How to Burn a DVD Movie From a Hard Drive
As hard drives and disk spaces become larger, so do people's digital movie libraries. However, watching a movie on a computer isn't as fun as watching it on a giant screen. You can either watch the movies on your hard drive by connecting your computer to a television or projector, or you can avoid messing around with wires and dealing with compatibility issues by burning a copy of the movie to a disc and playing it on a DVD player. It's easy and much more convenient.
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Things You'll Need
- Internal or external DVD-ROM drive
- Blank DVD-R or DVD-RW disc
- ConvertXtoDVD program
Instructions
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Install the free ConvertXtoDVD program by going to the VSO Software website. This program will allow you to convert a movie on your computer, such as an AVI file, to DVD format and burn it onto a blank DVD-R or DVD-RW disc to create a DVD.
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Insert a DVD-R or DVD-RW disc, which is a DVD disc that can be erased and then burned again, into your DVD-ROM drive and check to see if your computer can read it and that it is blank and uncorrupted. If the DVD-ROM drive seems to skip or stall, the disc may be unreadable.
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Open the ConvertXtoDVD program. Click "File," then "Add Video File."
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Locate on your hard drive the movie files you want to burn. Make sure it can fit onto the DVD-R or DVD-RW disc. The box of blank DVD discs will show the amount of memory each disc can hold. Some DVDs can hold about 4 gigabytes of memory, while others can store twice as much. A 700 megabyte-large AVI movie file, a common size of one feature-length film under an hour-and-a-half long, will transform into about 1.30 gigabytes of DVD memory. You may be able to store more than one movie on one DVD disc.
Once you have chosen a movie film to include in the burning process, its file name will be listed on the ConvertXtoDVD program's screen, under the "Menu - My DVD" option. The bottom of the window will show the memory that will be used.
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Customize your DVD menu. In the ConvertXtoDVD program screen, expand the "Menu - My DVD" option by clicking the "+" sign on the left side of it.
Rename your DVD by clicking the "down" arrow near the "Title: "My DVD" option. Choose the "down" arrow near the "Background: vso.jpg" option to choose your own wallpaper for your DVD menu. You can customize your DVD to start playing its first movie automatically by choosing the "Auto start playback" option. You can also opt to have the movies play in a loop or in a sequence by clicking on either the "Loop playback" or "Sequential playback" option. Finally, you can change the size and characters of your fonts.
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Customize your playback options. In the ConvertXtoDVD program menu, click on "Settings" and then click on "General." Here, you can customize your language, the amount of time between DVD "chapters," your TV format, subtitles, audio volume and more options.
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Convert your movie file into DVD format by clicking the "Convert" button on the bottom of the ConvertXtoDVD screen. This process may take from 20 minutes to more than an hour, depending on the size of the movie or movies you have chosen to burn and the speed of your computer.
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Burn your movie or movies. Once the conversion process is finished, a menu will pop up, stating that the burning process is about to begin in a few seconds. If you have any last-minute changes to make, now is the time to do so. Once the burning process begins, you will not be able to use your computer, because the disc may become corrupted if you do. The burning process can take several seconds or several minutes, depending on the speed of your computer and DVD-ROM drive. When the burning process is complete, the DVD-ROM drive will eject your disc.
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Tips & Warnings
To save money, try to burn more than one movie onto one DVD-R or DVD-RW disc if there is room.
Keep in mind that making unauthorized copies of copyrighted movies and other material is illegal.
