If I was to buy a DVD writer , what WOULD I buy

[Zak33]

Just in case I never get the CD Burner that was intended for this MSI Hermes...

what DVD burner should I get.....cos I see LG base models for £116 at EBuyer....and I have Nero 5.5 already waiting.

Could I "back up" my DVD films in full glorious 5.1 with such a beast?

And whats all this DVD - and DVD + format choice....? I mean, I understand they are different formats, AND DONT START SPOUTING OFF AGAINST EACH OTHER ....just what would be best for films?

[Stoo]

Hmm, some dvd films might backup but you might run into problems with some of the longer films, as you can only get 4.7gig on a disc, some of the DVD's out there use the DVD9 9Gig discs..

Novatech have a special on the NEC1300a, £130.. does all the formats and if you update the bios you'll be able to use most of the media out there too.

I think they're all of a muchness, as long as you get one that does both +/- formats so you're future-proofing yourself, then get whatever you can find the cheapest.

[Zak33]

NINE GIG........stone me

thats BIG innit

[Bindibadgi]

There is software that will split the Disks though, but that's a hassle Same as SVCDs though.

[Dreamscape]

It is also possible to make them fit on 1 DVD, using programs like DVDshrink. What these let you do is compress the film slightly. I have just started looking at this to back my films up. It lets you get rid of the stuff you don't want (Foreign sound tracks etc). It compress it to ur hard disc and then you just use nero to burn it to a dvd-r. There are a few forums about, but ain't sure if i'm allowed to link to them

[Dreamscape]

Forgot to mention DVD shrink also removes the region coding, not that we/ i would ever condone getting round protection systems

[tfboy]

Personally, I'd get the Pioneer A06 burner.

Both standards (-R/RW and +R/RW) supported at full writing speeds.

I have the A05 drive which I bought from blankdiscshop. Also, bear in mind that if you can get a cheap -R/RW drive, you may be better off than spending the extra on a dual-standard drive. In general, -R/RW media is cheaper (last set I bought was 4x compatible at 74p inc vat a disc ) so I don't see the point of paying extra to have burn support for a format which uses blank media costing more in the first place!

I haven't had any compatibility issues yet, and Nero works fine on me A05 burner (4x but only -R/RW variety) and it's cool to back up 4cd's worth in one go or that precious dvd of yours...

Regarding info on backing video data up and getting 9GB dvd's worth of data to fit on DVD-R/+R media, doom9 is the best forum ressource on the net I know of.

Good luck!

Token

[Zak33]

Cheers man.....very...Politically Correct......

you're right...a link might be bad tho....cheers

I kinda wondered if you just replicated it ALL IN ONE HIT....

but thats a NO ZAK33 you NUMPTY...nothing ELSE is that easy, so why would this be any easier

[Dreamscape]

Can't be done in one hit yet. The way the comercial discs work (I think) is the disc is written twice with the laser working at different frequencies.

So as you watch the film, it actually goes back to the start of the disk and reads it again, apparently thats why sometimes in the middle of the film you get a stutter.

[Bindibadgi]

Originally posted by Dreamscape
Forgot to mention DVD shrink also removes the region coding, not that we/ i would ever condone getting round protection systems

No, but imo there's nothing wrong with backing up stuff you own - there's NO CHANCE IN HELL im taking my DVDs to uni so im sticking them all on DVDR. /me makes note about DVD shrink. Im sure a quick google should sort it.

Dreamscape - it goes from the outside in (iirc) then switches freq's to a longer distance and reads from the inside back out. Modern dvd players dont have this movie blip problem cause they contian enough memory buffer for a second or 2 iirc.

[Zak33]

learning by the second here....

[Dreamscape]

As am i. There is a good tutorial on clone.cd's forums, for DVD shrink.

You have to be real careful with media as well. Datawrite yellows used to be the one's to have but seems hte are just slapping the yellow label on whatever they have to had, so they are a bit hit and miss now, or so it seems

[BlackSheep]

Originally posted by Bindibadgi
No, but imo there's nothing wrong with backing up stuff you own - there's NO CHANCE IN HELL im taking my DVDs to uni so im sticking them all on DVDR. /me makes note about DVD shrink. Im sure a quick google should sort it.

precisely ... I store a lot of my DVDs on the HDD because it's just easier to watch them without having to fish out a DVD from a large pile, stick it in the DVD drive (take out what's already in there) and then suffer the whirring of the DVD drive (actually it's almost silent at 1x but still) and having to suffer the empty box lying around the desk ... well you get the picture

I find Gordian Knot (with DVD Decrypter) to be that bit faster for ripping than DVD Shrink and Shrink seems a little bit buggy for my liking albeit a nice and easy program to get on with.

[BlackSheep]

Different Drives seem to rip at different rates irrespective of stated read speeds (eg 16x etc...) and my old Toshiba doesn't do so well at 20Min per DVD (average) whilst the newer Samsung (combo drives) can manage < 8 min for 5Gb of data

/me makes mental note to buy one for own computer

... makes me wonder what a decent fast SCSI DVD would be like for ripping?

anyone got any benchmark results for the fastest DVD drives for ripping ?

[Dreamscape]

i'm using the most recent version of DVD shrink. Dont seem that buggy at the mo.
Took half an hour to copy a whole DVD to the hard disk. Using a Samsung DVD616Q. Seems quick, buts is V nosiey.

Don't have to use DVD decrypter when using DVD shrink, so it just one less step to complete.

[Bindibadgi]

SCSI DVD drive would kick ass! /me has fantasys bout SCSI stuff

*O_o*

Nero drive speed website? They do CDrom speed tests.

I use DVDX copy for my stuff, or DVD2SVCD and make SCVDs/keep the mpgs on my harddisk. DVD2SVCD with cinecraft encoder - 4pass vbr ROX! almost DVD quality in a 3rd of the size, keep the AC3 sound and you're sorted. You can play SVCDs from DVDR disks on my DVD drive too

DVD ripping using smart ripper takes about 10 mins on a pioneer 106s - dedicated IDE channel.