need software

[beerbelly]

Can anyone reccomend a program to burn media (recorded TV) DVD's to watch in a home DVD player? Please be gentle with prices, free would really rock. I don't need anything fancy.
Thanks.

[andyswork@beci.net]

Do a google search, and you will find alot.

[beerbelly]

I did, that's the whole problem. I came up with stuff ranging from free to $600, hence why I asked for advice. I was hoping someone here actually uses this kind of software, and could steer me in the right direction.

[jlreich]

Beerbelly, how are you wanting to do this? Record TV through your computer and burn it to disk? Convert VHS on your computer then burn to DVD?

If you want to record TV on your computer and then burn you need a TV tuner/PVR(personal video recorder) card. They can be had at Newegg for around $40 and up, and usually have the software to go with it. http://www.newegg.com/ProductSort/SubCategory.asp?SubCategory=47

You can hook up a VHS/DVD player to it as well. Just don't expect anything special for $40 though. ;)

A little better explanation of what you want to do would help. :)

[beerbelly]

I was given this TV tuner (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16815116311) , because the person couldn't make it work no matter what, and managed to lose the receipt.
It works fine.
Now I'm interested in making DVD's from TV. I'm not really impressed with the picture quality on my monitor when I go to full screen, so I'm not willing to spend a boatload of bucks to make DVD's if they will be of the same quality picture as I see on my monitor.
I know there are much better quality TV tuners out there, and who knows in the future, But for now I'm just tinkering to see how interested in all of this I am.
That's it, whole story.
Thanks for your interest and reply.

Edit: It came with nothing, just the unit.

[jlreich]

Try ATI's website. It looks like they have all the software for it for download.

https://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&folderID=27

I have $40 card that's OK for watching TV. I haven't really figured out how to use it to burn to DVD very good yet. And your right the picture in full screen is kind of fuzzy. But I like it. It's cool to be able to watch TV on your computer while working(cough!), or browsing the PcGuide.:p I'm sure one of the $200 cards would be great. Let me tell you though, encoding video is very time consuming. It takes for ever to encode it to get ready to burn to DVD. I think the one time I tried it I let it run over night :eek:

Hope that helps.

[beerbelly]

Thanks for the help!

I think I need a little more though. I went to the link you provided, (I've tried this already), then picked "Windows XP" (running XP home), then TV tuners, and all I get are the catylist components to make this thing work, which I downloaded when I got it.
Did I make a wrong turn in Albuquerque?

[jlreich]

I was judging by the size of the files that they included everything you needed but I guess not. :(

Best I can do for you is suggest doing a search for free PVR software and start trying some. Maybe you will find one that works well. Maybe someone around here will know of a good free one.

edit - Here is a link that looks promising. Several apps to choose from. http://www.tv-cards.com/apps.php

[anton muzic]

beer,
sometimes what u see on the pc screen is not indicative of what is being transferred...i would (when u can) just try to get a test..an avi file into the pc..
then use this link
http://www.newcyberian.com/howto/dvdauthoring.html

to practice with the best freebies for each stage of your workflow.
windows movie maker does not encode to mpeg but u can use it for the
early steps.

cheers
anton ;)