DVDs: I give up

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

Could someone please give me a succinct description of the various types of DVDs? My son just got a new Canon camcorder that records mini DVD-R or -RW discs. We're trying to figure out how to copy the videos onto his computer for editing, and then how to burn a regular DVD for playing on a DVD player.

It appears that there are complex interoperability constraints, and that my head is going to explode in the same way it did when the "universal SCSI connector" was introduced and then followed on by the other 39 SCSI connector formats.

For example, when we try to copy one of these mini DVDs, the program asks us to mount a DVD-R/RW disc. We do so. It grinds for a few moments and then tells us that there is a "problem" with the disc.

Any help will be appreciated, because my patience for this sort of crap is very low. This is the 21st Century. There is no reason why this can't all be completely transparent.

~~ Paul

 

[Vitnir]

the program asks us to mount a DVD-R/RW disc

What program is it?

 

[BenK]

Often these kinds of devices need to have you close or finalize the disc before it can be used in other players, have you done that?

 

[webfusion]

You ain't seen nuthin' yet ----

BluRay

 

[Chris Haynes]

...For example, when we try to copy one of these mini DVDs, the program asks us to mount a DVD-R/RW disc. We do so. It grinds for a few moments and then tells us that there is a "problem" with the disc.

Any help will be appreciated, because my patience for this sort of crap is very low. This is the 21st Century. There is no reason why this can't all be completely transparent.

~~ Paul

Well I guess I won't be replacing my MiniDV camcorder anytime soon. I can download from the camcorder with a firewire using any of about four programs I have gathered over the years for editing (WinDVD Creator, Ulead VideoStudio, Pinnacle Studio 9, and the Sony program that came with the camera that I loathe). I did find this article:
http://www.cnet.com.au/camcorders/camcorders/0,239035915,240061716,00.htm

But it was not very enlightening, other than there can be compatibility problems.

Have you tried playing the DVDs on another computer?

 

[El Greco]

It's possible that your reording software requires not only the same booktyping but also the same disk capacity in order to do a copy. If you want to burn to a disk of higher capacity you may have to rip to the hard disk first.

 

[alfaniner]

Be aware that there are different types of DVD discs. DVD-R and DVD+R are not the same -- your drive might only handle one type. DVD+-RW are pretty universal.

 

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

It's possible that your reording software requires not only the same booktyping but also the same disk capacity in order to do a copy. If you want to burn to a disk of higher capacity you may have to rip to the hard disk first.

WTF is "booktyping"? I thought of the capacity issue, but that's absolutely ludicrous, isn't it? What difference could that possible make?

What program is it?

Sonic DigitalMedia LE v7.

Often these kinds of devices need to have you close or finalize the disc before it can be used in other players, have you done that?

Yes.

I hate this.

So what is the best application to get for getting videos off cameras, editing them, saving them to disk, ripping new DVDs, etc.? Please tell me there is one that just does the right stuff.

~~ Paul

 

[Kopji]

http://www.tucows.com/article/550

The transparent way to bypass all this is to get a camcorder that writes directly to flash memory storage as mpg4 instead of DVD.

 

[fuelair]

Could someone please give me a succinct description of the various types of DVDs? My son just got a new Canon camcorder that records mini DVD-R or -RW discs. We're trying to figure out how to copy the videos onto his computer for editing, and then how to burn a regular DVD for playing on a DVD player.

It appears that there are complex interoperability constraints, and that my head is going to explode in the same way it did when the "universal SCSI connector" was introduced and then followed on by the other 39 SCSI connector formats.

For example, when we try to copy one of these mini DVDs, the program asks us to mount a DVD-R/RW disc. We do so. It grinds for a few moments and then tells us that there is a "problem" with the disc.

Any help will be appreciated, because my patience for this sort of crap is very low. This is the 21st Century. There is no reason why this can't all be completely transparent.

~~ Paul

Is it (and I suspect this) the inserted blank DVD -R (or -RW) that is "grinding"? If so, you might have a drive that is only +R/+RW. Since that is a problem I have had with an older computer..........

As for burning a DVD just run the CC outputs to a DVD recorder and you can make + or - R/RW copies. I do not use 'puter for that.

 

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

Is it (and I suspect this) the inserted blank DVD -R (or -RW) that is "grinding"? If so, you might have a drive that is only +R/+RW. Since that is a problem I have had with an older computer..........

But then how can it read the mini DVD-R in the first place? And it works fine if you insert a new mini DVD-R to receive the copy.

Perhaps the app is just too stupid to handle the different capacities?

~~ Paul

 

[Rawkarma]

Would help to know what model of Canon camcorder your have?

Have you tried upgrading the Firmware drivers for your DVD burner?

