Copying Camcorder to DVD in 5 Simple Steps

Your daughter has taken her first step and you immediately grab those memorable moments in your camcorder. You replay it again and again smiling at what you have successfully captured. What happens next? Soon the memory is full with nowhere to store future memories and you don't want to lose precious memories you have now. Move your memories to a DVD for safekeeping. But how?

Copying a movie or pictures from your camcorder to DVD is not only simple but also fun as you learn to transfer the data to the disc. All you need is a movie or pictures from your camcorder, audio/video cables, a blank writable DVD and a DVD Recorder and you are ready to copy the content from the camcorder to a DVD.

Step 1: Keep the camcorder and the DVD recorder ready. Make sure the camcorder has the videotape or the memory chip and the DVD recorder has a blank writable DVD inside it. Do not connect the camcorder to your television, instead try to locate the input selection button on your DVD recorder's remote control and switch the option to AV-in, Line-in or Aux in, depending on the brand. You will also find the input selection button in the front panel of your recorder.

Step 2: Connect the audio-video output/input cables to the camcorder and the DVD recorder to copy your files to the DVD. Insert the AV output cable to the outputs of your camcorder. The other end of the cable, which is the AV inputs, should be plugged to the input socket in the DVD recorder. The input socket is either in the front or in the rear of your recorder, completely depending on its make. Before you proceed with the next step, make sure the camcorder is plugged into an AC power supply.

Step 3: To start copying from the camcorder to the DVD recorder, first rewind the video you wish to transfer. Press the 'Play' button on the camcorder and then immediately turn-on the 'Record' button in the recorder. This will enable the recorder to capture all that is being played in the camcorder.

Step 4: As soon as the movie gets over, press the 'Stop' button. If you wish to transfer more movies, all you have to do is 'Pause' the recorder, change the tape or memory card in your camcorder and then start all over from Step 3. And now you have successfully copied a video from a camcorder to a DVD recorder.

Step 5: Now to finish the process, complete the final procedures and prompts as displayed in the recorder. You may have to feed additional information to complete the copying. Once it is all done take the DVD out of the recorder and place it in a CD holder safely.

If you have a digital camcorder, you can even copy your files from the camcorder to your PC directly or transfer them from the DVD recorder later. Once you have moved the files to your computer load them to editing software and then just edit your file to fit your convenience and save it in a format of your choice (avi, mpeg, flv, etc.). Now the files are all yours and you can get your grandchildren to watch those lovely moments when mom or dad were young with you.