DVD recorder reccomendations

[arod]

I am in the market for a DVD recorder. I want this drive to be able to do the folllowing.

1. Be able to backup data (I'm not sure if I want a DVD-RAM or DVD-RW for this) which one do you think is better for baclking up data files? And this will be the primary function of this drive.

2. If possible I would a drive that can read DVD-RW and RAM if possible

3. I would like to be able to copy DVD movies and play them on my home DVD player if possible (I know the first gen of DVD RAMs only allowed you to play DVD's on the drive in which they were copied)

I dont want to spend over $600 for the drive so if there is a DVD recorder that fits this bill let me know.

Thanks in Advance
Aaron Rodriguez

 

[arod]

bump.... i am planning on getting this soon so any help would be useful

 

[MasterHoss]

Well, whatever you can find for that price. EXCEPT the HP based burners!!

 

[x86]

Quick advice: Don't get one. I have learned from my mistake of buying a 2x2x6x CD-RW when it was first released for $300.00. If you can wait a year for the price to drop, and the R/RW speed to increase then by all means do so.

By the way, if you want to write in DVD format (MPEG-2) you can still do that with a CD-R.

-x86

 

[StormRider]

Sounds like the Panasonic LF-310 DVD-R/RAM drive is just what you want. Sometimes CompUSA has a sale on these until the Que brand name. It was once selling for $350 with a rebate. I've seen them selling for $399 to $450 there at other times.

Here's what's good about it.

It can read/write to double-sided DVD-RAM cartridges. I've seen Memorex brand single sided 4.7 gig DVD-RAM cartridges sell for $9.99 at CompUSA (they currently have a sale for $7.99 if you go to their website and print out their coupon and bring it to their store).

DVD-RAM is the best optical format for data archiving. They have a read/write cycle of 100,000 versus only 1000 for DVD-R/W and DVD+R/W disks. That means your data is going to be safer with DVD-RAM.

Secondly, they have 9.7 gig double sided DVD-RAM cartridges. So, if you have a lot of data to archive, this is the best choice.

Also, this drive supports writing to DVD-R disks which are the most compatible disk for set-top DVD players (the DVD-R/W is the 2nd best in this regard despite what the ads say for DVD+R/W disks). This will be good for copying or creating your own DVD disks for playback on DVD players.

Finally, what's cool about WinXP is that it natively supports DVD-RAM cartridges. You can drag and drop files into DVD-RAM cartridges without any extra software (actually, I've only drag files onto DVD-RAM cartridges -- haven't actually tried deleting them to see if WinXP really does treat DVD-RAM as a big hard drive like device).

And last of all, I'm the coolest guy on these forums -- if you want to be just like me then you'll get a DVD-R/RAM drive too!

 

[John P]

For all the info you need go to www.vcdhelp.com, great website.

I have done much studying into copying SVCD's and DVD's from my Canon ZR30MC since so much quality is lost copying to a VHS tape. Without spending a bunch of cash I have created some pretty nice SVCD's with menu's using my Studio DV to capture and Pinnacle Express ($29 on sale at CompUSA) to burn the SVCD. The downside is I can only fit 35 minutes on the SVCD. Anyway, I agree with the previous post. I would wait until prices drop and the formats are more standardized to buy a DVD recorder.

 

[foofoo]

try
pioneer
or
link
either should work for what you want to do.
good luck

 

[AnitaPeterson]

My guess is all the DVD players produced since mid-2001 can read DVD-R... just like at the beginning, when some couldn't read CD-R discs.

Unfortunately, the media isn't yet reviewing the DVD-R readability in various set-top players. That will probably come later, hopefully this year. I remember they did the same thing with CD players - the first review I read which it was announced the machine reads CD-Rs perfectly was in 1995, for the Technics SL-PG840.

The people at the Home Theater Forum should know.

 

[Kerle]

CompUSA where I live has the Que DVD-R/DVD-RAM drives for $376. I don't know whether that will be nationwide or not.

From what I've heard, these are exactly the same drives Pioneer uses, just rebranded. Also, DVD-RAM is nearly worthless; you'll generally use this for DVD-R only.

 

[PlatinumGold]

I don't remember which standard, but the one that pioneer puts out is more compatible w/ regular DVD players than the standard that sony puts out. one is DVD - RW the other is DVD +RW and i can't remember which is which.

 

[Kerle]

That's actually arguable; DVD+RW technically fits the DVD standard (aside from reflectivity), whereas DVD-RW does not, but many newer drives support DVD-R.

DVD+R should be readable by virtually everything - the reason DVD+RW doesn't have near universal compatibility is low reflectivity, a problem that DVD+R improves on.

Unfortunately, there's no (or not that I can find, anyway) DVD+R drives available at the moment.

 

[StormRider]

<<
That's actually arguable; DVD+RW technically fits the DVD standard (aside from reflectivity), whereas DVD-RW does not, but many newer drives support DVD-R.

DVD+R should be readable by virtually everything - the reason DVD+RW doesn't have near universal compatibility is low reflectivity, a problem that DVD+R improves on.

Unfortunately, there's no (or not that I can find, anyway) DVD+R drives available at the moment.
>>



I've seen several magazines that did real world tests with DVD-R/W and DVD+R/W disks and from the charts, it looks to me that DVD-R/W is more compatible with current set-top DVD players.

 

[Kerle]

I said it was arguable; I didn't state it was absolute fact. But DVD+R will almost certainly be compatible; it improves the reflectivity, which is why DVD+RW doesn't work on all players - it's reflectivity is slightly lower than a dual-layered disk in most cases. But it also depends on the media; some are slightly more reflective than others.