authoring dvd-ram video on a PC for use on Panasonic home unit (1 Viewer)

[Phil Tomaskovic]

I have many mpeg files on my PC that I captured using my ATI 8500 AIW card
Multimedia Center software. I captured at dvd -quality. I have since bought
a Panasonic E80 recordfer and would like to burn these mpegs with it to
dvd-r. I like the ease of its built in menu creation and commercial editing.
It appears if I want to use the E80 to burn them, I need to get them on
dvd-ram, dub to the E80 HD, then dub to dvd-r.

I see that there are Panasonic OEM dvd-ram burners that are pretty cheap
($130 at newegg). So if I copy these mpgs to a dvd-ram, will the E80
recognize them and be able to edit them? Any special software I need to make
the dvd-ram? I know the burner has some type of dvd-ram drivers, but I'm not
sure if they use the same format as when I dub to dvd-ram using the E80?

Thanks

 

[adamKI]

I don't get it. Why not just burn to DVD-r directly from your PC and cut the E80 out of the loop?? If you buy a retail box drive it will come with a basic editing/menu creation software package.

Also, according to Panasonic's specs, the E-80 will read DVD-R (it better, since it can record in DVD-R) so if you really must go from PC to DVD to E80 to DVD (again, that doesn't make much sense to me!) I'd use DVD-R.

The reason I'd stay away from DVD-ram is because it is incompatible with standalone DVD players and the media is more expensive. DVD-ram was designed for data backup use.

 

[Phil Tomaskovic]

I've tried Studio 8 and dvd builder (part of Roxio Easy CD) and I haven't been happy with the results. Editing is somewhat picky (ie, getting to a frame to choose as an edit point with my mouse), takes forever to render the mpeg I capture and then to burn it into a dvd. And dvd-builder doesn't make a playable dvd for some family member's players (Toshiba). The E80 is much simpler in my view.

If I had found a decent dvd authoring package that's reasonable price, I would just use it on the PC and a burner.

The E80 will read a dvd-r but it won't copy it, it will only copy from a dvd-ram to the hard drive. Then you can edit and then burn a dvd-r from the hard drive.

So I probably won't do much capturing on the PC now that I have the E80, but I would like to get some of the mpegs I already saved onto dvd-r.

 

[peter m. wilson]

Hi,
There are several Panny dvd players like my rp82 or the new f85 that accept dvd-ram. but I also agree why bother.

Peter m.

 

[Philip Hamm]

Phil,

I don't think you can do what you want. You'll have to author a DVD from the files using something. I use Studio 8 for my DV stuff, and though I've had problems with it, I find the results satisfactory.

More help at www.dvdrhelp.com .

Good luck!

 

[Phil Tomaskovic]

Panasonic support emailed me back to say that the E80 isn't designed to read dvd-ram discs made on a PC. But I think this is more of "we don't support this" vs whether it can work. The E80 plays +R/+RW discs I have, and it doesn't claim to read them either. They also wrote back when I asked why my PC dvd-roms wouldn't display the text on their finalized dvd-r's menus and they said that the dvd-r's weren't meant to be played on a PC!

Philip, I figured I would have to author the dvd-ram with something but I wasn't sure what format a dvd-ram for video uses. Since their standalone decks played dvd-ram, I assume their pc burners can do it with some type of software.

 

[Philip Hamm]

Phil,

There are different UDF formats for DVD-RAM and you have to use the right one, that much I know. However, I don't know what that is.

Again, lots of information at www.dvdrhelp.com you should ask there.