1. Based on some things I was reading last night it sounds like Nero Ultra 6 may not be my best choice for converting from miniDv to DVD. Are there any sugesstions on what software under $100 is the best bet for taking what the miniDV has and transferring to dvd with no perceived drop in quality?
I use the Ulead software that came with my DVD recorder. It's version 2 of such and version 3 is at Ulead. The DVD drive was... 69 dollars with the Ulead package.
2. I understand from what I've read in the forums so far that a dedicated hard drive for processing is a good thing to have. How big of a hard drive would you suggest for being able to sufficiently take, say 2 hours worth of miniDV material and burn to a DVD? Is 200GB sufficient or can I get away with less?
I've done 4 hours on my system with just an 120GB drive that holds the XP OS, all my apps and more. 200GB seems nice.
3. If the quality is not much different, would I be better off buying just an average analog camcorder and then getting something like AVERmedia EZDVD PCI to capture and burn the stuff? I want to get into the digital age, but if the quality won't look any better on a finished DVD product I'd rather opt out for now.
Quick answer. Connect with firewire. Try Ulead 2 or 3 bundled with that new DVD recorder.
Bob
Hello all-
I'm a new poster who's also very new to the wide wide world of digital camcorders. I've been doing some research for the past few days, and I have to say the more I learn the more questions I seem to have! Based on some of the various threads I've read on this forum I'm very concerned about the ability to transfer from a miniDV tape to DVD and end up with better quality than what I would receive by getting an analog camcorder and just caturing the analog signal though my pc and burning that to a dvd. (My frame of reference right now is limited to the quality that i get from a borrowed analog camcorder hooked up to a big screen rear projection analog tv.)
Was hoping I might could pass along what I've done or am in the process of doing so far and then maybe ask a couple of specific questions. Any thoughts or suggestions would be much appreciated.
What I've done or will do
1. Ordered a Camcorder--Canon Optura 30 (not too late to back out if i need to, though...they still need to confirm some info from me)
2. Installed extra RAM for computer--bought 512MB to bring me up to 640Mb total.
3. Will order a firewire card and firewire in the next couple of days.
4. Planning on getting a second hard drive that will be used only for processing of the DVD's...all i have right now is one primary drive with only 40Gb.
5. Ordered Nero Ultra 6.0
6. No serious editing anitipcated at this juncture but might like to consider in the future.
Questions
1. Based on some things I was reading last night it sounds like Nero Ultra 6 may not be my best choice for converting from miniDv to DVD. Are there any sugesstions on what software under $100 is the best bet for taking what the miniDV has and transferring to dvd with no perceived drop in quality?
2. I understand from what I've read in the forums so far that a dedicated hard drive for processing is a good thing to have. How big of a hard drive would you suggest for being able to sufficiently take, say 2 hours worth of miniDV material and burn to a DVD? Is 200GB sufficient or can I get away with less?
3. If the quality is not much different, would I be better off buying just an average analog camcorder and then getting something like AVERmedia EZDVD PCI to capture and burn the stuff? I want to get into the digital age, but if the quality won't look any better on a finished DVD product I'd rather opt out for now.
Need to make some decisions in the next few weeks as we're getting ready to have our first child! Thanks for any help you can offer.
Brian

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