]

For non artistic, practical video, a dedicated camcorder will do well. I picked up an FS200 and have used the heck out of it. Small in form factor, good for the purpose you need it for, and cheap. Records straight to SD memory card, which is also convenient (transferring video to computer for putting on dvd or editing is MUCH easier and MUCH faster).

I don't have the cash to jump on the DLSR video wagon anyway.

Just my .02

[AKPakrat]

;) Well poo... I was hoping you all would tell me I NEED a new 7d or 5d2!! Ya ain't no fun!! LOL I'll look into camcorders then. I see that the decent ones are up in the $1K bracket...2/3 rds the cost of a 7d...

[westernminnguy]

;) Well poo... I was hoping you all would tell me I NEED a new 7d or 5d2!! Ya ain't no fun!! LOL I'll look into camcorders then. I see that the decent ones are up in the $1K bracket...2/3 rds the cost of a 7d...

Hello Again David,

Lots of info on these sites about using a Camcorder or DSLR for video.


http://www.dvinfo.net/

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/

If you told folks what type of video you were doing; i.e. how long, how good a sound do you need, what type of editing you need to do or want to do etc...folks might be able to help you out a bit more.

I use both the 5DII and a camcorder for video.

Good luck.

:)

[EVANDIXONdotCOM]

;) Well poo... I was hoping you all would tell me I NEED a new 7d or 5d2!! Ya ain't no fun!! LOL I'll look into camcorders then. I see that the decent ones are up in the $1K bracket...2/3 rds the cost of a 7d...

You need a 7d.

[c wood]

David,

Go to Amazon and check out prices on the Canon HF20 and HF200. You should find them in the $600 range. They should meet your needs nicely. You can always convert HD to SD but you can't do it the other way around. Invest in hidef from the getgo.

[AKPakrat]

:cry: I don't want to spend another $1500 for a new computer. Mine is 4 years old and works fine for what I do with it. I'm probably going to go with a HV 30 or 40.

[c wood]

You'll love the HV30 but check out the 40. I think it has a couple of features the 20 or 30 do not have and for some reason the 30 seems to remain in high demand. You may be able to find a 40 for less money. I have an HV20 and it's been great. I've had it to Europe, backpacks all over the US Southwest and South America and never a hiccup.

[basroil]

:cry: I don't want to spend another $1500 for a new computer. Mine is 4 years old and works fine for what I do with it. I'm probably going to go with a HV 30 or 40.

Plenty of free tools for converting 1080p and 720p video to 480p or 480i. Also, with some advanced techniques, you can edit and output 1080p video even if you computer doesn't even handle 720p video. If it's a 4 year old desktop, it should be able to play back 720p video, and somewhat edit it even without fancy methods.

[Bruce Foreman]

With a 4 year old computer (provided it's a reasonably fast dual core processor based) I'd advise the HV40. Some editing packages will let you output both HD WMV (or other HD computer format video files) and SD DVD from the same timeline. Two that I know of are Pinnacle Studio 12 and CyberLink PowerDirector 8 Ultra; both are priced about $100 or so.

Typically I edit, add transistions, music (both packages above come with music), and any voice overs, then add disk menu and render to DVD first in SD. No conversion on my part necessary, the editing software does what it needs to. Then I render to an HD computer file format such as WMV so I can watch my HD content in edited form on my 42" LCD HD TV using a hardware media player such as Western Digital's $99 - $129 WD TV.

If you were willing to upgrade computer to a 2.66Ghz clock speed or faster quad core, I'd recommend the Canon HF200 (camcorder) and Canon T1i (DSLR that does HD video - best in 1280x720 30p mode) and you could upgrade to the 7D or whatever later 7D model Canon comes out with down the road.

There are "workarounds" for the T1i that will let you do in video mode some of what the 7D can do.

But the T1i is also one heckuva performing camera.

[VinnyC01]

why not just record straight to DVD -


SONY Handicam (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist.jsp&sku=597140&A=cart&is=REG&q=1&Q=add)

[AKPakrat]

:DIt's a done deal!! I got a used hv30 for $400 bucks

[maxsideburn]

why not just record straight to DVD -

Because those little microDVD camcorders are complete and utter trash. They seriously look much worse than a 10 year old miniDV cam that you can pick up at a pawn shop for around $100 or less.

Not only that, but the discs are expensive, sometimes they get corrupted, and there is no salvaging your data, they only hold like 20-30 minutes of footage....they're just awefull.

As a video professional I occassionally get people who bring in footage shot on one of these things and it just amazes me what people will sacrifice for a little convenience. I have old VHS cams that produce far better results than these little DVD camcorders.

The simple fact is that DVD footage is compressed, badly. To make matters worse these little underpowered camcorders are trying to compress this video on the fly and they do a horrible job at it. They honestly produce the murkiest, blockiest, crap I've ever seen passed off as consumer level video.

No joke my little Flip camera (or even my point and shoot Casio) takes much better video than the best one of those DVD camcorders I've seen. Better color rendition, better low light, less blocky, much sharper, and hell even the sound is better.

Then if you plan on editing something shot with a DVD camcorder you're going to be taking terrible looking pre-compressed footage, ripping it off of the DVD, editing it, and then compressing it again.

I apologize for the long rant, but the next time you see anybody with one of those things tell them they'd better not trust their memories to it. They'll look terrible and occasionally even get corrupted. My advice is: JUST STAY AWAY




Now, if you want some really good quality and a pretty easy workflow buy something like an HV20/HV30/HV40 (you can get an HV20 for pretty cheap). You can shoot in high definition or standard definition.

As for export, that depends on if you're editing it or not. Many of us video pros use Mac systems with Final Cut Studio, but even if you're limited on funds and have a Windows based computer it should still be easy. You can capture the video with Windows Movie Maker (comes with Windows), and burn to DVD with Windows DVD Maker (comes with Vista and Win7). Alternatively if you won't be editing you could always just hook the RCA jacks out of the HV20 into a DVD recorder, hit play on the camera and hit record on the DVD recorder, couldn't be any simpler and will give good results.