Hello, I am new here and have been reading posts till my eyes bled. Can anyone just answer a few easy questions. I am in the market for a new dvd burner and had decided on the sony dru500ax. Is getting the +/- capabiliteis really worth the extra money not to mention these are hard to find. Also I hear tale of new 8X burners coming out. Does anyone know how soon this is going to happen..its always my luck to purchase something "new" today for $350 only to be obsolete tomorrow and in the clearance bin for 50 bucks. so get the cheapest, get the sony or wait for new one?? One more thing..is the quality of the copys as good as the original dvd? I have made svcd's and to be honest its not worth the disc they are on.. I would rather watch VHS. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks
Do not know about 8x burners yet. I hear the sony is good mainly because u have the ability to do - or + dvd's alot of my friends have it but generally use the - formats to backup movies etc as old standalones seem to be more compatible with - r than + r dvd's. I know alot of people on this forum use the + format and may disagree with what I say, but it all depends on what u personally want to do with it and also your standalone capabilities. - burners and + burners are relatively the same cost respectively but the sony obviously comprises of BOTH so it would half the cost of buying 2 seperate burners! I use -r burner which is the old pioneer a03, this machine is perfect for what I want a burner for, will probably only upgrade to a sony or another dual format when this one packs in. As for future items/obsolete this is the norm now with technology spiraling but I would definately shop around and see what others have to say about the burners THEY use. Personally I would not expect the sony to be going obsolete some time soon. Hope this helps. Also the quality ROCKS beats svcd hands down as u can do Single layers one for one and dual layers for almost one for one with the various software out there. Check out the dvd2one forum on this site, I use this software and it suits me fine.
i bought a Toshiba barebone dvd drive for around 300 bucks, it works great. dont need the programs the packages come with if you already own nero.i just looked at Tigerdirect and they have a 2x dvd-r Toshiba for $200, looks like the same one i have just a couple months later and with software. heres the link if your interested. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Category/category_tlc.asp?id=04 BTW does anyone know if when dvdr 9 gig discs come out if all these burners on the market will be able to write on them, or if you'll have to get a new dvd burner?
I have only recently gotten into DVD burning. Like you, I was going to go for the Sony dual format writer; again, like you, I hit this forum (and others) pretty hard over a short period of time and it gave me a clearer picture of the state of the burning art. In short, I decided to abandon the Sony due to the apparent relative evenness of the market- share of the "-" and "+" formats. In fact before the arrival of the Sony burner, I had decided that "+" was the way to go. However, after reading the forum posts, I changed my mind about both burner and format. I have opted for the "-" format and the Pioneer A05 burner. Reasons: (1) neither format is going to go away anytime soon. (2) the "-" format appears to be slightly ahead of the "+" for standalone compatibility (3) "-" media i.e. the blank discs, are generally - and sometimes significantly - cheaper than "+" media (at least they are here in Australia). (4) The Pioneer A05 has a proven track record and provides 4x burning. I also believe that Pioneer produce solid and reliable hardware (including standalone decks, hi-fi gear & DVD ROMs). (5) The Pioneer is cheaper than the Sony. You are not going to be "burned" by obsolescence(spel?) at this stage in recordable DVD development. Sure, the hardware will improve as will the burning speeds but this will always happen. It all comes down to when you actually want to jump in - and we all have different opinions on that. Just my opinion. cheers, Blofelds Cat
Blahrny DVD9 discs are dual layer and are not BURNED when produced, they are PRESSED/STAMPED at production so, I don't think that dvd9 discs will be available to us, unless u can get hold of the equipment. ie, the layer is stamped then attached to the transparent disc. The only alternative I know about is Dual sided discs, but, there is no where to stick a label on, and would be acustomed to MORE scratches. But there is not a DUAL SIDED BURNER. Hope this helps.
paxtang, When buying hardware for your PC, you must realise that within 6 months there will always be something better on the market, it's a mater of fact. This does not mean that what you have purchased is worthless, far from it. The Sony 500ax is just about the best value buy at present, however, I have heard that X8 burning should be available "this summer". Now you can wait that long, (at which time X16 burning will be some time on the horizon....) Currently the Sony will burn at X4 which means 15 minutes. Now, in my books this is a very satisfactory timeframe, and it's available NOW. Don't they say "Live for now, as tomorrow may never come ?" HomerJ
dvd "-" vs dvd "+" compatibility with standalones depends more on the burner software than the format. Neroburn has some issues with the way it burns video dvds, but that can be avoided by setting up the compilation settings manually. or you can just use recordnow (i'm a true fan of this software), i haven't found a dvd player that my movies won't play in (even the XBOX, my unofficial compatibility tester, xbox is very picky about dvds) just my $.02, hope it helps out.. peace seamonkey420
Just another point to consider. If you buy an 8x burner, are you willing to pay the price for the 8x blanks? If not look for a deal on a slower burner. Personally I don't mind starting my programs then walk away for an hour or so while the computer does its thing. 1x may be slow, but you can't beat the price.
mnmeater, You have a very good point there, whenever ther is extra fubctionality addded (like faster burning) There is a cost increase. Saying that, it's getting increasingly difficult to get "slower" (X1 or X2) media these days. I think the industry is gearing up for X4 burning. There sure is a shortage of good media at the present time. HomerJ
im a total greenleaf to this dvd burning stuff and wonder how do i burn a 9.4gb daul layer dvd to a single 4.7gb disc? is it a case of just ripping the 9.4 of all its extras and then burning the movie?what is the best software to do this?please help!!!!!
also.......how can i burn x-box games? what hardware and software do i nedd to do this? my pc doesnt like the discs!
pjcrowle, To answer your first question (dual layer to single layer) checkout the DVD2one section of this forum. 2nd question relating to Xbox, sorry, can't be of much help there, but we have just launched an Xbox section on the forum, so you might get some advise there. HomerJ
