[marybob22@hotmail.com]

Wow, am I burned out. I'm new to the whole "making movies" deal, but am at least somewhat computer literate. After capturing, editing, and enjoying converting my MiniDV tapes onto Windows Movie Maker, but then discovering that it does not burn onto DVD, I bought EMC8. It does not seem anywhere near as intuitive to use. After doing it the way that seems logical, and reading 4000 forum postings, plus countless hours using the tutorials, I still get frustrated. Why does my 3 minute test video take 34 minutes to burn? I've got 160 GB, 1GB RAM, 2.5 gHz Intel, NEC 16X burner... please help with a simple step by step from your experience instruction...Thanks Bob

[ggrussell]

It doesn't take 34 min to BURN. It takes 34min to render to MPEG AND BURN. I don't know what your settings were for the WMV files, but usually those are set for internet sharing at a very low quality. That type of file renders 10X faster than full DVD quality MPEg files. As an 'average', MPEG2 files will render at 3X to 4X the length of the video depending on the hardware espeically the processor. For example on my desktop which has an Athlon 3000+, a one hour video will take about 3 to 4 hours to render. THEN the burn time is additional and that is determined by your burner and the media.