dvd writer

[sxysweetnsassy1]

Hi! I am thinking about getting a dvd writer, mainly b.c. I'd like to download movies off the net and burn 'em, but I am wondering if such a purchase will be worthwhile with free file-sharing only being free for so long. (An unfounded concern maybe since it seems someone out there always finds a way around things.) I do not anticipate being in the market to buy a new computer for awhile though the the one I have is three years old all ready. Right now, I am looking at the HP 300x writer. Is that a good one? Thanks for thoughts/advice in advance.

-P.

[mrlipring]

i would ONLY consider buying a pioneer, or a cendyne, for they are rebadged pioneers.

as for prices, you're looking at £110 for a 2x drive (writes a dvd in 30 minutes) or £150 for a 4x.

there's loads of reasons, but take a look as the discussion they had over at slashdot.

edit: as for filesharing only being free for so long, i wouldn't worry about that. there's always gonna be new ways of getting files, and there's always been piracy. nobody can stop it, it is literally impossible.

[Theinfamousone]

I got a Sony DRU-500a right when they came out about 6 months ago. I don't know how rare they are now, but at the time it was hard to get your hands on one. If I didn't have unlimited funds though, I'd get a Pioneer A05, or for half the price but half the speed, the A04. As for it being worth it, I've only burned one movie to DVD in my life. It's frankly more headache than it's worth to sit there for hours on end using up all of your CPU messing around with encoding to MPEG2, authoring, burning, IFOs, huge disk space usage, yada yada. I am just using it when my hard drives fill up with TV shows mostly. I am starting to put my home videos onto DVD now since a lot of them are losing magnetic integrity. To do that is a whole nother can of worms because you have to mess around with video capture cards and stuff.

Check this out

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...ory=27178&rd=1

These days, DVD burners are a dime a dozen, you'd have to be stupid not to get one.

[notbob]

brand is unimportant

they all use the same standards

what matters is FORMAT

DVD-RAM is useless--media is expensive, and it is going the way of the betamax

DVD+-R/RW is the best (most versatile)

DVD-R/RW has the cheapest media

DVD+R/RW has slightly more expensive media

[sxysweetnsassy1]

<<It's frankly more headache than it's worth to sit there for hours on end using up all of your CPU messing around with encoding to MPEG2, authoring, burning, IFOs, huge disk space usage, yada yada. >>

So, even with a faster download connection like DSL or cable, it would still be too much trouble, i.e. time suck?

-P.

[Theinfamousone]

Originally posted by sxysweetnsassy1
<<It's frankly more headache than it's worth to sit there for hours on end using up all of your CPU messing around with encoding to MPEG2, authoring, burning, IFOs, huge disk space usage, yada yada. >>

So, even with a faster download connection like DSL or cable, it would still be too much trouble, i.e. time suck?

-P.

Let's put it this way. Even if you have the uncompressed DVD in hand, with the time you'll spend trying to rip DVDs which are DVD-9 (almost all are nowadays), which means you have to completely reencode them to fit on a DVD-5, which means you have to go to IFOedit, you have to rip the subtitles, you have to insert all that jazz, you have to reauthor, you have get all the audio tracks, it takes many many hours of babysitting your computer to get a DVD that isn't the same quality, probably only plays on half the DVD players out there, because, like Toshiba for example, some manufacturers don't like DVD-R, or DVD+R, they don't make them work very well. I've got Princo discs, which are cheap, but I've only gotten about half of them to actually work on my DVD player. Urrrrrggg. With the time you'll spend doing that, you could find a second job and buy all the DVDs you want. Not to mention the money you'll save from not buying the DVD burner and the media. Downloading the movie itself (talking REALLY low quality now) is absolutely the least of your worries.

[DigitalJunkie]

For file sharing, it is still too early to buy a DVD writer. Stick with your CD writer instead!!!

[sxysweetnsassy1]

WOW! Thanks for all the info. Goes to show just how clueless I am!

-P.

[Cleric]

what if I want to make a copy of a DVD so I can watch it on the road so the little lady can keep the original at home.

Would it still be better to just use cd-r?

[PiRaNeTuS]

Originally posted by notbob
brand is unimportant

they all use the same standards

what matters is FORMAT

DVD-RAM is useless--media is expensive, and it is going the way of the betamax

DVD+-R/RW is the best (most versatile)

DVD-R/RW has the cheapest media

DVD+R/RW has slightly more expensive media

True, true.....but, there are readers out now that support all the dvd media...here

and there are burners as well

[seraphielx]

dvd x copy is the way to go :) it will most of the time go on one dvd...... look it up on google before they outlaw it

[isus]

if you just wanna burn downloaded movies onto a dvd, its not worth it.

so many people just rip the movie from dvd into svcd quality... those are all the 700mb movies.

if you have a camcorder, with much pain and frustration, you could brun your own home movies to dvd, with good quality.

or you could buy a mac and use imovie ;)

anywho, i doubt it's worth buying a dvd-recorder for $200 when all the movies on p2p are usually very shitty quality... buy a fast as hell cd-burner for $50.

[PowerMan57two]

i'm sure someone already said this, but i didn't want to read through all the posts.

don't get a dvd burner, just get a dvd rom a 16x or something, and then get a program like dvdxcopy to rip the movie to your hard drive, and then burn the movie onto two cd-rs' thiswill save you money from buying a burner, and the dvd-rws which are spendy. i would never buy a dvd burner now that i know i can just rip the movies

[DainBramaged]

I like to think I'm pretty up-to-date, but one thing confuses me.

I know about all the standards, all the media, all the formats. So just tell me this: is it possible to, say, borrow a DVD from a friend and directly copy (not rip) and burn it, using some sort of program? Or would you absolutely have to rip it, mess with it, and then burn it?

[PowerMan57two]

Originally posted by DainBramaged
I like to think I'm pretty up-to-date, but one thing confuses me.

I know about all the standards, all the media, all the formats. So just tell me this: is it possible to, say, borrow a DVD from a friend and directly copy (not rip) and burn it, using some sort of program? Or would you absolutely have to rip it, mess with it, and then burn it?

no you can make an exact copy of the movie, but you need to have a dvd burner, and the dvd-rw disks. the ripping doesn't do all the menus and stuff, it does specifically just the movie in general