Problem You want to create the best possible DVDs when you burn them using Windows Movie Maker. Solution If you use Movie Maker to make or copy your own videos and burn them to DVDs, consider these tips and advice: The USB 1.0 standard is not fast enough to connect a camera or other video input to your PC. Its throughput of 11 Mbps isn't fast enough for capturing high-quality video, which is 30 frames per second with 24-bit color at a resolution of 640 x 480, and requires speeds of at least 210 Mbps. USB 2.0, which has a speed of 480 Mbps, and FireWire©, which has a speed of 400 Mbps, will work, however. Make sure that you have a substantial amount of free hard disk space if you're going to burn your videos onto DVDs. The video will be cached onto your hard disk before it's burned onto CDs, and so you'll typically need several free gigabytes of disk space. Defragment your hard drive before creating and burning DVDs for best performance. If you have a second hard drive, use that rather than your primary one for DVD creation. No matter the speed of your CPU, turn off any background applications that are running when you import video and create your DVD. If you're burning high-quality video onto a DVD, figure that you'll be able to fit about an hour's worth onto a single DVD. At a lower quality (lower bit rate), you can fit up to about two hours onto a DVD. Keep in mind, though, that if you write at the lower bit rate, the DVD might not be able to be played on a set-top DVD player, although it will work on your PC's DVD player. There's no single, accepted standard for DVD burning, and so not all DVD disks that you burn will work on all set-top DVD players. Generally, most set-top DVD players will play DVD-R disks, but may not play DVD-RW or DVD+RW disks. Manufacturer information can't always be trusted, but check the web sites for the latest details. After you've created your video, and you're ready to burn it onto a DVD, set aside plenty of time. It can take up to two hours to burn a one-hour DVD, depending on your CPU and drive speed.
Discussion If you don't have a PC that runs at least at 1 GHz or faster, and 512 MB of RAM, don't try to burn DVDs your PC simply won't be able to handle it. Also, keep in mind that blank DVDs are more expensive than blank CDs, and typically cost between $2 and $4. See Also If you want features beyond those offered by Windows Movie Maker, try Ulead DVD Movie Factory. In addition to basic video editing tools, it lets you use transitions, add special effects and menus, and includes backgrounds, preset layouts and music you can add to your videos. In addition, it will burn to DVD, VCD, and SVCD, and can save files in a variety of video formats. It's shareware and available to try for free, but if you keep using it, you're expected to pay $44.95. It's available from Internet download sites, as well as from http://www.ulead.com. And for more advice about burning DVDs, see the PC World article, Step-By-Step: Burn Your Own DVDs for Backup or Video Playback at http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,113461,00.asp. |
