Chapter 15. Converting Tapes to Dvd
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Chapter 15. Converting Tapes to Dvd
Video editing is great, but sometimes what you really want to do is drop a tape in, click some
If one-click conversion is your goal, Pinnacle Instant DVD Recorder is your tool. Note that the program offers two modes of operation, Advanced and Wizard-based. To break this explanation into the most logical
A couple of caveats. First, the DVDs you can create with the Instant DVD Recorder are primitive in several respects. For example, all
This chapter assumes that you have your camera connected to your computer already and are prepared to capture video. If not, Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 can get you hooked up. |
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Working in Advanced Mode
Advanced mode sounds, well, advanced, but it's really just a one-window presentation of the four major
In this fly-through, I'll assume that you will select either no menu or a standard menu. Then, in the
To run Pinnacle Instant DVD RecorderDo one of the following :
The Launcher runs Pinnacle Instant DVD Recorder ( Figure 15.2 ).
Figure 15.2. Once you master Advanced mode, the Wizard is a
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Click the Go Directly to Advanced Mode radio button (Figure 15.2).
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Click Next.
Figure 15.3. Choose your video source here.
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In the Select Capture Source list box, choose your video source.
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Click the Options button (Figure 15.3).
Figure 15.4. Your screen will probably look a bit different, but should present most of the same options.
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In the Video Input drop-down list, choose the appropriate input (
Figure 15.5
).
Figure 15.5. Choose your video input, favoring S-Video when available.
When capturing analog video, as opposed to via DV, always use S-Video (designated "Video SVideo" here) when available, since that delivers the cleanest video signal. |
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In the Video Standard drop-down list, choose the appropriate standard (
Figure 15.6
).
Figure 15.6. Then choose your video standard (NTSC here in the U.S.).
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In the Country drop-down list, choose your country (
Figure 15.7
).
Figure 15.7. You probably won't see this one unless you're capturing with a TV tuner.
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In the Channel drop-down list, do
one of the following:
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Click Play on your camcorder to send video to the capture card.
Figure 15.9. Houston, we have video! You're now ready to check audio.
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In the Audio Input drop-down list, choose the appropriate input (
Figure 15.10
).
Figure 15.10. Choose your audio source here.
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In the Tuner Settings screen, just below the Audio Input drop-down list, click Audio Input (Figure 15.4).
Figure 15.11. You know the drill; keep the audio volume in the upper green, touch the yellow, stay out of the red.
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Click Play on your camcorder to send audio to the capture card.
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Adjust the volume control so that the lights occasionally reach into the yellow bar, but never into the red bar.
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Click OK to return to the Tuner Settings window.
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With your camcorder playing, adjust the Picture Settings (Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, and Hue) as necessary.
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In the Tuner Settings screen, just below the Audio input drop-down list, click Audio Input (Figure 15.4).
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Click OK to close the Tuner Settings window and return to the Instant DVD Recorder application.
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To select and prepare your
burner
for recording to disc
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In the Selected DVD Burner drop-down list, choose the target DVD recorder (
Figure 15.12
).
Figure 15.12. Choose your burner here. When first starting out, you may want to record the movie to your hard drive first, just to get some experience without creating any coasters.
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Click Prepare.
Figure 15.13. Looks like you
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Click OK.
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To select and configure a menu style for the disc
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In the Select Menu Style window, do
one of the following:
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Type the desired duration in the minutes of video text box.
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Click to choose the desired menu style.
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Click the Edit button.
Figure 15.18. We'll customize in a bit; here I just want to insert the right title in the menu.
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In the DVD Menu, click the title to make it active (
Figure 5.19
).
Figure 15.19. Typing the desired menu title.
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Type the desired text title.
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In the Style Name text box, type the desired style name (
Figure 5.20
).
Figure 15.20. Then the style name.
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Click OK to return to the main Instant DVD Recorder application.
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Tip
-
When I tried to save a new menu title, Instant DVD Recorder kept redisplaying My Home Video as the title when I closed the active text box, which was obviously disconcerting. However, when I burned the DVD, Instant DVD Recorder had inserted the correct title ( Figure 5.21 ).
Figure 15.21. It looks like the title doesn't take, but clearly it did, as seen in the screen shot of the completed DVD.
To record your DVD
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In the Recording window, type the target recording time in the designated text box (
Figure 15.22
).
Figure 15.22. Choose your recording options here.
Instant DVD Recorder will stop the recording after the designated time. |
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In the Select Video Quality drop-down list, select the desired video quality.
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Cue your camcorder to a few seconds before the desired starting point and press Play to start playback.
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Click Start Recording.
Figure 15.23. DVD burning is under way. You can stop at any time by clicking Stop Recording, but if you do, your recordable disc is a goner.
When complete, you'll see the window shown in Figure 15.24 and Instant DVD Recorder will eject the disc. Click Start Over to start another project, or Exit to leave the program. Figure 15.24. Task completed. What do you want to do now?
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Tip
-
This process is extremely processor-
intensive , and susceptible to failed discs ifinterrupted . For this reason, you shouldn't use the computer for other tasks while converting tapes to DVD.
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