What DVD Writer Would You Recommend? 30
Artemis Entreri asks: "I've decided that the next paycheck is going to buy me a DVD burner. The storage capacity is sexy, and the ability to make backups of movies and PS2 games is irresistible. I've done some research, but not enough to really reassure me. Between the three technologies (DVD+RW, DVD-RW and DVD-RAM), and the various companies making burners, I'm not sure what to get. Any ideas on which format is going to prevail? Anybody know which burners are the ones-to-get?"
Pioneer A03 (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Pioneer A03 (Score:4, Informative)
We where using one of their older drives that required the "DVD Media for Authoring". Those are 4-5 times more expenisve then the "DVD media for general use" the A03 supports. A 4.7GB DVD-RW sells for only 11$ over at CDW versus 25$ for the other, 4.7Gb DVD for Authoring.
no to RAM (Score:3, Informative)
another question: (Score:1)
Eg, can I get a DVD burner that is able to burn disks up to the maxiumum size DVD's that I can buy, and are playable in normal DVD drives/players?
If now, how far is that away?
Re:another question: (Score:1)
Recursion error. Please repost with correct question for correct answer.
argh, s/if now/if not/ (Score:1)
Re:another question: (Score:1)
And honestly, I don't think it will happen anytime in the near future. The way layering works is naturally suited to a 'pressed write, focusable laser read', but not to the process of writing a disk at home.
Pressed DVD's are basically produced as 2 disk surfaces, which are then fixed together.
Reading dual-layer disks is fundamentally different to writing them. An analogy would be to take 2 sheets of tracing paper, if you punch holes in them with a pencil, then put them together, looking through the sheets you can see both layers. Now try to put them together first, and punch holes in the 'bottom' layer using a pencil, it can't be done without punching a hole in the top layer, no matter how fancy a pencil you use. Writing dual-layer DVD's will likely prove to be a similar problem.
If there IS ever a solution, it will likely involve a different way of approaching the problem than using a plain DVD compatible disk. Something akin to how MO disks work - ie the writing process is a combination of a magnetic field AND a laser. Even then, its going to be a tough problem to solve, IMO.
Region coding with dvd-burners? (Score:2)
Are new dvd-burners cursed with this "feature" or could we finally, after paying USD5-600 watch/record whatever we want?
DVD-Burners can be region-less (Score:1)
Re:DVD-Burners can be region-less (Score:2)
Copying dvd's as such is not really that interesting unless you make them divx and fit 20 movies on a single dvd..
DVD+RW (Score:1, Interesting)
NOPE!!! (Score:2, Interesting)
LLAMA
Pirates know Best (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Pirates know Best (Score:2)
I'm sure there's good info on that site, but I tried twice (once from a freshly run netscape) and its just not viewable with ns 4.77, linux version ;-(
Re:Pirates know Best (Score:2)
Media prices (Score:1)
Re:Media prices (Score:1)
go to http://www.pricewatch.com
you can find dvd media for as low as $7
Re:Media prices (Score:1)
Re:Media prices (Score:1)
GO with the Pioneer or Panasonic (Matsushita) (Score:4, Informative)
We use the drives for a couple of different things, permament archiving of Data, outputting video when it won't fit on a CD, and we have one in house production that we sell on DVD which we burn in house (1-2 copies a month).
I like the Pioneer because it burns at 2 speed, and reads and writes DVD-RW. It however is finicky about firmware versions, and doens't like to do more than 3 or 4 multiple copies.
The Matsushita accepts DVD-RAM and DVD-R (Both formats) and I really like that feature. It however only burns and 1 speed and I always have to do a test burn. I would recomend the Pioneer over the Matsushita for the average person, because DVD-RAM media is so expensive.
Shop around when looking for DVD-R media, if you buy in bulk (more than 10 units) you can often get media for $6 a piece. E-mail me if you need a link to buy the media.
This is coming out next year (Score:2, Informative)
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/zd/20011105/tc/hit
Re:This is coming out next year (Score:1)
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/zd/20011105/tc/hit
Software (Score:1)
For example, none of the drives came with software that would do simple cutting of video footage imported from a camera. They all wanted the final media to be on the camera. If you need video editing, they want you to pay at least $100 extra.
Also, the ability to make menus, etc. totally, totally sucked (or was non-existant).
And, the QUE Firewire DVD-R/RAM drive kept giving me hardware crashes under XP.
I ended up returning each drive, and ultimately got a Dual Processor Mac G4 with superdrive. Everything I need to do can be done easily. iDVD2 is outstanding. Sure, I can squeeze more video on if I invest in DVD Studio, but it's incredibly easy to make discs that look great with that package (all under OSX... I don't think I could have standed a mac if it had to use the old Mac OS).
The bottom line here is that, while PC solutions are perfectly fine for archiving data, anyone who would like to make DVDs that play in DVD players should avoid PC solutions until the PC software advances a heck of a lot... the Mac solutions are infinitely better (another example: you can easily import from camcorders over the firewire port). I have to say that it was worth the extra cost, even though I had to buy a brand new machine.
Go with the Pioneer (Score:1, Informative)
I ended up with a Pioneer drive because I bought a Macintosh G4/733 at a local store on closeout that came with it (for less than a new Quicksilver 733 w/o, but that's another story).
I like it because it works. The DVD-Rs work in all but one DVD video player I tried (an old Toshiba from 1998) and all the PCs I tried. It also does DVD-RWs (though NOT with Apple's software, and they definately don't advertise this), though those don't work in nearly as many players (they all work fine in my main Pioneer DVD video player though).
If you get a DVD-R drive, get the blank's from Apple. They're selling 5-packs for $30 (including ground shipping!) This is a total steal. The local store (same one that sold me the G4) wants $16 for each blank!
I've copied 1 commercial DVD that I own just to see if it would work, and it came out fine. I've made numerious UDF data disks which are great, and also taken footage from my Mini-DV cam, trying different MPEG2 encodings, and all of them played great (though it looks really crappy at 6mbps).
- Turbo