very funny guys- finding the switch....... more questions (I went window shopping)

[britainsqueen]

very funny benderman, and NO it's no joke. I am a self-professed to be electronically & technologically challenged. I'ma 'learn-as-you' kinda girl! Self-learner of many subjects...... Computer knowledge is relative, IMHO. I daresay I know more than most (average) people over the age of, say, 30 about computers, but certainly far far from what you guys know. We all gotta start somewhere you know. next part of my post: I went looking for a new computer. I wrote the specs down, but don't have them handy at the moment. It's a flat screen, 120GB...... HP Pavilion and has a CDRW and a DVD-Rom...now, a DVD-Rom will NOT write, is that correct? And there is no way to MAKE it wrtie to a disc? I also looked at digital camcorders......since I want to transfer VHS tapes to DVD. Any suggestions? They had two where I was at (Costco) . The one I liked was about $850, and had the cables necessary to transfer to the PC. (the other one didn't mention connecting to aa PC, and it was almost $1000, so I like this one better. It was a JVC. Any comments on that brand? Someone mentioned a TV capture card....will I need that as well? I don't suppose CD-R discs would work, I'd have to find special discs for DVDs (I want them to play on a regular DVD player, not just the computer.) Again, thanks for your help!!!!

[hermanthegerman]

If you buy a camcorder make sure it has a Firewire port to transfer the digital video data to your computer (needs a Firewire card too, of course) so you dont't need a video capture card and it gives you the best quality. Then make a SVCD with your normal CD burner. It's not as good as DVD but still much better than VHS. And most DVD players also play SVCDs.

Kind Regards,
hermanthegerman

[Enchanter]

I suggest keeping your problems (or desires?) to one single thread, preferably the original one you created. That way, everyone can see what your problems (or desires?) are and give their thoughts. And you won't have to bother checking multiple threads to see the replies for each.

The original thread: http://forum.digital-digest.com/show...&threadid=6338

[benderman]

A DVD-ROM (ROM = Read Only Memory) can only read DVDs. For burning DVDs you will need a DVD-Recorder.

If you want to transfer your VHS-tapes to your computer a digital camcorder wouldn't help because you can't insert a normal VHS-tabe in the digicam. You need a capture-card that converts the signal from your VHS-player into computer-readable data. There are also graphic-cards that have a build-in tv-capture option.

[AnimeCollector]

Wanna write DVD's? Get a DVD-RAM. Wanna feel poor afterwards? Get a DVD-RAM, lol!! DVD's aren't really worth burning right now since a blank disk is in the neighborhood of $30 and a DVD movie already costs $30. So copying DVD's is not worth it. You'll also probably be waiting a couple of hours to burn the thing...imagine: 1 speed write on 4 Gigs? ouch.

[Psychotourist]

Well, it seems that the current cost effective way to go would be to buy a Pioneer A04 DVD-R/-RW. It comes with a good selection of software and is based heavily on the workhorse, tried-and-true A03 drive. The drive is currently around $379-$399 USD. Quality generic DVD-R blanks can be had for around $2.35 to $2.80 (www.cd-recordable.com for example). You can get a 10 pack of generic DVD-RW discs for $39.99 USD.

For a less than 4.7 GB movie DVD it takes me less than 5 minutes of my actual time and about 78 minutes total of the computers time to "back it up". For a larger movie DVD, it depends on the processing that is required to get it to fit on either just 1 or split it to 2 DVD-R discs.

Since the last week of January, I have "backed up" 97 DVD's (which is a nice start for a "Return on Investment") with nary a hiccup other than my mistakes in processing larger movies. I've also authored my own DVD's with the included software from both video "firewired" from my JVC digital vidcam and video captured from my VCR using an ATI Radeon video card with VIVO.

The nicest thing about the DVD-R/-RW standard is that I can play the discs that I make in practically anything that plays "normal" DVD's that has come out in the last 15 months.

Sorry to ramble...lol...just my $0.02 USD...lmao.

[russellburrows]

Hi Psycotourist., thankyou for the info.
Hi Christine: look at it this way: keep finding out facts on how to do stuff and forget comments that are negative., okay.
I notice that you are buying a digital camera\recorder ., do you plan to use it for regular home movies or instead for fun,fun,fun movies?