Off-Air Recordings To DVD+/-R
Januray 2010 by Colebox

From an off-air capture on a DVD recorder to burning the DVD+/-R for my collection, I am aware that I go through a lot of needless processes to create a DVD+/-R. Whether I am wasting my time or not is up to you to decide, but the process I go through is outlined below:

Capture On DVD Recorder

I usually capture off-air to the DVD recorder's hard-drive; the security here is if I went straight to the DVD+/-R the disc may fail or simply not have enough room for multiple recordings (it's happened before!).

I then carry out a fast dub from the hard-drive to a DVD-RW having formatted the DVD-RW in VR mode. In VR mode a DVD recorder treats a DVD-RW as if it is an extra hard drive where titles can be deleted very easily. On my DVD recorder VR mode also allows fast dub to take place (which takes about ten minutes per two hours of programme time). Any dubbing mode other than fast dub will re-encode the video potentially reducing the picture quality.

Once complete I load the disc into my PC.

PC Editing

When I open the DVD-RW on the PC I am presented with a folder titled DVD_RTAV. Within this folder are two files: VR_MANGR.IFO and VR_MOVIE.VRO.

I copy and paste the VR_MOVIE.VRO into a folder on the PC (which can take a while). When this is complete I just load the VR_MOVIE.VRO file into VideoReDo TV Suite. Note: If I want to play the video in any other programme I rename the file extension from .VRO to .mpg - the file will now be playable on any playback software and will still load into VideoReDo.

At this point I can do all the editing that I want: separate episodes, remove advert breaks, remove continuity announcements at the begining and end of the programmes and create menus for my completed DVD+/-Rs. All that would be left to do is burn the DVD+/-R.

But Why Bother With All That? Surely It's Quicker To Create The DVD Directly From The DVD Recorder And Be Done With It!

I could; but I don't want to. And here's why:

  • I want to have frame specific editing. Something, as yet, that is difficult to do on a DVD recorder especially when it comes to editing out advert breaks and ad bumpers. VideoReDo's frame specific editing is just too good not to exploit.

  • I am, and have always been, a bit fussy about the final product. Even in my VHS capture days I would do my very best to get as little continutity around recorded episodes and films as I could. I don't even like having one frame that shouldn't be there.

  • I like having the option of designing my own menus rather than using the horrible menus available in my Sony DVD recorder. The menu options within VideoReDo TV Suite or SVCD2DVD are limitless (with a bit of imagination).

  • I also like to have the option of having no menu at all. When I create a DVD+/-R that contains a single programme, a one-off play for example, I don't realy need a menu. A DVD recorder, mine at least, doesn't allow me to create a DVD without a menu.

  • There are also the by-products: On many occasions, at the end of recordings, there are the trailers for up and coming programmes. If there are any of particular interest, such as Doctor Who, then this can be edited and saved separately. This would be very fiddly on my DVD recorder.

  • Whatever recording source I use; VCR, DVD recorder or (on rare occasion) Windows Media Center, the same applies that I will run the capture through VideoReDo for editing and VideoReDo or SVCD2DVD for authoring.