Problems burning Home Made Movies onto DVD's

I am trying to burn my home made movies onto DVD-R. I don't have problems capturing (AVI format) it into Movie Maker2, I edit it then I try burning it using Nero (ver 6.6), although the program says burn is successful, I cannot play it on my computer (tried 3 diff. media). With DVDSanta I have partial success with certian media, but then I cannot play it on my home DVD player, which is where I want to eventually play ALL my home movies. Does anyone have the steps to go from A to Z and eventually play the home movies onto the home DVD player.

My DVD player is Toshiba SD3109 (5 years old)
I have Philips DVD +-R/RW DVD8631(Dual Layer)
I have Samsun DVD-ROM SD-616E

I would be ever grateful if there is anyone who could shed some light on this matter.

Thanks for your feedback.

 

Your Toshiba probably won't play dvdr.
Dig up the user manual for it, and check.

 

I have checked and it is supposed to play DVD-R media. I also have a Samsung DVD which apparently can play it too. But the more intriguing question is why some of these burnt movies won't play on the computer itself?

Thanks

 

What are you trying to watch them in? If it's WMP, you may not have an mpeg-2 decoder.
If you burned, and it says successful, but there are errors, it may not play.
Some versions of Nero also have trouble writing the lead-out on dvdr, and you cannot have a multisession dvdr.
DVDSanta may work about 50% of the time, the other half it makes coasters.
You should be using some sort of standard on the files, when converting to mpeg.
Here's one to try: http://members.shaw.ca/videojunk/avi2dvd.htm
If you can't be bothered with that method, try these: http://members.shaw.ca/videojunk/all.htm

 

Thanks for all your help, but finally I have success. Its a great feeling. I totally misunderstood the whole process, did not realize its that much work to convert movies from a Digicam to DVD format.

Also the media (DVD Disks) one uses also makes a difference (I mean the make). Got to move onto to the next project making DVD's from VHS and VCD's from VHS & Digi Cams. Any ideas on how to get started???

 

Sure.
Capture as you have been, encode, author, burn.
Specific questions would be much better than just "how?", as there are as many methods as there are pieces of software.

 

Let me start with VCD's. Is there a REGION CODE on VCD's? Reason I ask is I would like to convert my Sis-in-laws wedding movie from Digital 8 format onto a VCD. A VCD because she lives in East Africa nad that is the format they watch movies on. Are all the steps same as for a DVD then I just burn it onto a CD as a VCD? Please advise.

 

By region code, if you mean PAL or NTSC, then yes.
If you mean like Region 1 or region3 like DVD, then no.
The steps are different. Capture as usual, then encode to VCD, not DVD.
VCD specs are 1150kbps video, 224kbps audio at 44,100hz. You cannot deviate from those specs for a standard VCD.
DVDSanta will not work for this.

 

Thanks Jim, Good so I don't have to worry about Region 1,2 ... I will burn the VCD in PAL format. I have Nero 6. So I capture in as AVI. Then use which software (TPMGEnc) to encode to VCD? After encoding I have to Author with a diff software? (IFOEdit)?? Then Burn VCD using NERO?.

 

You don't need to "Author" a VCD.
Just cap as avi, encode to VCD in tmpgenc (or any other good encoder), then burn in Nero using the VCD template.
Nero will take care of the "authoring" (making the mpg into a .dat file, proper for VCD).

 

Thanks Jim, How can I test if a GOOD PAL VCD was generated? Using my computer?

 

Sure, the latest version of Gspot will tell you all the properties of the video.
You can also test it in a good software player.