I do not want to edit, convert, or compress video. The only thing I want to do is take clips from multiple mini-DVDs and put them onto a regular DVD. I have not found any software so far that can accomplish this seemingly simple task. Does anyone know of any software that can take High-Definition recorded video from multiple mini-DVDs and place it onto a regular DVD in a user-specified order while keeping quality and file format identicle to the source? I need something that will copy EXACTLY from the source files but is able to extract from multiple sources onto a single source.

Please refer to our FAQ.

5) What's the best video editing software?

Again, this is a very subjective question and you'll get a different answer depending on who you ask. Needless to say, there's a whole range of software to chose from and beginners often find themselves struggling with the free software bundled with their PC. This is typically not the best software available.

Digital Director recommends and actively supports the following software:

Pure Motion Edit Studio - digital director review - free trial
Ulead Video Studio - digital director review - free trial
Adobe Premiere Elements - digital director review - free trial
Adobe Premiere Pro - digital director review - free trial
Sony Vegas Video - digital director review - free trial
Ulead Media Studio Pro - digital director review - free trial

This is the only thing that seems to come close in the FAQs. So, which one can take clips from multiple mini-DVDs and put them on DVDs without loss of quality or format?

Can't be done, mate. HD won't fit on DVD, 720x480 or 740x576 is the best you get. If your mini-DVDs are better than this, they have to be recompressed to DVD specs before authoring.

Maybe when Blue-Ray or HD-DVD drives come out someone will have authoring software for them that can handle this.

__________________
Fav quote - "Experience is whatcha don't get 'till ya don't need it no more."

System - Athlon 1.4GHz, Win98, Hauppauge PVR250 receiver and compressor.
Software -Magix Movie Edit Pro 10, Nero 6 + NeroVision Express, Moho 4.61, PSP 8.1, Bryce, Quicktime 6.52 pro, Goldwave 5, DVD-Lab.
Cameras - Panasonic GS9, Canon ES8400V, Canon EOS D20 and Canon A70

I recorded in HD on my mini-DVDs (HQ 20 minute format), instead of the SP or LP (30 or 60 minute formats). The mini-DVDs are 1.4 GB vs. 4.7 GB for the normal DVDs. So, normal DVDs are 3.357 times higher capacity than the mini-DVDs meaning that 67.143 minutes of the video that I shot in the HD format will fit on a single layer 4.7 GB DVD. I do not want to compress or change format. Since 20 minutes is the format on the mini-DVDs, 3 of them will fit onto a single standard DVD and leave exactly 0.5 GB free based on 7.143 minutes, at HQ format, left over.

Editing and compressing require complex software. All I want to do is be able to transfer from one media source to another and create an updated menu. I don't even care about the stupid menu if I can get the data transferred. There has to be some kind of software somewhere that can take a clip from one DVD and put it on another DVD. This seems to be an absurdly simple thing yet no one knows of anything that can do it. If DVD files weren't compressed into one single large file, I would just drag and drop it from one DVD to the next but the problem is that a DVD format sucks and is not at all versatile for rearranging data from multiple sources.

I have a bunch of DVDs of my daughter throughout her life and I want to put them onto (a bunch of DVDs/3) to cut down on the space required to store them. Once Blu-Ray comes out, I can squeeze many of those DVDs onto many less Blu-Ray disks. I am only trying to consolodate to enable easier distribution to my family members. Instead of mailing 30 mini-DVDs (which is very costly if I do it for several people), I would only like to have to burn and mail 10 to each person.