Outputting HD quality video to DVD

[Justin Branam]

Let me first say, i have searched for this and couldnt seem to find an answer, so if it has been discussed 1,000 times before, i appologize.

Now, what i am wondering is this. I have a canon hv10 video camera (shooting at 1080). I am wanting to make DVD's for friends and family so they can see all the cool underwater stuff i shoot. Is there a way to burn my HD footage to dvd, so they can watch it in HD on their televisions (assuming they have an hd tv)? Will i have to wait and get an HD DVD burner and then whoever is watching will have to have an HD DVD player?

Also, is there a way to burn the HD footage to a DVD, so they can view it in HD on their computer?

Thanks for your help and dont make fun of me too much, I am brand new at the whole video thing!

[Chris Harris]

If your friends and family just have regular DVD players, there's nothing you can really do for them. You can burn a regular widescreen DVD that looks great, however.

If they have an Xbox 360 or Playstation 3, you can burn an HD H.264 encoded file onto a regular DVD and they can watch it in HD that way.

If they have an HD-DVD or Blu-Ray player, there are certain programs, like DVD Studio Pro on the Mac, and Adobe Encore on the Mac and PC, that can burn those onto regular DVDs, with a smaller amount of space available though.

Currently DVDSP does HD-DVD, and Encore does Blu-Ray. There's an ongoing discussion about burning HD discs on regular DVDs on the Mac forums here.

So to sum it up, until Blu-Ray or HD-DVD players and burners are in everyone's homes, we have to make do with these alternatives.

[Chris Davis]

Originally Posted by Justin Branam

Also, is there a way to burn the HD footage to a DVD, so they can view it in HD on their computer?

You can encode it using the WMV HD codec. Your friends and family can then watch it on a computer or XBox 360. As long as the resulting file is less than 4.7GB (or 8.54GB for dual-layer) it will fit on a DVD.