Questions about requirements for burning onto DVD-R
 

I was thinking about finally getting a MiniDV camera and I was just wondering what all my computer need to be able to successfully install editing software, run it, and burn the finished product onto dvd-r? Also, what editing programs do you prefer? And, finally, do I actually need to have a dvd-rw drive to transfer the finished product onto a dvd-r or can the software, somehow, use my cd-rw drive to burn the dvd-r's. Thanks for any help you can give.

I'm using an AMD Athlon XP 1800+ with 1 GByte of DDR, 40 GByte main drive, 180 GByte secondary drive, Pioneer A04 DVD-RW drive with a Pinnacle Systems Firewire card. It takes about 4-5 hours to convert 30-40 minutes of DV25 AVI files to DVD-compatible MPEG2 and burn to DVD-RW. I generally use Pinnacle Studio8 due to its simple storyboard editing and integrated burning. Edit in 2-8 hours, plop in the DVD-RW, and wake up to a disk to test. For more power, I use Vegas Video /SoundForge Audio. Surely, you can do better. I'll be upgrading someday ...

"I was thinking about finally getting a MiniDV camera and I was just wondering what all my computer need to be able to successfully install editing software, run it, and burn the finished product onto dvd-r?"
--> If your computer does'nt allready have, you need to install a FireWire card to connect the camera to the computer.

"Also, what editing programs do you prefer?"
--> Since your are begining, Pinnacle Studio 8.

"And, finally, do I actually need to have a dvd-rw drive to transfer the finished product onto a dvd-r or can the software, somehow, use my cd-rw drive to burn the dvd-r's.
--> You need a DVD recorder. CD recorders cannot record DVD.

Best regards,
Arnaldo