new to dvd burning etc

[fedge]

my father-in-law wants to get a camcorder and make home movies and archive them to DVD. I have already decided on getting a DV cam or mini DV.. but as to the exact model im not sure( he's left this all up to me to decided on the advice to give him, like i know, i have to depend on the recomendations by more authorative sources)

Anyone have examples of what they like or whatever post it.. or links to help (ive been through cnet and toms hardware already)

But the next big things is the DVD authoring, which from the myriad number of posts here im guessing is not an exact science(as easy as recording a cd for you car)... so what should i go with (dual format DVD-/+RW drive or a DVD-R drive(his vcr/dvd player is hard to find in any compatability lists and therefore im not sure if it will even play a dvd-r disk or dvd+r disk or whatever, teh manual suggests nothing. So he pry have to play them on the computer (no problem)

SO the questions, should i suggest getting a outboard mpeg2 converter for firewire. (his comp is an athlon 1700xp- seems to be almost fast enough... for on the fly conversion but never tested) or should we just capture and convert in the computer. And bear in mind that he is not all that adapt with the computer, he had a hard time cloning an audio cd and still calls the cdrom drive the hard drive. So simple would be best. (yah like this is simple anyway, i have to educate myself)

Ok and then the DVD recorder itself. What should i look for.

and what software package would be easiest(not nessarily the best quality, just simpliest to use---i always go for the best quality, but im willing to have to learn something over days and days of experimentation, he is not)

[oddyseus]

For the burner, I would go for a dual one, preferably the new Pioneer A06.

I don't think his comp is fast enough for on the fly sofware mpeg2 encoding at acceptable quality. I would recommend a hardware mpeg2 encoder or even better a software one such as CinemaCraft Encoder for offline encoding.

Your future to be dvds most likely will have one audio and video. U can have them both with dvdlab. An easy and yet powerful dvd authoring application. But before investing in to it, take a look at the authoring package that will arive with your burner. Most of them can cope with your current needs. If u buy A06 u will receive Mydvd authoring solution from Sonic. This baby can encode your avis from the dvcam to mpeg2 video saving u the trouble of buying an external one. However its up to u to decide if the quality it delivers is up to your standards.

[fedge]

thanks for the advice.. this was one area that, since i have niether a vidcam nor a dvdburner, i could really give no advice to him on. It was somethign that i had to research myself.