Buying a DVD Burner Drive?

[Dude2003]

I want to buy a dvd burner drive for my computer. but there are so many choices. I would like it to read,play and burn vcd's on to dvd-r. And if i buy a dvd r drive does it just burn dvds? or do i still need to rip it? and will it still take hours to rip or burn a dvd? an d will i still need to use a program like... nero?

[vljenewein]

CenDyne makes a DVD -R buner that is becomming pretty reasonably priced. It is made by Pioneer and their latest offering is a 4X model. Quite fast.. compares to the equivalent of 32X on regular CD.

Yes you need to rip the DVD to hard drive first. DVD's are copy protected. and you need something to remove the Macrovision and encription first. You cannot simply copy "on-the-fly" like you can on some CDs.

You will need a ripper like DVD Decrypter to rip movie to HD.
You will need a transcoder as such like DVD2ONE or DVD95COPY or Pinacles Instant Copy. as most movies are larger than than 4.7 GB in size. You can get around this using programs like IFOEdit, and REMPEG2, or CCE etc.. but that is pretty involved and requires a lot of time and editing capabilities. There are free programs out there that allow you to do all you ask to do, but they are not simple, and you will have to read, read, read about how these things work and how to work them the way you want.

You can also burn CDs on a CenDyne burner. I know because I have. I believ others all have this capability also. Mine burns at 16 X in CD mode. Not as fast as my Yamaha, but it's a copromise thingy. ;)

DVD2ONE link (http://www.dvd2one.com)
DVD95COPY link (http://www.dvd95copy.com)

Nero link for updates (http://www.ahead.de)

Hope this is helpful so you or others.:)

[vljenewein]

I re-read your original post and it talks about VCDs. You only need a CD burner to make VCD or S-VCD if I am correct. If not, someone else jump right on in and correct me. Either way you still need to rip the DVD movie to Hard Drive.

[chickeneater]

check this link out www.dvdrhelp.com this is a good site to walk you through making almost anything related to digital video.

[DVDIdiot]

Dude2003,

You've alread got an answer to your question so there's no need for me to repeat...But the best place to get your DVD Burner is at
www.pricewatch.com

[alcskid]

Also watch out for DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RAM compatibility !

Most FAQ about DVD Compatibility can be read at http://www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html

Most of DVD recordable disc can not be read at standalone DVD player. So you must reconsider it too.

[Bretty]

So what your saying is that there is no was you can just grab a DVD burner, get one of your already owned movies, and make an exact copy of it?

[alcskid]

Well, you can do an exact copy and grabbing. But some old standalone DVD player can't read DVD-R media. If you bought the latest DVD player and on it's manual said capable to read DVD-R, then it can read your exact backup copy.

[Bretty]

How do you know if the disk is 4.37 gig or not?

As I understand it though you cant burn dual layer disks yet (research done about 1 hour ago) and I think most movies are dual layer...

Bretty

[alcskid]

Well, that's very easy. Instead of just looking at DVD disc cover (Media capacity written there), you can use some tool like Nero and use Medium Info at Recorder menu.

Actually Dual layer DVD-R had been produced. You can search it at DVD-R retail shop online or offline.

[SKD_Tech]

Well I just bought a Sony DRU 500 but I haven't tried it out. I heard it is great with it's compatibitlity with basicly everything

[setarip]

"Actually Dual layer DVD-R had been produced."

I believe you've misinterpreted what you've read. There are, in fact, DOUBLE-SIDED DVD-Rs (NOT dual layer) available. these are essentially two single layer DVD-Rs pasted back-to-back...

[setarip]

"How do you know if the disk is 4.37 gig or not?"

After you've "ripped" (using DVDDecrypter or similar) the DVD to your hard drive, simply rightclick on the DVD's folder and select properties.

Use a commercial program such as DVD95Copy to convert (if necessary, by compression) your "ripped" DVD to 4.37Gigs maximum size. Then use NERO to burn...