Debating to go HD or not...

[Dave McElderry]

I'm thinking Bob must have ESP or something. Now where did he get that model number from? Finally found it in a post above. Adding a drive would only affect your warranty if you did damage to something else in the process, but if you're really uncomfortable doing it then so be it. It would serve no purpose to try to talk you into something.

[Bob]

Since I now build my own, I don't keep up with pc warrenty provisions. Used to be some brands were rather draconian in their terms. Since Dell provides instructions in an actual manual, it would appear that is not an issue. Doesn't hurt to check though.

[Uncle Ben]

Thank you Bob. And yes, I'm concerned about the warranty. But also, with the external, you can use it with any other compatible notebook around the house.

My wife and I went shopping today, just for that, hopping around from one store to the next, talking to people. I find those small still cameras just too small for comfort. I have a run of the mill JVC SD camcorder ... and I know first hand how easy they are to work with.

Thank you once again for all your help. You have helped me a great deal here Bob!

[Uncle Ben]

Well first and foremost, I would like to extend my thanks once again to all who have provided feedback to my initial post.

It is because of your valuable insights that I was able to narrow down my choices. I hope that I will be happy with my final decision.

I opted for a cam as opposed to a digital camera because of the added video functionality. I have also opted for an external blu-ray writer, not only because I'm not comfortable doing the swap myself, but also because I like the flexibility of being able to use the writer with other computers around da house instead of having it anchored permanently.

"So what did you buy Uncle Ben?" you may ask. I will tell you, but on one condition: if you don't think I made a good purchase, please be nice and don't tell me!

I bought the Sony Handycam PJ200, and the burner is a Lite-ON USB 3.0 12X Blu-ray Disc Writer Model eHbu212-08. I realize that this is no pro-equipment, and as you can ready tell from this thread, neither am I.

As time goes on and I develop a bit more expertise with home videos and Sony Movie Studio/DVD Architect, perhaps I will be able to help others like you've been able to help me.

Again, grazie to ya all! Cheers!

[Dave McElderry]

The best piece of equipment is always the one that works best for your needs. And we're all on a budget as far as I know, so we all understand how decisions need to be made. Sony makes good Handycams and Lite-On makes good optical drives so it's pretty hard to go wrong. Although there are a few of us who have done some work for hire, I think most of us still fit into the category of hobbyists and we all learn from each other. So congratulations on your purchases! Enjoy!

[Bob]

Taking everything into consideration, I think you made a good choice going to HD. I too hope you'll be happy with your decision!

One more suggestion, pick up a blank Blu Ray Rewritable disk. Rewritable disks aren't stable enough to use for your final disk, but they are great for making trial burns of your projects to verify that everything is as you want and that the menus work as they should. You don't need to be making expensive coasters. Once everything checks out OK, burn to a regular Blu Ray disc.

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

Good advice from Bob about the re-writable and saving coasters.

A couple of other points. Firstly, buy quality BD discs. Regularly highly rated here are Verbatim and Tao Yuden (sp). Other brands tend to be, shall we say, a bit variable.

Secondly, think about burning your BluRay image to a folder rather than directly to BD disc. Then use ImgBurn to burn the discs (a lot of us here use ImgBurn - link below). That way, if the test burn to the re-writable is OK producing more finished BD discs is simply a matter of re-burning from the folder rather than recreating the disc image from scratch.

http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download

ImgBurn - burn to BluRay guide - http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?showtopic=9512

[Uncle Ben]

The best piece of equipment is always the one that works best for your needs. And we're all on a budget as far as I know, so we all understand how decisions need to be made. Sony makes good Handycams and Lite-On makes good optical drives so it's pretty hard to go wrong. Although there are a few of us who have done some work for hire, I think most of us still fit into the category of hobbyists and we all learn from each other. So congratulations on your purchases! Enjoy!

Yeah, I think it's all right. I read the reviews on the burner, all were very good. I also read hundreds of reviews on cams, enough to make my head spin. I finally opted for this one, after reading two reviews from local folks. Of course, budget was the prime decision factor. So, knowing that there are cams out there costing thousands of dollars more, I still think that for my needs this will do fine, at least until I'm past the learning curve. If my enthusiasm for this hobby continues to grow, I can always look for something better later. Thanks!

[Uncle Ben]

Taking everything into consideration, I think you made a good choice going to HD. I too hope you'll be happy with your decision!

One more suggestion, pick up a blank Blu Ray Rewritable disk. Rewritable disks aren't stable enough to use for your final disk, but they are great for making trial burns of your projects to verify that everything is as you want and that the menus work as they should. You don't need to be making expensive coasters. Once everything checks out OK, burn to a regular Blu Ray disc.

Yes, I use a re-writable now for DVDs, so I sure will continue that practice with Blu-ray's. Thanks!

[Uncle Ben]

Good advice from Bob about the re-writable and saving coasters.

A couple of other points. Firstly, buy quality BD discs. Regularly highly rated here are Verbatim and Tao Yuden (sp). Other brands tend to be, shall we say, a bit variable.

Secondly, think about burning your BluRay image to a folder rather than directly to BD disc. Then use ImgBurn to burn the discs (a lot of us here use ImgBurn - link below). That way, if the test burn to the re-writable is OK producing more finished BD discs is simply a matter of re-burning from the folder rather than recreating the disc image from scratch.

http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download

ImgBurn - burn to BluRay guide - http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?showtopic=9512

Yes, burning an image first is a good idea ... but can't I burn it directly from DVD Architect or Movie Studio? Why do I need to D/L another application? Is there an advantage to using ImgBurn?

[Peru]

Yes, burning an image first is a good idea ... but can't I burn it directly from DVD Architect or Movie Studio? Why do I need to D/L another application? Is there an advantage to using ImgBurn?

Yes you could use DVDAS. I don't have Movie Studio, so can't comment.
It's just been habit for me to use ImgBurn. I've never had any problems making and burning images with it.

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

Is there an advantage to using ImgBurn?

ImgBurn is a free utility that quite a lot of folk here on Muvipix use. In the end, though, I suspect that it all depends on one's workflow.

My workflow is, after editing, to use Encore to write a DVD/BD image to a folder then to use ImgBurn to write the re-writable for checking. When all is OK I then produce the final copies from the folder that Encore created. It may be that as I generally need to produce multiple copies of DVDs/BDs it makes life easier for me.

Oh, and did I mention, ImgBurn is free (don't you just love that word?)

[Uncle Ben]

@John: Free, you bet I like that word. I'm just trying to understand the benefit of using ImgBurn over DVDAS. Once I've created an image with DVDAS, I can use that image to burn as many disks as I need. What more would ImgBrun do for me?

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

What more would ImgBrun do for me?

Probably no a lot. I can burn DVDs/BDs from a folder with Encore. I can also use ImgBurn. Just another way of doing things, I suppose.

[Uncle Ben]

What more would ImgBrun do for me?

Probably no a lot. I can burn DVDs/BDs from a folder with Encore. I can also use ImgBurn. Just another way of doing things, I suppose.

I'm new at this, as you can tell. Do you know roughly how many minutes/hours of HD def recording I can have on a 16 GB card? I did some quick Googling earlier this morning and I've seen numbers all over the map. The rule of thumb seems to peg it at 3 min/GB - does this sound about right? So on a 16 GB card, plus 8 GB internal memory that's built-in my cam, I should be good 72 minutes or recording. Does this sound reasonable? I guess I'll find out soon enough. The cam is supposed to come in tomorrow.