In converting digital camcorder movie to DVD, does the file reduce in size?

Question

I have a 1.6 GB movie file from a digital camcorder and I would like to put it on a DVD. I have software to do that, but can't find out if the process will reduce the size of the file so it will all fit on the DVD or not. I have never burned a DVD so I am not sure of how the process works.

I'd like to add other .MPG files (that is the format the 1.6 GB is in) to it as well (it was of my niece's wedding), but I don't know what I'm going to get on the DVD.

Answer 1

There's two things about burning DVD's - first, you can burn a "data" DVD - just like burning a CD, except the DVD has 4.7GB capacity. If you want to simply archive the movie file, you can burn it to DVD, but this will NOT play in a home theater DVD player; and the file will NOT reduce in size, either.

Now, if you want to burn a movie DVD so that it will play in a standard home theater DVD player, you have to do this through an application that will create and burn a movie DVD using your film footage. Typically, there's a huge amount of compression that occurs with creating a movie and so yes, the 1.6 gb original file will reduce significantly.

Answer 2

In order to get the video to play on a DVD then you'll need a DVD authoring program. One should have come with your DVD burner. It was probably Nero or Sonic.

You'll want to import that 1.6 GB mpg movie into that program. Set it as First Play and then tell it to burn to DVD. You may need to read the help me files if there are more options.

Answer 3

YES