so, let me get this straight.....oodles & oodles of questions

[britainsqueen]

first of all, thank youf or your patience with us newbies. I just want to make sure I have this info stragiht. Something just doesn't seem to click for me. I read a lot of got myself thoroughly confused. It osunded to me as if you could run a DVD with WinDVD.......which is software. But, you have to have a DVD-Rom, seperate from a CD-Rom or writer also? Wouldn't the hardware come with the correct software? Why would one need to to download software, say WinDVD or WinRip? I really thought you could do one (software or hardware) only, not needing to do both. I have downloaded WinDVD, WinRip, DVDStarter and probably a few more...so, now it makes sense that you would need the player too, but why can't a CD-writer be 'fixed' to do it? Also, would I be better off buying another computer? I have a HP pavilion XL848, about 6-8 months hold. It has 40 whatever of space, but with my OTR interests, I can fill that up easily. I have a CD-Writer plas.it has two drives (I just found the second one, it was behind a panel, didn;'t even know it was there!) so, would it be better to buy the necessary hardware and attach it, or buy a new computer? I read on the HP site that they have 80 whatever for brain size. Also, to copy my VHS memories onto DVD, will I need a camcorder? Will it need to be digital? I Would a digital camera be sufficient? (I kinda doubt that one..but hey, you never know.) This is my main interest in DVD, is to convert for prosperity my VHS tapes. Will I need to download a macrovision decoder separatly? If I have WinRip, what is the purpose of having WinDVD? thanks again! I'm sure I'll have more questins as I get into this deeper.....

[Deus]

Wo you do have "oodles & oddles of questions" ok First off do you have Dvd rom? A 40 Gigabyte Hard drive should be good enough ( I have a 60 GB). If you want to burn your movies onto Dvds you need a DVD-RW ( a dvd recorder) Those cost over $400, but you can hold like 4 Gigs on one disk. If you want to go cheaper you can burn the movies as a VCD (video Cd) which will play in most newer dvd players. To put your movies on your computer from a VCR you need a TV capture card. If you have a Digital Camcorder you can do this alot easier. (by just pluging into your computer and uploading it. Yes some Digital camerias will record a little bit of video but only a couple mins max. Hopefully I didnt miss anything important

Deus

[khp]

Re: so, let me get this straight.....oodles & oodles of questions

Originally posted by britainsqueen
I have a HP pavilion XL848, about 6-8 months hold.

I did a search for the spec on a HP pavilion XL848, from what I can tell it doesn't have a DVD drive, which means that you can't read DVDs at all.

A DVD-Rom (read only) drive cost about 50-75$, but you will probably need some help installing it, You give me the impression that you don't know much about computers.

[benderman]

Is it a joke???? I can't belive you managed to find the power-switch...

If you really need that information there may be a little missunderstanding about "hardware" and "software", because these terms are used for different meanings in this forums:

hardware:
1) a DVD-drive in your computer (like a cd-drive, but also for DVDs); normaly you will find a DVD-logo on the front of the drive.
2) a piece of hardware for your computer that allows DVD-playback even on old computers that are not fast enough for players like PowerDVD or WinDVD; sometimes sold with the DVD-drive
3) a stand-alone-player that is directly connected to the tv like a normal VHS-player.

software (like PowerDVD or WinDVD):
a programm that reads the data from the DVD-drive and displays the video on your monitor. Most DVD-drives are sold with a playback-software.

[Enchanter]

Willing as you are to learn, it may be better to read some 'established facts' either on the net or from books, preferably the latter.

Let's get you started with a few things. You need a drive capable of reading DVD discs to be able to access DVD discs, literally speaking. These drives are commonly known as DVD-ROM drives. The ones that are capable of reading and also writing DVD discs are known as DVD writers. These drives are still rare due to their high price. These drives differ from the normal CD-ROM drives because their laser heads are capable of different laser wavelengths (or frequencies?) so that they can access the differing layers of DVD discs. CD-ROM drives are incapable of this and hence putting in a DVD disc into a CD-ROM drive is no different from telling a parrot to reformat your computer and reinstall Windows. It's not going to work out.

Now, you have a copy of WinDVD and no DVD-ROM. That's not good enough. The system can't see the DVD disc and WinDVD can't do a thing about it. WinDVD is only a software player that helps you to play your DVD disc movie. The reverse is true as well. You can't have only a DVD-ROM and no software player. The system can see the disc, but has no idea how to play it.

You may want to check your system configurations and post it here. Beforehand, though, you need to get a friend who knows enough about computers to do it for you. I can't make do with the expressions '40 whatever of space', '...found the second one, it was behind a panel', '80 whatever for brain size', and whatever other horrific miswordings. We can't go deeper when you yourself don't know enough about the basics.