Advise For New Desktop Pl

[Armat]

Hi my Armo friends.I have ton of Home movies which I like to transfer to DVD and not sure what I should look for.I can buy a DVD recorder but I rather buy new PC which can do the same plus my old Dell is soo slow that even coming to this forum takes long time.

I know I need at least 80G or higher hard drive

500 Ram or higher

but I am clueless about the Video card and anything else I need. Vava,Azat,Sasun do you guys burn your DVD on PC?

Thanks for everything and Merry Christmas

[Takoush]

Heyyyy Armat jan: Pari yegar parov desank kez gergin. Mer sireli Edi yeghpayre.

 

Sorry I couldn't help you with your PC problems; but I couldn't resist to saying hello to you.

 

It's good to hear from you and Merry Christmas to you and everyone here.

Edited December 26, 2006 by Anahid Takouhi

[armjan]

software :

-any new pc you buy from dell will have a free upgrade to windows vista(home or business), so this way you won't have to pay for Windows Vista when it comes out again. 2 birds with one stone.

 

-Vista comes with Windows DVD maker, so no need to pay for software to burn. It'll support DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, and DVD-ROM so no need to worry about limitations. Also supports widescreen aspect ratio.

 

-Dells are customizable, get as much RAM as you can afford, 512 is min recommended for Vista. Vista is already slow, you won't like 512. Oh yeah, you can get a 19 inch flat with base purchases of dell pc's right now, starting at $400.

 

 

hardware:

-look for pc specifications to have DVD+RW, this means you can overwrite a DVD more than once

 

-look for DVD burner to have Single sided dual layered support, this will increase the amount of video time you can get per DVD, Single sided dual layered is approx 300 minutes, Single sided single layered is 150 minutes.

 

-make sure your video card has atleast 256MB (min recommended for vista), helps playback, but higher the better.

 

I'm not sure what the format of the source of your current home videos are, so depending on your answer, you may need more software.

Edited December 26, 2006 by armjan

[Armat]

Anahid jan thanks for nice welcome.

 

Armjan

Thanks for your input.I kind of feel Dell is overrated and overpriced what they built.I am still looking around.

[Takoush]

Anahid jan thanks for nice welcome.

[hytga]

You might consider alienware. Or better yet. Build your own. I havn't checked for the latest and bestest hardwares in a while, but if you're considering it, i could do some research

[Sip]

Sorry I'm running around and don't have much time to post but I wanted to say this before you make your decision:

 

Don't base your PC buying decision on its ability to convert movies to dvd. You will be much happier with a simple dvd recorder that takes video as input (assuming your videos are analog). If they are digital, that's a different story. A hardware based mpeg2 encoder (regular dvd format) will typically work much better and faster than software.

 

Unless you are planning to record video in raw format and then compress to mpeg2 later, on the fly software conversion is typically not that good. However you could buy a PC with a hardware based mpeg encoder but then figuring out how to use it etc will be a headache, not to mention the significant cost (usually).

 

If the PC doesn't come with a hardware based mpeg2 chip, then you have to read in the video somehow. My video card has video input but not many do. There are some usb and usb2 based video encoders but they are usually not that good when video quality is important.

 

Aaaaaaaaanyway, long story short:

 

1. For video conversion to dvd, invest in a hardware dvd recorder. I used the SONY VRD-VC20 for mine and definitely recommend it.

 

2. If you use a PC, it's better to capture analog video in a raw format first (lots of disk space!!!) and then convert to dvd format.

 

3. Using a PC, best results usually come from hardware based mpeg2 encoders.

 

4. Mpeg2 (DVD) is an outdated format. You might want to look into Mpeg4. So convert all your videos into mpeg4 digital format (such as XVID or DIVX) and then make dvds from those sources for viewing on regular dvd players.

 

 

For #5 and #6 below, sorry armjan I don't mean to disagree but these are just my opinions

 

5. As far as DVD formats, I only use DVD+R. I would say don't waste any time and effort with other formats. DVD-RW sounds greats but is fairly useless since blank dvd disks are very cheap. It's just like CD-RW ... when a blank CD can be had for only a few cents, why bother with RW? Also RW-ing is usually a lot slower than just +R'ing.

 

6. About the "dual layer" dvd thing that you can fit 8 gigs on a disk ... again I'd say don't waste money on that since regular dvd disks are a lot cheaper so it makes a lot more sense to burn things on 2 regular dvds than a dual layer dvd. If you want to/can get a dual layer recorder then great .. but you probably won't be using it.

 

7. FYI, DVD+R is the most compatible format with the most typical non-pc dvd players out there. That's not to say other formats won't play but DVD+R is usually a sure bet.

 

Ok I am rambling on and on ...

