How do you make a home video from a standard video camera to DVD format?

I have a card (PCI) for my computer that you plug the camera directly into and the software that came with the card will copy it from the camera and save it to a file. Then I use the same software and it will format it to burn to a DVD, and then burn it for me. I spent less than $30 for the card and software. The card is by Adeptec and it uses Sonic (My DVD)software and Nero Software. It all works great, I now have every tape onto a DVD and put a copy of the DVD into a fire-proof safe. You can do this with a scanner and family photos also.

You can do it with home equipment, but if you no longer have a camcorder you'll have problems. Chances are the camera was a MiniDV, so you'll need a firewire card and a firewire cable to capture the video to your PC. You'll also need a DVD burner on your PC. The work flow is:- 1/ Capture the video 2/ Edit it 3/ Output the video in the right format for DVD (MPEG2) 4/ Author the DVD (create chapters, menus etc and compile the files) 5/ Burn it to DVD in the right format (UDF) You can get individual apps to do all these, but the most sensible option is to get one that does everything. Most all in one apps blur the boundaries between the stages a bit, but they all do the same things. My personal preference is Sony's Vegas Movie Studio Platinum, but it's a little over $100, which may be OTT if you're only going to make one DVD. AVS Video Editor at $40 does a decent job.