I am posting this for two reasons. One, to get help to do it better. Two, to let others know what a great source of income this is.

Last year, I started recording every show of mine. I sell the recordings after the show and make a nice profit from them. In a house with 100 people in the audience, my average sales on DVDs alone is about $400. Usually, volunteers, friends of the volunteers, and other hpynotists (lol)are the buyers. Currently I use the following set up; I have a middle of the line laptop, with a fully charged battery, equipped with Vista, a DVD burner and firewire; An entry level Sony DV camera; A box full of blanks DVDs stamped with my graphics and matching cases. Its important everything is charged up so you can set it up anywhere, and not worry about power sourcing. This is a very easy setup. As soon as I plug in the camera Vista takes over. It records to Nero 8 Ultra on the "burn direct to DVD" option. Once the DVD is full, the recording stops. It usually gets in about 80 mins. I start the recording after the induction. After the show, I am left with a master DVD, that I can copy on a per sale basis. Copying the DVD usually takes me around 5 mins each. The start up cost on all this was around $1500. The margins are great...usually around 95%! (Thats sourcing your stuff from dollar stores). The case is important. Make the case as professional as it can look and watch the money flow.

Today I began my search to do this all more effectively with better software for speed, reliablity, and quality. For those of you who do this, what do you use? For those of you who don't - why not? The only downside is people stealing material. For me, people can steal all they want. I can deliver my stuff only the way I can.

Send me a PM.

That's what they have been doing (terry stokes and other in Vegas) for years. It works great! I got that idea from seeing them do it 3 years ago.

I've always done that in my shows. The only diference is that a use a camera that records do mini DVD then I just pop the DVD on my laptop and start copying.

I considered that but thought the DVD would only get 45 mins at max of good footage?

Can you give a ballpark figure as to the price you are selling your videos for?

Okie Dokie, I just bought a new Sony HD 120 gig hard drive camcorder, even in HD mode I can store 14 hours... JVC has a similar camera.
The cool think about the camera, and I am still learning, is that you can burn direcly to disc after a show without having to connecet to DVR or TV. Just unload into computer and burn. Or for about $250 you can get a burner from Sony that burns on the fly. Then, a stacker can mass produce at the end of show.
I am not a technical guy (I despise it) and the learning curve is higher for me than others. But this seems so far to be pretty easy for me, and will be testing it out over the next few weeks...
And so, the HD cameras seem to be a pretty good solution, the price tag for a lower end 40 gig is about $750 and the high end like 120 gig that I bought was $1500...

THAT.... is a cool idea! Thanks for that.

I sell my DVDs for $30.