How do you take a movie that is stored on your hard drive in AVI format and burn it to disk so that you can watch it on a standard DVD player? This is an important question for most of us with digital camcorders. Even digital cameras take little movies as well as still pictures these days. You can simply burn them to CD or DVD as files to share with friends and family who have computers, but if you want to send a movie to grandma, and she doesn't have a computer, you are stuck. With the right software, making a DVD for grandma is not too difficult.

• Get software that works for you. None of it is perfect. Some programs might be intuitive and easy for you, but someone else may hate them and vice versa. I use Solid AVI/DIVX to DVD Burner. It's one of the best and suitable for me. It converts avi to dvd as well as more than 60 other video types. Also a reliable burning engine integrated.
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• Look at three things: ease of use, features, and price. If a program is so complex and difficult that you will never learn it well enough to actually produce anything useful, it's the wrong program for you. Whatever you choose must, at minimum, have the critical features you need for your movie. If you do not intend to become an expert at creating movies, you may not need too many features. But if you cannot string together all the things you want in your movie, you should find another program. And if you would never be able to afford the program, it is the wrong program for you. If this is your first attempt at burning a DVD, don't spend too much. You don't even know if you will like making your own movies. I enjoy it, but you may find it to be drudgery, and you may never use the program again.
• I caution you one last time to be careful that you don't get ripped off. I certainly have been, and I thought I was being careful. Buy the best program you can afford. I selected Solid AVI/DIVX to DVD Burner.