All, I will be recording my kids soccer games with a High Def camcorder. Most parents who request a copy will not have a BLU-RAY player and will need to be converted to standard DVD's. I dont have the cash to shell out currently for a new computer and software to edit the files and burn them right from the computer. After strolling through BB I found t DVD recorders (Panasonic and Toshiba) on the shelf. My question is if I view my MPEG-4 recordings of the game on my TV and record them to standard DVD will they look acceptable to most people?

Thanks,

DX9100

If your recordings are WS and your Parents have a 4:3 TV you may have problems. Any DVDR will record WS programs but they won't set the WS bit. What this means is if the DVDs are displayed on a 4:3 TV the entire 16:9 frame will be squished into the 4:3 frame(the image will be vertically stretched or horizontally compressed) people will look tall and skinny.
If your material is WS and your player is capable of outputting letter boxed 16:9 you should be good to go, use S-video for best PQ.
For best Picture Quality I'd suggest a tunerless Panasonic EA-18($179 retail but hard to find B&M) or a EZ-28 with digital tuner($229 retail and available at BB). You can fit up to 4hrs of full D1 resolution video on a standard DVD but 2hrs/disc or max 3hrs will give you much less macroblocking. Full D1 is what commercial DVDs are recorded in so if your happy with regular DVDs you should be happy, I am.
Toshibas tend to have false CP problems(which may not effect you) and Toshibas will drop to 1/2 D1 for anything over 2hrs/disc. If your parents have a smaller tube TV they may not notice the difference.

All, I will be recording my kids soccer games with a High Def camcorder. Most parents who request a copy will not have a BLU-RAY player and will need to be converted to standard DVD's. I dont have the cash to shell out currently for a new computer and software to edit the files and burn them right from the computer. After strolling through BB I found t DVD recorders (Panasonic and Toshiba) on the shelf. My question is if I view my MPEG-4 recordings of the game on my TV and record them to standard DVD will they look acceptable to most people?

Thanks,

DX9100


Nero, Roxio, ect can automatically convert Hidef to DVD. Either would be less expensive than a DVD recorder assuming the computer you used to post the question has a DVD burner.

My issue is the computer reqirements to edit or even copy MPEG-4 is a quad core PC and I have a 3 year old dell laptop. The software is certainly less but not the overall picture.

Here is a program that you may find useful. It's call DVD Flick. It's free, and has MPEG4 listed as a video source it can convert to DVD Standard.
http://www.dvdflick.net/features.php

It can create a dvd, with a simple menu, and burn it too-assuming your pc has a burner. No editing abilities, though...Once you make the first, all you need do is make copies-or recruit the kids with pc burners at home to help make copies to pass along.