Burning live video from a Camera to a DVD

[jumpymonkey9]

I want to record a live video feed to a dvd. I don’t really want to have to go through an editing program, since there isn’t going to be any editing done on the footage. Is there a good burner that would be useful for that? I just need something that I can plug my Panasonic PV-GS250 into, whether it’s using the composite, s-video or even the firewire. Thanks

[DaveC]

Any DVD Recorder should work fine. I happen to prefer Panasonic’s. I have their DMR-E100, E85 and E95. All three have hard drives which is great for cutting out the junk at the start and end of the recording that you don’t want to appear on the DVD-R. You think you won’t want to do any editing now but I think you will change your mind once you get one. If you get one with a HDD to can still burn directly to the DVD-R if that is what you really want to do. That is not for me. I always want to cut something out. Another advantage to having a HDD is you can burn a full 2 hour DVD in 15 minutes if the recorder has a 4X burner like my old ones. I think the newer ones have 8X burners which means you can burn a full 2 hour DVD in 8 minutes. You can make as many copies as you want. Get one without a HDD and your only burning speed is 1X and you can’t make additional copies.

Dave

[jumpymonkey9]

The recorder is for my school. They are video taping sermons which they want to send to another part of the campus as a dvd, so those students out there can watch. Honestly, there won’t be any editing done in this case. If there were, we have a Mac G5 to do that on, and I’d be the one doing it, so there wouldn’t be any trouble with that. They just want to have someone to be able to hit record on the camera, or I guess in this case, they probably wouldn’t have to record, they’d just have a feed going into the recorder, and then just hit record on the dvd burner. If they need copies, I think the Mac can do that, but I guess that would be an option that would be beneficial. So from what you said, I think we should look at getting a recorder with a decent sized harddrive in it. Are these recorders like a set-top box? I’m trying to picture what you’re describing exactly, i’m stuck on the computer dvd recorer, and i know that’s not what we want. Thanks

[DaveC]

Here is a link to Panasonics current models.

http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/vModelList?storeId=15001&catalogId=13401&catGroupId=24987&cacheProgram=11002&cachePartner=7000000000000005702

They all have composite and S-Video inputs. I know the E95 has a firewire input and I think the E500 also has a firewire input. But the composite and S-Video inputs work just fine so you probably don’t need a firewire input.

These prices are retail so you shouldn’t have to pay any where near these prices. For example I bought my E95 from Buy.com for $350. But you have to be patient and look for sales to get the good prices.

The EH50 is probably adequate for what you want to do but I doubt that it has a firewire input.

Dave

[jumpymonkey9]

Thanks for the link. I think I have a better idea of what to get now. Did you post the link to Panasonic because you like them better? Or do you have another brand that you think is pretty good, but still in the lower to mid price range? Thanks

[DaveC]

I posted the link to Panasonic’s because that is what I have. I think Toshiba, Pioneer, and perhaps a few other companies have DVD recorders with hard drives but they are about the same price. The only time when the prices dip is when new models come out and the old models get closed out, sometimes at great prices.

I would avoid the everyday cheap models like Ilo and other off brands. The editing software is not well thought out and the quality doesn’t seem to be that good. You really can’t go wrong with the Panasonic quality. If you are not in a hurry, usually the sales are discussed in this forum while there are still units in stock at the sellers.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=106

Dave

[cantwister]

I happed on this forum on a search. I am wanting to record from my video camera to a dvd deck for editing on my computer. I will be taping rodoes and barrel racing events. Would the panasonic decks work for this? I need very good quaility recording. Do you know if the DMR-E95HS will indentify your video camera through the IEEE port and record and pause as you are taping? Just thought you might know. Thanks for what ever help you can offer. 🙂

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