How do you make a digital video camera tape, into a DVD?

Question

I do not have the cord that came with the camera....

Answer 1

Without the cord, you really can't. But - you didn't say what kind of camera or anything else, so it is hard to say whether this is a cable which is simple to replace or something proprietary (specific to your camera only).

One way or another you have to get the video FROM the camera to a computer to create a DVD. You can do this with a video capture card, or with a firewire cable that is attached from the camera to a firewire port on the computer, or sometimes through a USB cable (much rarer).

There are too many variables - what ports does the camera have? What is available on your computer? What kind of quality do you want?

If you have a freestanding DVD Recorder, you could possibly connect the camera with A/V ports to the recorder and directly run the camera like a VCR to record the video to DVD - but once again this gets back to that missing cable and what kind of video camera/ports you have.

If you give the make and model of the camera it MIGHT be possible to give more specific answers but one way or another, you have to take the following steps:

1) Capture the video from the camera to a computer (or a DVD recording device)

2) Use DVD authoring software to create your DVD, including adding menus, graphics and index points if desired.

3) Use DVD Burning software and a DVD burner to write your creation to disc (if you were using a settop DVD recorder, it just recorded the raw video and you would skip step 2).

Answer 2

Most digital camcorders do not come with the connecting cable necessary to transfer the video to the computer. You can get a cable from any good electronics store.

some low-end cameras use USB, but many need a firewire cable (IEEE 1394)