Filmmaking Amateur | Converting Video Files to DVD

by Scott
(Georgia, USA)

Just when you think you're starting to get the hang of it some new snag finds its way into your life and you have to start all over again. Or so it would seem.

Lately, I've been making progress with my videos. I've been producing more and having more ideas. I've taken steps to get noticed and have actually gotten noticed. I'm even on the verge of my first real assignment for money. I gotta say, the thought of getting paid to make videos is very nice. Actually getting paid will be even nicer. Much of what I've been doing over the past year has been done for free for organizations that have little or no money. Its been a win-win because they are getting needed videos to promote their work and I am getting practice. Much of this is why I continue to contribute to Desktop Documentaries Filmmaking Amateur section. Since I'm not being paid, that makes me an amateur. Or at minimum, a non-professional. But I digress. I am writing to complain about the angst of art. The angst of technology. And the angst of always having to be learning.

For this possible paying job, I will have to produce DVDs as a final product. One of the non-profits I've been working with likes one of my videos so much they want to make DVD copies to share with others in their organization. Great, right? You would think. So far, I've been making videos that are compatible for the web, mainly YouTube. But now they want DVDs and my paying gig will want them to. So today, I set out to simply save a video to a DVD. Easy, right? You would think. This has become such a tremendous headache. I've tried burning my video to DVD through iDVD. Each time I burn a new DVD the video gets blown out in certain scenes. The scenes that get blown out vary each time I burn a new DVD. I've tried burning the video to DVD with my PC. Each time I've done this, the DVD player won't even read the DVD. This has happened with iDVD too.

Is it the file format that the video was saved in? The file is a .mov file. Should I be using .avi? .wvm? .mpeg3? I don't know. Is it that the DVD player is old and can't read these new files? I don't know. Is it that the DVDs I'm using aren't the right kind to burn on to? I don't know. Does God hate me? Probably.

So, as I write this I am in the process of saving my video in .avi format. The video is an hour long and re-rendering takes about 5 hours. So that gives me plenty of time to vent about how challenging this is. I've already tossed about 6 DVDs into the trash can today. These things aren't free you know. I guess the only good news is that DVDs will soon be a thing of the past. Why use a DVD when you can play videos from the web or from files on your computer? But this is little solace. It only means that I am learning a dying technology. A technology I am not dying to learn.

Such is life. I guess I should be happy. About something. Maybe that is what will come to me tomorrow.

Thoughts/comments about how to burn a video to DVD? Please share below...

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Jan 28, 2012

weird
by: Sarah

I have no idea Scott why you're having so many problems burning a DVD. When you open iDVD on your Mac, you should be able to drag your video file into whatever theme you choose and then hit Burn! (yes, .mov is the right format) Unless your original file is corrupted somehow.. not sure what the problem is. Sorry!

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