DVD Burners, What do I need to know?
 

Hey everyone, I am looking at purchasing a DVD burner as a gift to myself for this holiday season. Anyways, I have 200 dollars to spend and I am looking at either getting an external or internal burner it realyl doesnt matter.

I have a couple of questions though, because i am a DVD burner "noobie."

1) Will my DVD burner, be able to burn regular music cd's like my current CD burner?

2) Whats it the difference between DVD-R and DVD-R+?

3) With a DVD burner, can i just start burning DVD movies and playing them in my DVD player at home?

4) What does into burning a DVD, is it a lot harder to do then buring a CD?

5) Lastly, Can anyone recommended a model under 200 dollars either interal or external.

Thanks in advance for all your help.

1) Yes.
2) Its just a format. DVD-R is supposed to be more compatible. Do yourself a favor, buy a dual format drive.
3) Not quite. DVD burners burn to a 4.9 gigabyte disk, a normal DVD is twice that size. Thus, to burn a DVD, you must compress the video and/or audio to make it fit onto your DVD-R, meaning you lose some of the quality. Eventually, dual layer burners will be available that will allow you to make 1:1 copies, but there are none right now.
4) I dont think its that much harder, but I havent ever tried, so... It does require different software to copy a DVD though.
5) Sorry, Ill leave this to someone else, as I dont really know enough about individual models.

or just use 2 DVDs ;)

(altho imo it's only really worth it with the 'good' movies. the quality loss isn't *that* big of a deal, esp. if you strip the extras etc..)

Alright thanks for the help. Would i be able to go to like blockbuster and rent a movie then just come home and make a copy of it :D

Also when making backup copies of my own DVDs and such, is there programs that i can buy that will burn them and evreythign for me so i dont have to encdoe and like decompress them myself?

I don't have one but have heard something called DVDx or something like that....someone feel free to correct me.

Yep. My point is dont go thinking you can make a 1:1 copy.

3. Well a lot of movies are on dual layer discs. You may need to compress the movie more or take out stuff to reduce quality loss. You may find your dvd stand alone player is picky with media or might not want to play burnt movies at all if it's very picky.. but usually worst case scenario is that it's just a bit picky with the media. but for most people, they can play practically anything no problems. There's also various ways of burning you can try to improve compatiblity.

4. As far as you're concerned, it's as easy as burning a normal cd-r.... For instance, in nero, just put it into DVD burning mode, choose what type of disc (e.g. data, video, etc), drag files, burn.

5. Pioneer make the best. Get something made by them.

thanks for the help. I will let you know aroudn christmas time which one i purchased and how its working out. Take care.

As far as choosing a unit, just pick a drive that supports all of the 4 major disk standards and work from there.

mhm...there's a pioneer one and a sony one, seems those 2 are the most popular (we've got the sony)..of course i don't have the model #s tho. maybe look back a couple pages in this forum, there was a post before about it. :)

Correction, DVD-R discs are 4.7 not 4.9. FYI the Pioneer A-07 will be avalible Jan 1. 8X -R and +R. IMO the best drive on the market for functionality, software compatability and failure ratings.

i got a lite on dual format burner earlier this month.. i love it.. i have been thru almost 100 blank DVD's so far, and after the first couple days trying out new software i havent burned a coaster.. i love my burner, now if the media will just drop down some more in price

oh yea, i got my lite on at walmart of all places for $130 and it wil do
DVD+r
DVD+rw
DVD-r
DVD-rw
and also has built in 40X cdrw

does every format that is commonly used, i love the thing

can you use cd-r blanks to burn DVD' use 2 per movie?

I just picked up the Plextor 708A for $220 its a dual format that does 8x dvd+r, 4x dvd-r, 4x dvd+rw, 4x dvd-rw as well as being a 40x24x40 CD burner and I think you can find it cheaper.

They also have good deals on DVD+ or -R discs....you can get them about a buck apiece and buy package deals for DVDx express 25 dvd+/-r discs, some other software and 10 dvd holders for $50.

Check www.newegg.com or www.tigerdirect.com

you could do it as svcd i guess... 2-3 cd-r's per movie
obviously will be missing all extras and wont have the same quality.

Sunrise, thanks for the reply. I guess I should buy a few dvd blanks and software to backup the movies I really like. What software do you reccomend for creating dvd movie backups?

regarding blanks - invest in an at least 25-DVD spindle - much better value

regarding software - DVD Decryptor, plus DVDShrink (if it's too big for a 1:1 copy). both are freeware. google it, and/or go to doom9.org or dvdrhelp.com

above advise given with the assumtion that you are ONLY backing up your own stuff :crazy: :p :D ;)

Some DVDs will fit on a single DVDR. For example, most classic films will work (their lack of any special featuers is actually a good thing for a once).
A neat trick I've learned is checking IMDB, under the 'dvd details' page. If the DVD format is 'SS-SL' then it will usually fit on a single DVDR. If it is 'SS-RSDL' or something else, then you'll need multiple DVDRs. SS-SL is single layered (DVD-5). As far as I know, SS-RSDL is DVD-9. Anyway IMDB is a nice way to figure it out ahead of time.

Hey guys a little update, I ended up buying a TDK 8x Internal DVD burner. It burns DVD+R and DVD-R at 8x and DVD-RW and DVD+RW at 4x. It was on sale at Comp USA for a pretty good price.

Anyways, I have it installed and working and I have been using CLONE DVD and ANYDVD to burn movies. So far i have rented and burned: Pirates of the Carribbean, The Rings, Finding Nemo, and X-Men 2. All work perfectly.

Thanks for all your help earlier guys I apprecaite it and it helped me make my decision and educate myself on the "Art of dvd burning"