Tools

Here are the things needed for this job:
1) a miniDV Camcorder.
2) a PC with IEEE 1394 (Firewire) port, running Windows 2000 or Windows XP. In order to do the real-time DVD conversion, you PC should be Fast Enough, which means the PC should have at least 256MB RAM, and at least 5GB free hard disk space.
3) an IEEE 1394 cable.
4) DVDSanta.

1. Connect an IEEE 1394 (Firewire) cable to mini DV Camcorder.

Connect an IEEE 1394 (Firewire) cable to your miniDV camcorder. Turn on your camcorder and switch the mode to VCR mode.

2. Connect the IEEE 1394 (Firewire) cable to your PC's IEEE1394 port.

Connect the other end of the IEEE 1394 (Firewire) cable to your PC's IEEE 1394 port. (If your PC does not have IEEE 1394 port, you will need to purchase and install an IEEE 1394 card on your PC.)

3. Run dvdSanta and burn the DVD.

Run dvdSanta, click the "Digital Camcorder Direct to DVD" button

Use the buttons on the left side to control your camcorder. You can play, stop, rewind your tape. If you want to transfer a whole tape, click the "Rewind" button to rewind the tape to its beginning.

Then, click "Play and Capture" button to start transferring the miniDV tape into DVD video.

Now the transferring begins. Wait until it ends. If you want to stop in the middle, click the cancel button. After the transferring completes, click "Create DVD" button to burn your DVD video.

dvdSanta has done preparing the DVD video, now it's time to burn your disc.
Before you burn the disc, you can use a software DVD player such as PowerDVD to examine the DVD video created by dvdSanta. The DVD video is stored under c:\TempDVD\VIDEO_TS folder.
Now you can insert a blanc DVD-R/+R disc in your DVD burner now and click "Yes" to continue.
If you want to burn this DVD disc later, you can click "No" button now and quit dvdSanta. The DVD video is stored under C:\TempDVD\VIDEO_TS folder. You can burn it later using dvdSanta.

If you are a using DVD+R/RW disc, just click "Burn!" and wait dvdSanta finish the burning job. If you are using a DVD-R/RW disc, you should select burning speed to 1x,2x,or 4x, then click the "Burn!" button to burn the disc.

Done! When the burning is finished, you can play your newly made DVD in your DVD player and watch the home video on TV!

• Burn video files into DVD
  DVDSanta can Convert and burn video files directly into DVD movies so that you can watch them on TV. It Supports major video formats such as AVI, WMV, ASF, MPG, VOB, RealVideo, Quicktime, M2V, DAT...
• Convert photo to DVD movies
  DVDSanta Supports major photo formats such as JPG, PNG, BMP...
  With 35 transition effects, pan and zoom motions, background musics and narrations.
• Burn MP3/WAV/WMA into DVD
  DVDSanta Supports major audio formats such as WAV, MP3, WMA...
• All-in-One DVD Burner
  Fit 9GB double layer DVD movies into 4.7GB single layer DVD disc.
  Burns DVD ISO Image or DVD VIDEO_TS folders to DVD.
  Mix multiple video files into one DVD disc.
  Supports DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW format discs and burners.
• DV to DVD Conversion
  Real-time captures and transfer mini DV camcorder tape directly to DVD video format.