DVD burner for Linux

On Monday 09 February 2004 9:44 am, Vaughn Treude wrote:
> > I purchased an NEC (model number escapes me, I'm at work) for home us=
e
> > and EMR purchased a Pioneer A-05. Both installed and burn under Redh=
at
> > 8/9 with no issues whatsoever. Neither came with any other hardware =
but
> > the drive. Both are internal. Both ran about $150.
>
> Good! Since DVD burners are becoming so widespread, I figured that Lin=
ux
> would probably support most major brands. But it's also my
> understanding that you can't convert analog video to digital without
> special hardware, either integrated from the drive or separate. Most o=
f
> the promotional info for the drives say you can use them to copy home
> videos, but I'm assuming that they're assuming the person has a digital
> video camera. Which brings me to my second question: have any of you u=
sed
> video capture hardware under Linux?

Not sure what you mean 'analog' versus' digital video, since it is all st=
ored=20
digitally on the hard drive, no matter the source. Analog is the storage=
=20
medium of any 'traditional' tape, such as VHS-C.=20

When putting video from your Hard Drive onto a DVD-Video disk, if you wis=
h=20
that video to be played back from a traditional hardware DVD player, the=20
video must be formatted in a way that the DVD Player will understand. Th=
e=20
original format (for NTSC, if you don't know what this means, you want NT=
SC=20
if you are here in America) being MPEG-2 at 340x252 or 720x480, with eith=
er=20
AC3 or PCM audio, depending on the quality and "amount per disk" you are=20
trying to achieve. Also, the older the DVD player, most chunks or 'chapt=
ers'=20
must be under 1 gig in size.

As long as you can store your 'analog' video on your hard drive as Mpeg 2=
(or=20
convert it after the fact) you can then move that content to a DVD-Video=20
Disk.

The newer the player and depending on what formats it supports, you can=20
sometimes create 'bastard' versions of these formats, but your disk will =
not=20
be universally readable. For instance, one of my home dvd players suppor=
ts=20
MPEG1 video on a DVD-RW (a VERY rare combination) so I can transfer up to=
=20
about 6 hours of recorded TV to that DVDRW to enjoy later, especially if =
I am=20
not looking to archive that particular content (hence the RW).

--=20
Kyle Faber
Account Manager
EMR Internet
kyle@emr.net
623-581-0842 voice
623-582-9499 fax

UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the United States and=
=20
other countries.