I have recently begun successfully creating DVD projects from start to finish. Previously the entire process was always bogged down at some point that I’d always get bored and quit “for now”, or I’d get errors somewhere along the line and not know how to continue on. I now feel pretty confident that I can complete an entire project in very little time, and the hurdles that I run into are easily jumped over. Here’s the process and software that has proven to be the most successful for me:

First I record the video of the event with my Sony MiniDV recorder. Usually I also have digital photos from the same event that Sandy has taken as well, so I’ll put these on the same DVD with the event video just to offer more options to the viewer.

Next I transfer the recorded video from tape to my PC digitally, using Firewire and Sony’s DVGate, a great video transfer utility that came with the camera. Normally I prefer to use a more full-featured application than those bundled with hardware, but in this case, for transferring digital video, I have found much more difficulty with every other option I tried. This one is simply the easiest and offers the best results. The main issue I kept running into was dropped frames. If the PC does just about anything else while transferring a video, frames are dropped at random points when the transfer couldn’t go as fast as the tape was playing. DVGate, however, is the only program I’ve found that includes “dropped frame recovery”, and I have yet to lose a single frame of video using this program. It does take longer to transfer though, since it analyzes the entire video first and then transfers it, each cut separately if desired, and breaks the resulting video files into 2GB chunks. Well worth the added time it takes though, in my opinion. 

After the video is transferred I bring it into Pinnacle Studio 8, which came with my video card. It’s also available separately, and they’re now on version 10, which is probably pretty sweet, but I haven’t been able to afford it yet, especially with version 8 still working so well for me. Anyway, I load all the files into Studio 8 and then assemble the video in the order I want, add any transitions I want, and also any beginning and ending title frames and/or credit screens. When I need these, I just create an image in Paint Shop Pro 10 at 1024×768 and add all the text and graphics I want, then save it as a JPG in the same folder as the digital photos I’ve taken of the same event. Note: I usually end up “punching up” the text I put on the title screens by adding bevel effects and/or drop shadow effects, otherwise all the text tends to look very flat on TV. 

Once the video is assembled, I have Studio 8 create a DVD-compatible MPEG file of the video. This creates a full-quality video with little or no compression loss. This part take a while to render, but since it’s not done in real time I usually just minimize it while it works and go on to other things. 

After the video is done I start a new project in Studio again, this time using the digital photos I’ve taken. Most of the time I re-use the same titling & credits images that I used in the video as well. The process in Studio is identical to the video process I described above, since you’re basically doing the same thing–creating another video–only this time you’re just using still photographs. I even add some transitions between most photos to kick it up a notch, just like the video itself. Once this is assembled it’s back to rendering again. Still photos usually render very quickly though, so this step will definitely go faster than the last one. 

When both MPEG files are created, I exit Studio 8. I’m done with it for this project. Next I load Nero Vision, a nice, simple DVD Maker. It comes free with Nero Burning ROM 6 and 7. Vision provides a step-by-step “wizard” that walks you through creating menu screens (some themes are even animated), titles, graphics, etc., until my layout is complete. I can change any text, colors, images, etc., to create totally custom menus, and there is very little I can’t customize in some way with this program, from what I can tell. Once I’m done tweaking the settings, I burn the DVD in Vision as my final step. 

I can then put the DVD in all of my players and verify that it works fine. What I also like to do at this point it extract a copy of it–usually with DVD Shrink or DVD Decrypter–and keep it on my hard drive so I can quickly burn more copies of it for relatives, etc., as needed, without needed the disc again. It’s also a handy way to keep a backup copy in case your dog decides your DVD makes a pretty good Frisbee Chew Toy.