teh Forum

I wanna open a thread discussing DVD Burners and all the wonderful things you may do with them. I just bought a 4X DVD+R Drive for $120 off newegg...AND ITS JUST DELIGHTFUL! I have yet to find a home DVD player that doesn't work with the +R DVDs. I initially bought it for backup as I have over 250GB of Crap on my HDDs and backing that up on CDs is about as inefficient as backing it up on floppy disks. I have the entire N64 romset on just TWO DVDs.

I've found two different methods of making "Backup" copies of Movies. First method involves using DVDXCOPY Xpress which is by far the simplest of methods. You choose FS or WS format and Xpress cuts out all the extras and menus and rips just the movie in the format you chose and automatically compresses it, if needed, to fit it on one DVD. And it slaps a 15sec FBI warning onto every disc. The other method involves using three different programs: DVDDecrypter, DVDSqueeze, and Pinacle's Instant copy. You use DVDDecrypter to rip the stuff you want (Movie, extras, menus, etc...), then you use DVDSqueeze to compress it in order to fit it all on one blank DVD, then instant copy to burn the file created in DVDSqueeze. This way you can choose what you want, how much compression used, and you can eliminate the FBI warning screen. This is my preferred method.

Nero remains at the top of my list of good data backup software.

Can anyone suggest some good software I can use to tie multiple SVCD ISOs together and burn the result on a DVD?

Im gonna come over and burn DVDs...

Actually im in the market for a DVD burner, and ryland is researching features, and hopefully he will post them here.

... no reason to get a -R -RW at all. If you get a decent + drive, you can make playable DVDs and back things up. No need to even get one of the ones that supports everything, unless it's cool and cheap.

That's what I am debating. Is -R/W media considerably cheaper? I am thinking about just getting a +R/RW and spending the extra money on media. But I really like the Sony 510....ohh the decisions!

From what I've seen, -R is is about fiddy cent to a dollar cheaper per disc, which I consider considerable. But if the industry keeps pushing the +R standard like they're doing now, then the prices will drop a ton real soon and +R will be the way to go.

Me thinks you would be daff to buy a -RW only drive these days. The question is if it is worth the extra cash to shell out for a multi format drive.

Here is a great listing of all the +RW drives on the market or coming soon.

http://www.dvdplusrw.org/pc/overview_next_gen.html

But of all the drives that RW at 4X only the Sony and Asus come up in a pricewatch search by model number. And the Sony is less (as low as $280 - but look out for the U10 which is an OEM version that does not RW at 4X).

So does one buy a freakin guaranteed awesome 4X/4X +R/+RW drive that as an added bonus will write -R/-RW at 4X/2X for around $300...or does one spend $200 on a 4X/2.4X +R/RW only drive???

The Sony 510 is tops all around for sure. But what is the king of the 4X/2.4X + only crowd?

4X NEC DVD+R/+RW Drive for a limited time only...$149

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.a ... 27-152-001

I paid $119 for the same drive, but still a good deal and the drive is great!

... is 139 from TigerDirect (I don't know either )

The thing is though, you can get a Plextor for $209. It has all kinds of good buffer underrun detection and other nifty cloning things for CDs, on top of all the DVD goodness. If I wasn't planning such a grand trip in August, I would pick one up tomorrow.

For the budget minded multi format crowd:

$200 OptoRite DD0203 4X/2.4X/4X/2X +R/+RW/-R/-RW
-8MB buffer, Burn-proof, 12X/24X/10X/40X DVD/CDR/CDRW/CD
http://www.optorite.com/newproducts.htm
$200 at Newegg


For $10 more you can have the NEC ND-1300A/GEN. All the same stats with a 16X CR, a 2MB buffer and no Burn-proof.
http://www.nec.com.hk/eng/products/storage/index.htm


Lite on makes a similar product but it is overpriced.


TDK has the 420N (gotta like that product code) which is a 4X/2.4X +R/+RW with a 2MB Cache and 12X/16X/10X/40X DVD/CDR/CDRW/CD stats. You can grab one of these for $175 after a $50 rebate.

They also now have the 440N which is the exact same drive but adds 4X/2X -R/-RW to the mix. Expect to pay as much or more ($290) than the Sony 510 for this.


There is an MSI drive listed (MS-8404A) that I cannot seem to find any info on that seems promising. 4X/2.4X/4X/2X +R/+RW/-R/-RW with 8MB and 12X/24X/10X/40X DVD/CDR/CDRW/CD. But it doesn't seem to be out, and MSI's site has no DVD+R drives at all.


That about sums up the DVD+RW market.

I see it really between 3 choices:

Budget $150 NEC 1100 - Beeeph's drive. For a mere $150 you get to write to DVD+Rs at 4X and DVD+RWs at 2.4X. It will handle your CDR needs at 16X. Definitely cheap, but how long will it satisfy. If I could get this for $120 I would choose it rigth away.


Mid Range $200 OptiRite Multi-format 4X/2.4X/4X/2X. For only $50 you can move buy the ability to write to DVD-R/RWs as well. Is it worth $50? How much will you save in media? The other major advantage is a 24X CDR.


High End $280-$300 Sony DRU-510A. The only drive in the round up to offer 4X DVD+RW. mmmmmm, sounds nice. Throw in 24X CDR, a very attractive face, and rock solid Sony quality and it is hard to say no. Interestingly the CD drive is only rated at 32X which might add a few seconds to your ripping times, but I haven't seen any benchmarks.


Ohh the decisions. Tough call for sure. Comments?

The Plextor is a $200+ version of the NEC 1100.

... that multiformat is stupid. I just plain wouldn't burn -R discs if I had a device that did +

The only way I'd use - is if I had a - only drive, which I got for $2.49. If I hit the three dollar mark, I wouldn't use it.

I think the NEC is the way to go then. Burns movies, backs up data, and is cheap. I can leave my CD cloning to my CDR in the secondary box or some similar scenario.

... that multiformat is stupid. I just plain wouldn't burn -R discs if I had a device that did +

The only way I'd use - is if I had a - only drive, which I got for $2.49. If I hit the three dollar mark, I wouldn't use it.

I think the NEC is the way to go then. Burns movies, backs up data, and is cheap. I can leave my CD cloning to my CDR in the secondary box or some similar scenario.

what are you? an Idiot???

... don't think I need to clarify the fact that what I am saying is MY opinion. I'm also starting to get a little annoyed.

You see, I was confused that what J3RK was saying was actually Conan O'Brien's opinion...so th12ickanks for clearing that up there 5or12ick.

Well if that is the case I wonder where Conan's allegiances lie.

I bought the NEC. I got it and a 16X NEC DVD-Rom shipped for $185. I just couldn't argue with that price.

The problem is I have a ton of DVD-R media...so now I am reconsidering...

But anyway, it should be here tomorrow.

drives available for use here and there, so if you want to burn something onto all those discs, then perhaps we can take a trip to one of the locations that has one. I have a few in mind.

I can always rent a drive from Compstop again