How To Burn DVD - Video

Today I'm going to tell you how to burn DVD Video - because, well, movies are the most common thing to store on a DVD. I'll explain how to take a video file and burn it to a DVD disc. You will then be able to view the DVD in (pretty much) any DVD player.

I've intentionally kept the tutorial as simple as possible, so you should have no trouble following along.

Get The Software

Personally I use the Nero software suite for all things related to writing CDs and DVDs. I've been using it for years and so far I'm completely satisfied with the features it offers. In particular, Nero Vision is the application that I'll be talking about in this tutorial. It can turn any video file in a DVD movie that you can view on most stand-alone DVD players.

Get Nero 7 here (click on "Downloads" to get the free trial version. It's about 173 MB).

(By the way, if 173 MB is too much for your Internet connection, check out this software - DVD Copy Pro. It doesn't have nearly as much features as Nero and doesn't offer a trial version, but the download size is nearly 20 times smaller and it can still burn a movie to a disc.)

When the download is complete, launch the downloaded file and install Nero. The installation is straightforward - just click "Next" and "OK" a lot. Note : you might want to opt out of installing Ask Toolbar, though.

Launch Nero Vision

You can launch Nero Vision by clicking Start -> Programs -> Nero 7 (Premium) -> Photo and Video -> Nero Vision or, if you're using the classic Start menu, click Start -> Programs -> Nero 7 (Premium) -> Photo and Video -> Nero Vision.

The Nero Vision window will open. If you've just installed it, a "Tips" window will pop up (you can close it safely; there's also an option not to show tips) and a trial version message may appear (close that, too).

Start a New DVD-Video Project

Just click where the glossy-green PhotoShoppy arrows tell you to :)

Set Video Configuration

Now you can set the quality of the DVD Video to be created. This is an optional step - your DVD should work without changing anything here.

By clicking the "More" button on the bottom row you can open an additional toolbar. Click "Video Options" to set video configuration.

On the "General" tab set the video mode that matches your country. You can leave the SmartEncoding as is.

The DVD-Video tab lets you configure the video quality. While it might be a bit counterintuitive, the first thing to check here is the encoding mode. The default is "Fast encoding" which can lead to worse quality; you can set this to High Quality at the cost of longer encoding time.

The "Quality setting" is best left alone unless you know what you're doing. If set to "Automatic", Nero Vision will select the video quality according to the amount of space on your blank DVD. If you set this manually there's a possibility the video won't fit on the disc. Sample format and bit rate can be used to fine-tune the size and quality of the video (don't touch them for now).

Click "OK" when done.

Add Video File(s)

Back in the main window, click the "Add Video Files" button, navigate to the video you want to burn on the DVD, select it and click "Open". Most popular video formats (AVI, MPG, WMV) will work fine.

Nero Vision will import the video (this may take a few moments) and display an entry in the list to the left :

You can add more than one video this way - just click "Add Video Files" again. If you want to remove a video, select it by clicking on its entry and click the "Delete Titles" button.

Select Menu Format

(When this window opens a message will pop up, telling you how you can get more menu templates by clicking a link, blah blah blah. You can check out the link or close the message box immediately - doesn't matter.)

Since this post is about how to burn DVD in the simplest way possible, I won't go into detail about creating and editing menus here. You can leave these settings to the default values, which will produce a simple menu automatically. You could even select "Do not create a menu" if you've only got one video file to burn to the DVD.

Anyway, make sure you check the horizontal blue bar at the bottom of the window - it shows how much space is used/available on the DVD. The red line corresponds to 4.7 GB (the size of a typical DVD). If the bar crosses it, the video probably won't fit on the disc.

Click "Next" to continue.

Preview the DVD

In this window you can use a virtual DVD-player to see how your DVD movie is going to look like. Play around a bit if you want and go on to the next step by clicking "Next".

Burn The DVD

Almost done! It's time to finally burn the DVD. Click on "Burn To" and select your DVD-writer from the list to start.

This window also shows some summary info about the DVD-Video project you've created.

When you burn a DVD, Nero Vision will first encode your movie in the correct video format and then write it to the disc. Depending on the length of the video, the quality settings you've selected and the speed of your computer, the encoding can take quite a while. Encoding a full-length movie took some 3 hours for me and I've got a pretty fast PC... An important part of learning how to burn DVD is thus to be either very patient or to leave the PC running overnight ;)

That's it!

If all goes well, Nero Vision will eventually finish writing the DVD and display a message box notifying you and asking if you want to save the log. Just click "No".

Congratulations! You've burned your first DVD! Now you know how to burn DVD discs and create video DVDs that can be played in any DVD player.

There's a lot of techniques and tricks I didn't mention here because it would literally take a whole book to explain everything there is to know about burning DVD's. Now that you're familiar with the essentials, it should be easier to move on and try more advanced stuff. Maybe I'll write some more tips later, too. Cheers! :)