DVD Burners & Softwear?

sweet,
i'll try it out....anyone with other recommendations?
thanks, bert

I agree that DVD decrypter is a great program for making backups of your favorite movies/shows on DVDS. However, you will likely need to compress or edit your movies, since most DVD-R or DVD+R discs have less than a 4.7 gigabyte capacity and movies on DVDs are usually bigger than 4.7 gigs. I should also note that there are dual layered discs out there too with double the 4.7 gig capacity, but these are very expensive at this time. As a result, you'll need DVD shrink, which is software that is also free. There are a few good guides out there that give very detailed instructions on how to use both of these programs. Do a google and you should find all the answers you need.

Also, I recommend Nero, which is a great program to use when you want to burn something.

Psyde

okay so i tried out dvd decrypter with dvd shrink and it worked like a charm, thanks for the tip.

[RainDawg]

DVD Shrink is only good if you are copying material from a DVD-9 (dual layer) to a DVD-5 (single layer) disc. You do NOT want additional compressing if you are just copying from one single layer DVD to another, and as such DVD Decrypter is the best and only way to go.

There is nothing on this site that DVD Shrink is good for. It is useful in pirating original DVDRs, but if you want help with this, you need to look elsewhere. Within the next year, as dual-layer DVDRs become more commonplace, bootlegs may begin to circulate on this medium. However, converting from DVD-9 to DVD-5 and seeding here will be against policy, and this a program to compress files will not be useful.

[AAR.oner]

the px-708 in my pc rig is finally kickin the bucket i think...two years is all we can expect these days i guess!

i was looking at the px-716a, given my overall satisfaction with the 708, but thought i'd get some opinions first...anyone have any suggestions/comments re: internal dvd burners from BenQ/NEC/other manufacturers?

thanks&cheers!

[Five]

Don't get a Teac!

[paddington]

Originally Posted by AAR.oner

the px-708 in my pc rig is finally kickin the bucket i think...two years is all we can expect these days i guess!

i was looking at the px-716a, given my overall satisfaction with the 708, but thought i'd get some opinions first...anyone have any suggestions/comments re: internal dvd burners from BenQ/NEC/other manufacturers?

thanks&cheers!

NEC!!!

go to newegg.com

[wazoo2u]

Plextor has a well earned reputation for their drives capability at DAE and audio writing. Their DVD writing is reliable and consistent. I have a 708 that's worked perfectly for me.

I added a LiteOn drive that I RMA'ed immediately, they sent me a brand new one that's now used as a doorstop.

I replaced the LiteOn with the NEC 3520 that got off to a rocky start, but seems to be OK with new firmware. I found that both the LiteOn and the NEC were both REALLY particular about the brand of media used.

I have a Pioneer 108 that I use at work, and it's been extremely reliable for data burns. Doesn't care what kind of media it sees, and burns DVD video very well. Haven't done any audio work with it.

http://www.cdfreaks.com forums are a really good place to research this.

[AAR.oner]

thanks for the help ya'll...

wazoo--i primarily use TY dvdr/cdr for trading, and Ritek G05s for general use...have you had any experience with either of those brands and the NEC drive you got?

i'm jugglin between plextor's PX-716A and that NEC ND-3520A...still figuring out if the plextor is worth the extra 50 buckz...thanks again--cheers!

[cmaz]

Originally Posted by wazoo2u

I added a LiteOn drive that I RMA'ed immediately, they sent me a brand new one that's now used as a doorstop.

On the contrary, i have had no troubles at all with my very old LiteOn LTR-16102B (cd rewriter) and my more recent SOHW-812S (dvd rewriter).

Also, LiteOn has a very active community over at cdfreaks.

http://www.cdfreaks.com forums are a really good place to research this.

Agreed. Everything you need to know should be at that site.

[wazoo2u]

Originally Posted by AAR.oner

thanks for the help ya'll...

wazoo--i primarily use TY dvdr/cdr for trading, and Ritek G05s for general use...have you had any experience with either of those brands and the NEC drive you got?

i'm jugglin between plextor's PX-716A and that NEC ND-3520A...still figuring out if the plextor is worth the extra 50 buckz...thanks again--cheers!

The Plex, NEC and Pioneer drives all loved TY's. The NEC didn't like G05's too much at all. I had good luck with MMC (Mitsubishi) media by Verbatim with all my drives.

[wazoo2u]

Originally Posted by cmaz

On the contrary, i have had no troubles at all with my very old LiteOn LTR-16102B (cd rewriter) and my more recent SOHW-812S (dvd rewriter).
Also, LiteOn has a very active community over at cdfreaks.

I had a bad LiteOn. After wasting a solid 12 hours troubleshooting it, I decided I had more important things to do with my life than getting a $70 DVD drive to work correctly. It's much easier to throw it out and buy something that actually works, right out of the box. Both my Plex and Pioneer drives did that. My NEC needed a firmware upgrade to settle down, but that was a minor fix.

Not impressed with LiteOn at all. Their factory tech support is non existent, and if it wasn't for CD Freaks I would have had no place to turn at all.

Love the CD Freaks community... much more valuable to me than some ratty ass cheap DVD burner, but I'm glad that you had good luck with your LiteOn.
I've been a Plextor customer since they had 2X drives, and even though I'd RMA'ed a couple of their CD burners (the 6X was particularly a lemon) they always stood behind their product and worked to make their drives perform well. I still like them, even if they cost a few dollars more.

You can always shop at www.pricewatch.com or www.pricegrabber.com to find the cheapest prices on any drive... just try to buy RETAIL BOX, NEVER OEM... that 30 day warrantee will getcha...

[AAR.oner]

Originally Posted by wazoo2u

The Plex, NEC and Pioneer drives all loved TY's. The NEC didn't like G05's too much at all. I had good luck with MMC (Mitsubishi) media by Verbatim with all my drives.

thats what i was looking for

i just noticed that my external Lacie d2 drive on my Mac is actually a NEC Nd-3500[i think] and so far no issues with the G05s...however i've only burned a few dozen discs on it, so...

thanks again ya'll

[wazoo2u]

Originally Posted by AAR.oner

thats what i was looking for
i just noticed that my external Lacie d2 drive on my Mac is actually a NEC Nd-3500[i think] and so far no issues with the G05s...however i've only burned a few dozen discs on it, so...
thanks again ya'll

The firmware upgrades for the NEC 35xx are supposed to allow 12X burning on G05's and other media. On my machine, setting Nero to burn them at 12X actually takes longer than if I set it to 8X. The Ritek's seem to be error free at 8X. I create MD5's for all filesets I burn as data, and everything hash checks perfectly from the opticals when I check them after a burn...It's mostly the speed issue that is a problem.

There's a new firmware upgrade for the NEC 3520, but I haven't grabbed it yet, nor read the forums to see what's up...

[gsmyth79]

I'm thinking about getting a LaCie d2 external DVD burner.

I would like to get the Firewire connection, but my Powerbook G4 only has 1 Firewire input. I have an external HD that runs on that input, so my question is, can I run the burner off the firewire input on my external HD? I need to keep the HD connected because that has the files I would like to burn...

In other words will it work to go Powerbook > external HD > external burner (using Toast as a burning program)?

I could always get the USB connection but Firewire is so much better.

If anyone has any input I would really appreciate it.