Help, I need video camera/computer help...

[bjornolf]

I'm trying to put my home videos on DVDs for my wife. I got a firewire cable and have managed to connect my Panasonic PV-GS300 digital 8mm camcorder to my computer, and it works great! However, the files are HUGE on it, like a gig for just a few minutes of video, and I have HOURS of home video to import, and obviously an hour of video that size ain't gonna fit on a DVD.

The computer is a Dell Studio 1555 running Windows 7. Is there any way to convert the huge video files into something manageable? How? I have Nero 8. Can I use that to convert them, or do I use something else? Do I convert them AFTER importing to the computer, or is there some way to change the format that it's imported as? If both are possible, which way is better? Assuming I have choices, what's the best file type for decent quality and smaller size?

Thanks so much.

[DevilAlumna]

I know of 2 free programs from Microsoft --

1) Windows Movie Maker -- part of Windows Live Essentials: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/window ... tials.aspx

This is completely consumer-class - it offers pretty basic editing capabilities (combining clips, adding transitions), and some pre-set publishing options (to DVD, to HD, to Facebook, etc.) Goal is to make it easy to do simple things.

2) Expressions Encoder -- http://www.microsoft.com/expression/pro ... rview.aspx

This is more for more serious media processing -- gives you far more options, but is correspondingly harder to learn how to use well.

[bluebutton]

Another free program is Handbrake, but I suspect you have to import and then compress.

Compression typically happens two ways IIRC
1) reduce frames per second -- you can usually go from 24 fps down to ~15 fps but you might want to try first and see if you notice the difference when watching

2) reduce the resolution

But basically, it is difficult to get around giant file sizes. I use video recordings to collect data -- I have about 400 GB of data and have them backed up twice and this is using the old miniDV tapes. I don't know what the size would be if I were using more modern cameras.

I would try windows movie maker and see if there are import settings that you can toggle. I haven't used WMM in years so I can't be more helpful than that. I used Nero 5 or 6 a long time ago and I never was very comfortable with it other than to make exact copies of disks.

[DukeUsul]

If you are recording in High Definition you are at either 720 lines of resolution or 1080. If you are burning to DVD, then the DVD only does 480 lines of resolution. If you import the whole thing to disk and then use something like Windows Movie Maker to export it in DVD for mat at 480p, you'll save a whole crap-ton of file size.

[bjornolf]

If you are recording in High Definition you are at either 720 lines of resolution or 1080. If you are burning to DVD, then the DVD only does 480 lines of resolution. If you import the whole thing to disk and then use something like Windows Movie Maker to export it in DVD for mat at 480p, you'll save a whole crap-ton of file size.

My camcorder is digital tape, but not HD. According to my brother, the raw data off a tape just takes up a load of space. Once it's on there, you have to compress it, or you can't even get it onto DVDs. Thanks for the advice. I'll look into those other programs.