Why a DVD recorder when a computer can burn DVD's?

Question

Our church needs to purchase a DVD recorder so we may distribute video DVD's of the services.
A computer is capable of "live time" burning/rercording DVD, is it not? Why do we need to purchase high dollar equipment to record each sermon? We might be able to feed the camera signal to our computer and burn a DVD? Please offer solutions or web sites, thanks

Answer 1

if your computer has a video in card and jacks to attach the camera and mike you can use the dvd burner and software to do it.

A stand alone DVD burner needs no computer or software, is pretty inexpensive and also burns direct from the camera in real time

Answer 2

You can simply use the camera to record your services, then plug the camera into your PC to download the video.

Now, this procedure will vary a bit, depending on the camera you use. Some cameras can download directly to a computer - putting a computer file on your PC.

Older cameras will require you to connect to a video capture card, and record your service to the computer manually. Capture cards are pretty cheap ($50) and come with easy to use software for making a recording.


Either way, once the file is on your computer, you can use a DVD authoring program like Nero to import the file, and start burning copies. You'll need a DVD burner, but these too are cheap ($35-50) and some even come with a version of Nero or similar program.

I do not know of a process by which you can connect the camera to your PC, and burn to DVD in real time. I suppose it could be possible. I know some high-end video cameras can use a DVD to record to, but they're fairly expensive. However, the advantage would be your master DVD would be ready as soon as the service was complete, and then you would just have to start making copies.

Oh, one other thing you may want to consider. If you are going to be making a lot of copies of these discs each week, you may want to consider getting a dedicated DVD duplicator. This device requires no PC. It's essentially one DVD drive for your original, and then contains 4 or 5 additional DVD burners to make copies. It's self contained. You simply load the drives, and hit the GO button. A few minutes later, your discs are done. Some even have the ability to print labels right on the copied discs.

This will be much faster than burning one copy at a time on your PC. These are somewhat specialty devices, so you may have to order one off the internet. However, the smaller units should be under $500, and will certainly save time, wear and time on your PC.