Best setup for putting my videos on DVD?

Odourless · 1st July 2012, 7:09 PM

Ok so I've got a HEAP of movies that I need to put on DVD for my parents. They paid some guy a while back to do all their old home movies and he has supplied them in I *think* divx format. I just picked up a new (preloved) laptop that I'm hoping to use for the task. The specs are;

Lenovo e420
- Intel Core i5-2520M Processor (2.50GHz, 3MB L3, 1333MHz FSB)
- AMD Radeon HD 6630M (1GB VRAM, 128-bit GPU, switchable)/Intel HD Graphics
- 14.0" HD (1366x768) LED Backlit Display, Anti-Glare, Midnight Black
- 8 GB PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz SODIMM Memory (1 DIMM)
- 128GB Crucial M4 SSD

I've got the movies on a 3.5" 1tb Samsung HDD which I'm planning to buy an external enclosure (esata) for. The few times I have done something like this I've used convertXtoDVD and it has done the job ok but fairly slow. On my old shitty laptop I'm currently using it takes over 2hrs to make one dvd.

Now I've gotten all that out the way these are my questions;

- Is ConvertXtoDVD the best program to use for this task?

- How many movies should I put onto a single-layer DVD-R? I have been sticking around 1hr30min per disc previously.

- Should I copy the original files to the SSD drive as I'm encoding them or will the difference be minimal between that and the esata HDD.

- How long should it take once I have the new laptop up and running?

Any and all help will be greatly appreciated. I hunted around the forums but couldn't find much relative information.

scared&profane · 1st July 2012, 7:12 PM

buy your parents a divx capable dvd player and save your time and effort?

scared&profane · 1st July 2012, 7:16 PM

oh and also back them up in a number of places/medias too. Now they are all together you have a single point of failure of DOOM!

Odourless · 1st July 2012, 7:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scared&profane

oh and also back them up in a number of places/medias too. Now they are all together you have a single point of failure of DOOM!

My parents have the original divx dvds and I have them on my external HDD.

This is all for future reference too guys not just my parents stuff!

Quote:

Originally Posted by scared&profane

buy your parents a divx capable dvd player and save your time and effort?

They have one of course but quite a number of my family members who want some of the movies don't and it would just be easier to have them on disc catalogued so my parents can do as they wish and don't have to bother me every time they need another copy!

Kafoopsy · 15th July 2012, 9:30 PM

I use a free program called DVDFlick. Once set up, it remembers your settings and I just drag the videos I want into the window and it adds them as separate titles. I've currently got mine set up to play each title automatically after the previous one with no menu. I just drag files on, change DVD name, click go and 3 hours later its done.

TheBear21 · 22nd July 2012, 9:39 PM

Win7 got a perfectly fine DVD maker built in. Works pretty well. Even nice enough menus. But yeah takes a while for the conversion.

Davo1111 · 24th July 2012, 3:03 PM

tbh i'd get a tv or dvd player or set top box (like the wd live) that has a usb input. Then just plug a hard drive in and let them watch anything they want.

1st July 2012, 7:09 PM	#1
Odourless Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Far North Sunny Melbourne Posts: 206	Best setup for putting my videos on DVD? Ok so I've got a HEAP of movies that I need to put on DVD for my parents. They paid some guy a while back to do all their old home movies and he has supplied them in I think divx format. I just picked up a new (preloved) laptop that I'm hoping to use for the task. The specs are; Lenovo e420 - Intel Core i5-2520M Processor (2.50GHz, 3MB L3, 1333MHz FSB) - AMD Radeon HD 6630M (1GB VRAM, 128-bit GPU, switchable)/Intel HD Graphics - 14.0" HD (1366x768) LED Backlit Display, Anti-Glare, Midnight Black - 8 GB PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz SODIMM Memory (1 DIMM) - 128GB Crucial M4 SSD I've got the movies on a 3.5" 1tb Samsung HDD which I'm planning to buy an external enclosure (esata) for. The few times I have done something like this I've used convertXtoDVD and it has done the job ok but fairly slow. On my old shitty laptop I'm currently using it takes over 2hrs to make one dvd. Now I've gotten all that out the way these are my questions; - Is ConvertXtoDVD the best program to use for this task? - How many movies should I put onto a single-layer DVD-R? I have been sticking around 1hr30min per disc previously. - Should I copy the original files to the SSD drive as I'm encoding them or will the difference be minimal between that and the esata HDD. - How long should it take once I have the new laptop up and running? Any and all help will be greatly appreciated. I hunted around the forums but couldn't find much relative information. __________________ Total Value of trades - $$One hundred million billion$$

15th July 2012, 9:30 PM	#5
Kafoopsy Member Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Right Here! Posts: 845	I use a free program called DVDFlick. Once set up, it remembers your settings and I just drag the videos I want into the window and it adds them as separate titles. I've currently got mine set up to play each title automatically after the previous one with no menu. I just drag files on, change DVD name, click go and 3 hours later its done. __________________ I was a member of the THE SLOT-T PARTY! I did have a: Tualatin Celeron 1.2 on MSI 6163 Slot 1 My motto: Latest version of software is not always best.

22nd July 2012, 9:39 PM	#6
TheBear21 Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Central QLD Posts: 1,777	Win7 got a perfectly fine DVD maker built in. Works pretty well. Even nice enough menus. But yeah takes a while for the conversion. __________________ flickr \| Soundcloud

1st July 2012, 7:12 PM	#2
scared&profane Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 237	buy your parents a divx capable dvd player and save your time and effort?

1st July 2012, 7:16 PM	#3
scared&profane Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 237	oh and also back them up in a number of places/medias too. Now they are all together you have a single point of failure of DOOM!

24th July 2012, 3:03 PM	#7
Davo1111 Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Syd Posts: 2,639	tbh i'd get a tv or dvd player or set top box (like the wd live) that has a usb input. Then just plug a hard drive in and let them watch anything they want.