video to dvd

[dawney32]

I want to make dvd's from my home video collection of family footage.
Which is the better software?
Roxio or nero?
Your thoughts and opinions please.

[Rick Hall]

Nero

[RJ]

Neither for all kind of task that is involved here.
Nero's/WinOnCD's/EZ Media Creator's MPEG-2 encoder just sucks.
For burning the final title set, Nero Burning ROM is excellent.
Never tried the video editing software from them.
Also you need something for capturing. Nero does not come with a capture card.
If it's digital video, capture software doesn't really matter, they just copy the stream to hard drive without alteration (because it's already digital).

RJ

[TwoRails]

Actually, niether come with an analog capture card. Nero 6 Ultra is nice, but I can't burn a DVD with it; I'm working with their tech support with the problem right now. I also have Roxio 6 (haven't upgraded to 7 yet) and it is also pretty easy to use. Both include functions and feature that used to cost hundreds of dollars just a short time ago. For home movie making, without going to a big buck, seperate editor, you'd not go wrong with either. Take a close look at the features of each, and see which will fit your needs better, or even D/L demos (Nero has a demo, not sure if Roxio does) and try them out.

HTH

TwoRails

[reboot]

When you say, "make dvds"...this involves much more than just burning some video to disk.
First you will need something to encode that video footage into a dvd compliant mpeg stream.
Second you will need something to author that mpeg into dvd compliant files (.vob etc.)
Third, you will need something to burn those files to the dvdr.

Encoder:
My first choice is tmpgenc. Excellent (if slightly slow) encoder. Nice wizard. Second choice Mainconcept. Faster encodes, more money. Third choice Canopus (~$700) Don't bother, unless you want to get serious. Fourth CCE. Confusing and NOT for a beginner.

Authoring app:
Nero Vision Express. Cheap, and absolutely the simplest to use.
TMPGEnc DVD Author. Also cheap, not quite as easy to use.
DVDLab. Mucho nice options, steep learning curve, professional results, not for the beginner.

Burning app: Nero, unless you happen to be using TMPGEnc DVD Author, which also includes the burning app, built in.

Yes, there are free encoders/authors/rippers/editors/burners, however, none of them do the job as nicely, or as simply as the ones I have mentioned above.

If you need any more info on it, or tutorials for (almost) any piece of software (free and otherwise), check out www.dvdrhelp.com