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Burning to DVD

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
in General Chat
I'm about to upgrade my ancient computer (Athlon 700MHz, 256MB RAM, 20GB, the rest generally crap) so that I can put a video showreel together. I'm currently running on Windows 98 still, and it isn't connected to the internet (it's not this one by the way, in case you're wondering how I'm typing this). Basically, I need to get my films off a normal DVD onto the computer, pick the bits I want, and put them together in Movie Maker (I don't need anything more complicated than that so I can't be arsed spending a fortune) and burn them onto a DVD that will work in a normal DVD player. I also need to connect it to the internet, which if I'm

Right, so my shopping list currently is: XP Pro OEM, DVD Writer, 512 RAM (PC133), New Hard Drive (IDE), Ethernet Card, USB/Firewire Card. Works out at about £220 which isn't too bad, since I'm getting a copy of XP Pro, and two or three of the hardware pieces could probably be used on another computer in the future. I'm pretty sure I've got enough slots to put all this stuff in. All I want to know is whether Windows by itself (with Movie Maker) can burn proper DVD's, or whether I'll need some extra software. Also, can someone make sure that I'm not about to do anything stupid like buy something that doesn't work.

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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Don't bother upgrading that PC...

    look on http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Full_Systems_43.html

    You can get a much better system for £200 that will do everything you need and more, than that ancient PC.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Nash wrote:
    Don't bother upgrading that PC...

    look on http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Full_Systems_43.html

    You can get a much better system for £200 that will do everything you need and more, than that ancient PC.
    There's nothing on that site for £200 with all the stuff I need. None of them have XP Pro for a start.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm With Stupid wrote:
    I'm about to upgrade my ancient computer (Athlon 700MHz, 256MB RAM, 20GB, the rest generally crap) so that I can put a video showreel together. I'm currently running on Windows 98 still, and it isn't connected to the internet (it's not this one by the way, in case you're wondering how I'm typing this). Basically, I need to get my films off a normal DVD onto the computer, pick the bits I want, and put them together in Movie Maker (I don't need anything more complicated than that so I can't be arsed spending a fortune) and burn them onto a DVD that will work in a normal DVD player. I also need to connect it to the internet, which if I'm

    Right, so my shopping list currently is: XP Pro OEM, DVD Writer, 512 RAM (PC133), New Hard Drive (IDE), Ethernet Card, USB/Firewire Card. Works out at about £220 which isn't too bad, since I'm getting a copy of XP Pro, and two or three of the hardware pieces could probably be used on another computer in the future. I'm pretty sure I've got enough slots to put all this stuff in. All I want to know is whether Windows by itself (with Movie Maker) can burn proper DVD's, or whether I'll need some extra software. Also, can someone make sure that I'm not about to do anything stupid like buy something that doesn't work.


    700 MHz aint powerful enough for a lot video work, I have an Athlon XP 1800 and that struggles on converting my holiday photos into DVD's, although if I resize the photos first to something like 800 by 600 and then work on them it's not so bad.

    I use ProShow - that's really good for making slideshows with music, etc.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Why bother with oem pro? oem home will surely suffice?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    noog wrote:
    Why bother with oem pro? oem home will surely suffice?
    Cos home does my head in. Plus I intend to get a new computer at some point, so I thought I might as well buy Pro now, rather than buying home, then finding out I'll need buy Pro later on for something I want on my new computer. It's only £30 more, so I might as well.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    DiamondGeezer wrote:
    700 MHz aint powerful enough for a lot video work, I have an Athlon XP 1800 and that struggles on converting my holiday photos into DVD's, although if I resize the photos first to something like 800 by 600 and then work on them it's not so bad.

    I use ProShow - that's really good for making slideshows with music, etc.
    I dunno whether that's actually true. You see, I've done low-level video editing on stuff which is less powerful than my computer and it worked fine. When it first came out it would've been powerful enough to do video editing, so why can't it do the same job now? Sure, it won't run any of the latest editing software, but I'm not after an editing suite, I'm just after a way of making DVD's of already edited stuff (plus maybe putting a few clips together). Bear in mind that once it's cut together, it will just be a case of making a few DVD's, then adding to it every time I get work on a new project, so it shouldn't be too demanding. There's no way I'd spend less that £1000 on a computer for editing, before you even consider software, monitors and the like, but I need a showreel right now, and this seems to be the cheapest way of doing it (plus I'm moving away soon, so I could use something for browsing the internet).
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm With Stupid wrote:
    Cos home does my head in. Plus I intend to get a new computer at some point, so I thought I might as well buy Pro now, rather than buying home, then finding out I'll need buy Pro later on for something I want on my new computer. It's only £30 more, so I might as well.

    Theyre the same except for networking as far as I know.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    TheShyBoyInTheCorner wrote:
    Theyre the same except for networking as far as I know.

    What he said :P Keep the £30 to go towards the £500 RRP of vista ultimate edition
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The differences between pro and home are slight. In home you don't get -

    remote desktop ability
    IIS
    File level security
    Domain membership possibility

    And a few other silly bits.
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