Thread: Help buying a DVD burner

yeah thats a good dvd burner, i would recomend using -r format discs though as they tend to work on nearly every dvd player if burnt correctly. i wouldnt worry about dual layer dvd because i was tempted to buy one recently but the discs will be way over priced and will not be in much use atm, wait about a year or so before buying dual layer then flms will be so big in sise that it will be a bennefti quality wise to get dual layer

oh also if you want to "backup" originals use dvd shrink 3.1 i think and if you want to backup avi or mpeg files not ones that are "downloaded" use nero 6.6 with nero vision plugin

Neo

Buy it. It will burn single and dual layer media as well as any other kind of media you throw at it. Sony has been the king of burners for a while now with very few burn errors caused by the hardware itself meaning if you get a bad burn it's not gonna be the burner but rather a user error. While other brands are equal now this is a great deal if the price does not jump too dramatically at closing.

Sony DRU 500 or 700

If you buy a dual layer DVD burner be expecting to encounter problems with it. You had better also do a search and find out what kind of players have the least problems with dual layer. Also when you burn your disks dont do it at a faster then X2 speed, even if you have an 8X speed burner. This avoids writing errors. Use quality media, like Verbatim or Riteks, and try to avoid writing the last .4 gig, which is on the edge of the disk.

DVD-R has been around the longest of the three DVD recording standards, which are DVD-R/-RW,DVD+R/+RW, and DVDRAM. -R has about a 93% compatability batting average with set top players, +R about 89%. DVD RAM is more of a storage medium.

Heres a good web sight to get started with DVD encoding/creation. Keep in mind that DVD encoding is an art form, not an exact science. http://www.customflix.com/Special/Au...tsAndBytes.jsp

Also if you want to make copies of movies, any kinds of copies for any reason, its a violation of Federal Law...................Rich

Dual layer media is very expensive compared to single layer media currently. But burning faster than 2x speed is fine for data. Some people have expressed issues such as video artifacting with burning games or movies at faster speeds, but if you are using quality media, it isn't much of an issue. As Rich said, Ritek is a great brand and very cheap too.

The Sony burner is good, but Sony doesn't carry nearly as much of a premium value in technology as they do in other areas like TVs. I'd recommend checking out NEC burners if you want a bit of a better value, as with shipping and required insurance, you're looking at around $73.

The 3520A model is at newegg (quite well known site to buy computer hardware in the us) with the cheapest one being $58 with free fedex 3 day shipping. http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...152-039&depa=1

Thanks guys. Can you tell me what -R +R mean?

Just different formats. Almost all burners will burn to both formats now, but as Rich mentioned, -R has greater compatibility among DVD players. For data storage, it's not as much of an issue for computer dvd-roms.

I think for the money Lite-On is hard to beat. That is what Dell uses in their machines and I haven't had any trouble with one.

I don't know if ya'll caught it but that was a kick ass Sony DVD burner for $70 including shiping. This one is under $80 but still a steal ... same burner same vender. This includes Nero 6.