Also, check that your DVD drive supports the DVD-R/RW discs you have bought. For example, my DVD burner drive supports: DVD-R x12, DVD-RW x4

This is not an answer to the issue with your current setup, but may I suggest you buy a Umax Yamada (or something similar) DVD player that will play DVD data discs and will allow you to play: DivX, Xvid, AVI codecs without the need to convert them. It retails around £40 now. That's cheap.

You can save on the time it will take you to burn a DVD that will play in your garden-variety DVD player -- I burn all my media from my digital camera, and my camcorder to DVD as a data disc and use my Umax DVD player to watch them.

Umax Yamada supports the following:

CD-Video, S-Video, JPEG-DVD, SVCD, XVCD, CD-Audio, CD-R, CD-RW, MP3-CD, MP3-DVD, WMA-CD, WMA-DVD, JPEG-CD, JPEDVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, VC

or

MPEG1 (ISO11172), MPEG2 (ISO13818),
MPEG4 SP (Simple Profile), DIVX
MPEG4 ASP (Advanced Simple Profile), XviD,
MP3, WMA, PCM, Voibs-OGG

 

[El Greco]

WTF is "booktyping"? I thought of the capacity issue, but that's absolutely ludicrous, isn't it? What difference could that possible make?

Book type. The difference is that often by "disk copy" we mean not only the transferring of the digital data but also the replication of the format of the disc, which can be important for copy protection or error correction. I don't know much about the details but some of them can be found here.

 

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

Would help to know what model of Canon camcorder your have?

A Canon DC100

Also, check that your DVD drive supports the DVD-R/RW discs you have bought. For example, my DVD burner drive supports: DVD-R x12, DVD-RW x4

His drive is a NEC DVD+-RW which says it supports -R, -RW, +R, +RW, +R9

~~ Paul

 

[BenK]

My DVD Player/Writer writes video files to a VRO files. I had trouble getting my usual copy programs (Nero and DVD Shrink) to copy its discs. I found that I could simply copy the VRO file to my computer and them rename it to MPG then Nero would have no trouble making it back into a DVD. However not all computers I tried were able to read the disc properly to even see the VRO file but that may have just been due to the "book type".

 

[Rawkarma]

A Canon DC100


His drive is a NEC DVD+-RW which says it supports -R, -RW, +R, +RW, +R9

~~ Paul

I'd still make sure you have the latest Firmware. It may just be the make of discs you're using. What make are you using?

I have experienced some issues when I use Maxell or Datawrite, but Taiyo-Yuden, Verbatim, Sony, Memorex all work fine for me.

Try using another make and you may find it will work. I recommend Taiyo-Yuden.

 

[Chris Haynes]

....
I hate this.

So what is the best application to get for getting videos off cameras, editing them, saving them to disk, ripping new DVDs, etc.? Please tell me there is one that just does the right stuff.

~~ Paul

That depends.

I kind of like Pinnacle Studio for ease of use, but to do anything above and beyond I have to get a [rule 8] key code to get it to work. I bought the thing to do DVDs, yet I had to go through all sorts of [rule 8] excrement to get the key code for it to download in MPEG2. It is easy to do things like audio and video fixes... except it is slow. I only got it because my brother has it and wanted to share editing of tapes he had created of our family movies (with an instruction file, I can put my copy of the tape in, run the file and get the same video he edited).

We got a Plextor ConvertX to digitize analog videos (VHS tapes and laserdiscs) that came with a stripped down version of WinDVD Creator (no audio filters to get rid of wind noise). It is easy, quick and already has the capability to download to DivX format (better compression with higher quality than mpeg2). It is pretty easy to create menus, including adding the background picture of choice and editing menu captions... it does seem to insist on the front page menu.

The ConvertX also came with a stripped down version of Ulead VideoStudio Version 8. I have used Version 6, and it does okay. It has pretty straight forward video splitting and trimming capability. I like the fact that it puts thumbnail of frames down the timeline so that it easier to find where to create a split... especially if it is a long chunk of video (Pinnacle and WinDVD just put a thumbnail of the first frame, then you have to use the slider on the video screen to find the frame to break it at).

I think I prefer the WinDVD Creator.

For copying disks and ripping mp3s I have Sonic Record Now Deluxe on my laptop, that does have DVD editing and authoring capability (Sonic is now Roxio). I just have not used its DVD stuff except to creat data disks. I am kind of lobbying dear hubby to get me the latest version for my desktop: http://www.roxio.com/enu/products/creator/suite/features.html#video

 

[stormer]

Finalize the DVD in-camera at the end of shooting.

The DVD will then be able to be played on a home entertainment DVD player, as well as a computer DVD. The DVD video can also be ripped to the computer for editing.

I use Sony Vegas for editing. Powerful. Does everything I want it to. I Like it.