The subject says it all. I have a MiniDV camcorder but cant find an easy solution to getting the video onto a DVD. I have a Sony HD camcorder. Usually I upload the MiniDV tape into my computer with a program like Sony Vegas and then edit the video and render it...but thats where I get lost. Not to mention that process alone usually takes a couple of hours, way to long!
I usually render for online viewing and a couple of times I tried to burn that file to a DVD and it didnt work.
Ive also hooked my Sony camcorder up to my Sony standalone DVD burner and tried burning right to the DVD but that didnt work either. I think I need a firewire or something. The Sony DVD burner says something about a smart wire or some **** like that.
So, the question is, is there a better way

Buy a DVD (video) recorder. $150 or so - just plug camcorder video & audio outs into the recorder inputs - play the camcorder - and press record on the DVD recorder. It's not HD though!

Dave

Hi Dave:
Deadcity is correct, but since you want to edit & render the raw footage, you need an authoring program to convert the finished avi file to dvd and burn it in your dvd drive on the computer.
The avi files are in GB. The finished dvd is -12 to-10 times smaller. I use Nero Vision to
make a title and menu then burn. As for length of time to do this, movies are edit intensive! Anybody can shoot a video but editing takes 5-10 times longer than the finished movie runs. Unless of course you just want raw footage.

The easiest way I know, the ONLY way I use, is a stand alone dvd recorder as DaveK suggested. Since you have a MiniDV camcorder, try to get a recorder with DV input connection, and the recorder can start and stop the camera for you. Of course, you have to load the tape yourself, and turn the camcorder on! For a couple of hundred $ more, you can get a recorder with hdd (hard disk drive) which will allow you to do a whale of a lot of editting, probably cheaper than buying editting software.

There's a whole section on DVD Recorders under Video Components on this Forum.

Richard