Trouble With JVC Everio HDD Camcorder

[Acturus]

I have a JVC Everio camcorder with a 60 gig HDD (model GZ-HD3).

In addition, I have a JVC "Smart Station" (model CU-VD3) that burns DVDs straight from the camcorder. No PC necessary. It can use DVD-R and -RW and -R Dual Layer discs (minus R, not plus R).

Well the reason I have these two items is because the camcorder was the display model, outdated, and my inlaws got a great deal on it plus the burner just to get it off the shelf. Unfortunately, I don't have the manual that came with it. I do have the manual that came with the burner.

Regardless, I'm having trouble understanding how I've recorded maybe three hours of footage that somehow has comprised almost 44 gigabytes of data on the HDD. In addition, using the burner and doing a direct-to-DVD burn requires roughly 12 DVD-Rs in order to complete the transfer.

I get that in terms of raw data, 44gigs is 44gigs, but is there something I'm missing that allows about 3 hours of footage to equal 44 gigs?

Even then, I understand the concept of recording modes (SP, XP, 1440), and I know the camera's default was to record in the "best" mode, but I feel like there is some piece I don't get as to why commercial DVDs can carry hours and hours of footage but my little burner isn't compressing or augmenting the format for me to do the same.

Any help in understanding what I'm doing wrong would be most appreciated. For the record, the Smart Station is the only DVD burner I have access to (I have two PCs, both can read DVDs, neither can write), and if I can find one, I would be willing to buy a connecter cable to connect the burner to a PC and play with movie compression/editing software. I'm just not thrilled with the prospect of purchasing movie editing software.

As it stands now, my best solution is to grab half a dozen DVD-R DLs and burn 30 minutes of footage on each...

[Kohan]

If it helps: http://books.jvcservice.com/Download...T1789-001A.pdf

[Acturus]

If it helps: http://books.jvcservice.com/Download...T1789-001A.pdf

Link is dead when I click it...

[Kohan]

Weird. Okay, go here: JVC America - User Manuals

Put in your model number, and it will pull up the manual.

[Acturus]

I did a little more digging (thanks for that link to the online manual), and apparently I'm expected to only save "about 40-55" minutes on the JVC DVD-R DLs.

Rip. off.

I guess I need to just buy a portable hard drive, stash the movie files on it, and edit it into a more compressed format that's also DVD player friendly.

Anyone have any good "for dummies" type explanations of that?

[Kohan]

I'm unfamiliar with the specifics of that camcorder's proprietary format, but there is a chance you'll have to convert any of its videos first.

First of all, make sure you have the newest version of XviD on your computer: Koepi's Media Development Homepage - Xvid

When it comes to converters, this is the best, but you may not need it (VirtualDub may be fine): SUPER -> Downloads -> SUPERsetup.exe | Software - Digital Digest

Here's a video guide on using SUPER: YouTube - How To Convert Vids With SUPER © Video Converter (freeware)

For conversion and basic editing, you can use VirtualDub, which is free: Downloads - virtualdub.org

Here is a guide on opening files in VirtualDub and converting them to XviD, with pictures: How to convert DV to DivX or XviD using Virtualdub - VideoHelp.com

[Acturus]

You are a sexy, sexy beast. Thank you for the links.

[Kohan]

For sure. If that stuff doesn't work for you, I'll try to help you more. You should be good to go on every front though.