jjn:

R_Vera:

Steve100:

Hi,

I just discovered that my old DVD player has a Firewire input, so assuming it works I now just need to repair the camcorder which is a big if.
I guess I'll need to find another camcorder 2nd hand if I can't.

Thank you and everyone for their tips. 

Steve 

Check your camcorder if it has RCA outputs. You can use them to into your DVD Recorder/Player. 

That's just going full circle and reverting to analogue capture.

That's his last option he has if the DV output to his camera won't work. 

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.

After a lot of fiddling about with the DVD recorder and TV,  I've managed to get the video from the camcorder onto a DVD +RW disc successfully.

My laptop can read the files, though they are VOB format. I found a free converter with no limitations on file size, time and without watermarks:
https://www.videoconverterfactory.com/tips/free-video-converter-no-watermark.html
I've converted the VOB to MP4. 

Next step will be to see if I can do the same with Firewire if the 'repair kit' that I ordered for my camcorder corrects the fault.

Steve

Yes it is going full circle but I think it was worth testing with RCA connections just to see if I can get a file on to a DVD. That makes me more confident I will be able to transfer the video via Firewire if and when I fix my camcorder.

 

Once again, thank you to everyone for your suggestions, I would never have thought of going the DVD player/recorder route without this discussion.

Steve100:

My laptop can read the files, though they are VOB format. I found a free converter with no limitations on file size, time and without watermarks:
https://www.videoconverterfactory.com/tips/free-video-converter-no-watermark.html
I've converted the VOB to MP4. 

Useless convertion.

Either you directly import the content of the DVD in Studio => it creates a .mpg file or simply copy/paste the DVD structure into your computer and rename the .vob to .mpg and import these .mpg into Studio.

Hi Saby,

I don't think I can just rename .vob files to .mpg if that's what you mean, they're not the same according to this:
http://www.dvdvobtompg.com/

 After converting, I can play the MP4 file in windows media player for example.

 Steve 

 

The conversion normally works if you are then going to use the result on PS. It's lossless, obviously.

Hi,

Steve100:

I don't think I can just rename .vob files to .mpg if that's what you mean, they're not the same according to this:
http://www.dvdvobtompg.com/

 After converting, I can play the MP4 file in windows media player for example.

.vob is a container. It contains Mpeg2 video stream. Renaming it to .MPG is a simple and old trick that actually works.

I tried that but in Windows media player I got no image just audio.

Use any software player smarter than WMP and it would work (VLC, MPC HC, ...), even Pinnacle Studio of course.

Hi Saby,

Yes that does work but then all the players I tried (VLC, MPC HC, PowerDVD 10.) but these also worked for vobs.

Does it matter that a vob is container as it's presumably relying on the player to look for an mpg inside, windows media player obviously doesn't but I wonder if there might be others.

Which video format would you recommend? 

Steve 

A .mpg, a .mp4 is a container too, you know.

Sorry, I don't understand. What video format are you talking about ?

jjn and I point is : no need to transcode the DVD-R or DVD-RW content.

Import the DVD into Studio using the Importer or copy/paste its content to your hard drive, then rename the .vob to .mpg and the import them into Studio.

OK, thanks.

Ah OK, sorry I should have been more specific. I mean what would be the best format to convert my video to considering I want to send them to people and so a format that works on most devices would be essential.

Also for the future, I assume some formats might last longer than others.
https://www.motionelements.com/blog/articles/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-5-most-common-video-file-formats
Perhaps I should just hedge my bets and convert to several while I'm at it.

I guess what you're saying is keep them as vob/mpg for editing with Studio.

 

 

H.264 is pretty universal nowadays.

Your link is 7 years old. An eternity for video things, you know.

OK thanks.

 

Good point, I should have checked the date.