Here are the things needed for this job:

1. a digital 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 a Pentium 4 2.0GHz or faster CPU, at least 256MB RAM, and at least 5GB free hard disk space.
3. an IEEE 1394 cable.

Step 1, Connect an IEEE 1394 (Firewire) cable to miniDV Camcorder.

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


Step 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.)


Step 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.


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!

DVDSanta can convert avi, wmv, vob, asf, DivX, Mpeg, etc. to DVD too.

Very nice tutorial benjapy, great job

nice job man,but for me, i use Xilisoft DVD Creator to convert my dv to dvd.for normal people, it is easy use~and High-Quality and fastest converting engine inside

i like dvdSanta~ cool tool~ thanks for shareing ,but i think Xilisoft DVD Creator is also good~

Ok I have nerver heard of DVD santa but it look really really good!
But I have a couple of questions..
Will this work with my Hard drive JVC camcorder?
And Idont hink my camcorder has that port. I would check before I would say anything but my sis is borrowin the camera so I will not see it for a while.

Need some help...
I have an old Sony HIDIGI8 camcorder, bought VIDEO GRABBER DVD MAKER USB 2.0 EXTERNAL CAPTURE DEVICE with Ulead VideoStudio9 software, Gateway Laptop Model ML6714
I tried capturing video & after about 1 hour 48 minutes I got a pop up that said my C drive was full & it quit recording. I checked properties on C drive & it was slap full. I went into properties & there was a button to compress my C drive to save space. I started doing that but it kept saying it would take 11 hours to complete so I stopped it I didn’t wanna screw it up.

Is there anyway to compress the recordings because all my tapes are 2 hours & most are full?

There still wasn’t any sound on the recording 1 hour 48 minutes & I double checked the RCA jacks & had the colors matched up for audio & video. So I don’t know what’s up with that

This is driving me nuts. I figured it would be just like burning a CD, record it burn it to DVD but I don’t know what I’m doing.