Multimedia: Just bought a DVD burner... Need help with home videos!

Just bought a DVD burner... Need help with home videos!

Hi Everyone,

I bought an internal DVD writer. So far all I have gained is a nice shiny set of rainbow coasters and a slide show. I am LOST. The writer is installed and it definitely works, I just have no clue what software I need or how to even begin to make home movies on a DVD.

It came with Nero 8, which of course wants me to UPGRADE($50) to their newest version of software before it will allow me to write my video files to a DVD. I already paid for the DVD writer and the Nero software that came with it, I don't have any more money to shell out. There has to be a free program out there that will do the same thing... WHAT IS IT??

I can make a slide show with music with no problem using Windows Movie Maker. I tried taking my video clips recorded using my digital camera and cell phone and putting them on a DVD and I can not get it to work. I have tried just about every free program out there and have had no luck because I don't know what I'm doing and don't know what to use. Decoder or Encoder? What the heck are those? Do I need one to make a DVD of my recordings? If so, how do I use the encoder/decoder? I MUST be doing something wrong! I did get it to burn a DVD with the video files on it, and when I tried to play them on my DVD player it wouldn't play them. I just showed up a huge red X at the top of the screen. Then went back to chapter selection.

Are the videos the wrong format/file type? The ones I have recorded are usually MPEG4. If so, would simply converting them to a different file type solve the problem? What type should I convert them to? What program should I use to do all of this?

Also, I would like to make back up copies of some of my favorite dvds and you guessed it, I don't know how to do that either. I tried using AVS Copier and it always freezes up at 100%. I'm sick of making coasters! Some help would be much appreciated!

Thanks

APL723 ((Angel))