Edited December 28, 2006 by Sip

[Armat]

Sorry I'm running around and don't have much time to post but I wanted to say this before you make your decision:

 

Don't base your PC buying decision on its ability to convert movies to dvd. You will be much happier with a simple dvd recorder that takes video as input (assuming your videos are analog). If they are digital, that's a different story. A hardware based mpeg2 encoder (regular dvd format) will typically work much better and faster than software.

 

Unless you are planning to record video in raw format and then compress to mpeg2 later, on the fly software conversion is typically not that good. However you could buy a PC with a hardware based mpeg encoder but then figuring out how to use it etc will be a headache, not to mention the significant cost (usually).

 

If the PC doesn't come with a hardware based mpeg2 chip, then you have to read in the video somehow. My video card has video input but not many do. There are some usb and usb2 based video encoders but they are usually not that good when video quality is important.

 

Aaaaaaaaanyway, long story short:

 

1. For video conversion to dvd, invest in a hardware dvd recorder. I used the SONY VRD-VC20 for mine and definitely recommend it.

 

2. If you use a PC, it's better to capture analog video in a raw format first (lots of disk space!!!) and then convert to dvd format.

 

3. Using a PC, best results usually come from hardware based mpeg2 encoders.

 

4. Mpeg2 (DVD) is an outdated format. You might want to look into Mpeg4. So convert all your videos into mpeg4 digital format (such as XVID or DIVX) and then make dvds from those sources for viewing on regular dvd players.

For #5 and #6 below, sorry armjan I don't mean to disagree but these are just my opinions

 

5. As far as DVD formats, I only use DVD+R. I would say don't waste any time and effort with other formats. DVD-RW sounds greats but is fairly useless since blank dvd disks are very cheap. It's just like CD-RW ... when a blank CD can be had for only a few cents, why bother with RW? Also RW-ing is usually a lot slower than just +R'ing.

 

6. About the "dual layer" dvd thing that you can fit 8 gigs on a disk ... again I'd say don't waste money on that since regular dvd disks are a lot cheaper so it makes a lot more sense to burn things on 2 regular dvds than a dual layer dvd. If you want to/can get a dual layer recorder then great .. but you probably won't be using it.

 

7. FYI, DVD+R is the most compatible format with the most typical non-pc dvd players out there. That's not to say other formats won't play but DVD+R is usually a sure bet.

 

Ok I am rambling on and on ...

 

Sip

Thanks for the informative post.Exactly what needed to hear.Last thing I need is drop 1k on PC and realize its useless.

I like the idea of DVD recorder but I need one with Hard Drive to store raw film in order to edit.Lot of my films need editing

[Nazarian]

Sip

Thanks for the informative post.Exactly what needed to hear.Last thing I need is drop 1k on PC and realize its useless.

I like the idea of DVD recorder but I need one with Hard Drive to store raw film in order to edit.Lot of my films need editing

 

You might want to have a look at the iMacs - DVD authoring tools come standard on OS X. I have tried to do DVD authoring on Windows XP and it's excruciatingly slow.

[DominO123]

Hi my Armo friends.I have ton of Home movies which I like to transfer to DVD and not sure what I should look for.I can buy a DVD recorder but I rather buy new PC which can do the same plus my old Dell is soo slow that even coming to this forum takes long time.

I know I need at least 80G or higher hard drive

500 Ram or higher

but I am clueless about the Video card and anything else I need. Vava,Azat,Sasun do you guys burn your DVD on PC?

Thanks for everything and Merry Christmas

 

Hi Armat. where the hell have you been?

 

I will only disagree on one thing with Sip, and is dual layer, with the cost of burners these days, I think the newer ones most do dual layer. So I don't think you will be saving much money by simply buying a single layer. I also strongly believe that you should get a card with hardware MPEG2 encoder if you want MPEG2 encoding insteed of MPEG4, they are not given, but not that expensive. If you want a new computer not only for burning but also speed, I think the price of the card will not play that much on the total price.

[DominO123]

You might want to have a look at the iMacs - DVD authoring tools come standard on OS X. I have tried to do DVD authoring on Windows XP and it's excruciatingly slow.

 

He may very well have a Good All in Wonder which comes with a reduced version of Adobe Premiere.

[DominO123]

Hi Armat. where the hell have you been?

 

I will only disagree on one thing with Sip, and is dual layer, with the cost of burners these days, I think the newer ones most do dual layer. So I don't think you will be saving much money by simply buying a single layer. I also strongly believe that you should get a card with hardware MPEG2 encoder if you want MPEG2 encoding insteed of MPEG4, they are not given, but not that expensive. If you want a new computer not only for burning but also speed, I think the price of the card will not play that much on the total price.

 

Oh, I realised that Sip was talking about the DVDs, not the burners.