Need to get a DVD-RW

[Wichita Wayne]

I need some advise on purchasing a DVD burner so that I can produce DVD's of wedding pictures so that the customer can view a slide show with music of their wedding pictures. What hardware and software are necessary with use on PC's and Mac's.

[sandman]

Got a simple answer ,no doubt someone will post a really technical one too .What format do you want ,in europe we've got DVD-RW and DVD+RW , as well as DVD-RAM and DVD+RAM, on my computer i've a DVD+R But my home recorder is DVD-RAM,so they are incompatable, luckly they both convert to DVD-R which is pretty much the standard for playback on all recorders.

Panasonic stick mainly to DVD-RAM which allows you to time shift recordings .
Phillips are DVD+R, so are many other DVD'S .
so the simple answer is ,, there is'nt one

SONY do a multi format recordable DVD , able to do all formats ,in europe anyway ,
If you get one that reads and records in DVD-R , i think most home and computor drives can read it.

Hope this simple answer helps. I read an article on this in a computer mag ,4 pages , and two days later , i was still trying to work out what the guy wrote.

[Rockyw]

I bought a Sony and it burns DVD-R and DVD+R. I have not found anyone that could not play the -R format. That is the most used standard. I use a DVD-RW to burn first and view it, then burn the final copy or copies to Verbatum DVD-Rs. I have only had one that was bad and I'm sure that was from a bad export from Premiere. Premirere has a great DVD export program in 6.5 built in. I then make all my open and title and chapter screens in Photoshop. I take all that into ReelDVD and auther it and burn it from ReelDVD. I normally make a main scrren with a play movie button and a chapters button. I then chapter the wedding day into 6 or 8 chapters. Heres a picture of a main screen I used this year a few DVDs ago. Hope it shows up OK it is sized for DVD format.

[Swampy]

One thing is certain Wayne, make sure what ever burner you buy writes -R and +R. I recently had a friend do a slide show with music on DVD for me. The +R worked fine in my dad's DVD player as well as mine. My Cousin took it home and it didn't work in his. Had my friend burn a -R for him and it worked fine. If you can wait a day or two, I'll pick my co-worker's brain tomorrow and tell you the whole scoop as he just did the research on it a month ago.

[SSonnentag]

I'll echo the DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW comments. I have used the HP DVD200i/j, Phillips 228 DVD+R/RW, and the Sony DVD 500ax (both +R/RW and -R/RW). I wouldn't look any further than the Sony 500ax. It has worked flawlessly for me and writes to any media short of DVD-RAM.

DVD+R will give you the best compatability with standard DVD players.

As far as software goes, there are many to choose from. I use Adobe Premiere. There's a hefty learning curve to it, but it is very powerful.

Shawn

[Swampy]

OK Wayne, Shawn got it right (not that I was challenging you Shawn...). +R's are the standard and should be the most compatible. -R's are actually about a buck cheaper per disc than +R's, so if it's for you, and your DVD player can read them, buy -R's!

Also, that Sony drive Shawn listed has gotten the best reviews for compatibility, so that looks like your drive there Wayne!

Hope this makes it easier for ya!

[Rockyw]

I believe -R is still the most standard. I was told by everyone when I bought my Sony that if I went with a single format to get -R. +R might work Ok most the time but -R is still best I think. It says in a DVD site I just looked -R is compatable with 90% of all player and +R with about 80%. A duel format DVD recorder will do it all.

[Andre]

I just bought an HP DVD300i. It only writes '+' format, but includes a utility to set a compatibility bit on the DVDs. This let me play the DVDs in my DVD player - a model that will not play DVD-R.

Also, Staples (Canada) has them on sale for $229.

So far, I'm impressed with the quality. As for slideshows, I'm still trying to figure out what dimensions the source image should be to get it the sharpest. The 12mp images come out a bit chunky. Some smaller ones are DVD sharp.

[SSonnentag]

I find reports comparing DVD-R and DVD+R saying one is slightly more compatible than the other, but they don't agree on which one has the slight advantage. The study below is the least biased I have found to date and it calls DVD+R the winner. But notice the update below that says Pioneer, a supporter of DVD-R/RW only, calls it a tie. ?????? Who are we to believe. :)

Shawn



Hardware Central (http://hardware.earthweb.com/news/article.php/1466521)

Independent Study Finds DVD+RW More Compatible Than DVD-RW
September 19, 2002


But Even the Lowest-Scoring Format Played in Two-Thirds of Decks Tested
Hopelessly torn between the dueling "dash R" and "plus R" DVD recording formats? The DVD testing facility Intellikey Labs says it's just completed the first independent study of DVD format compatibility, burning eight discs -- two brands apiece of DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, and DVD+RW media -- and trying them in 100 domestic and international-brand DVD players manufactured from 1997 through today.

The compatibility winner was write-once DVD+R, which worked in 90 percent of the decks. Write-once DVD-R worked in 77 percent; rewritable DVD+RW in 72 percent; and rewritable DVD-RW in 66 percent.

The company used an HP DVD Writer 200i drive to burn HP and Memorex DVD+R and DVD+RW discs, and a Pioneer A04 drive to burn Pioneer and Sony DVD-R and DVD-RW discs.

Update 9/20/02: "Dash" vendor Pioneer Electronics has released contradictory results of a study it sponsored last June, using the same 100 Intellikey Labs DVD players with "a variety of" discs: DVD-R and DVD+R tied for the lead at 78 percent, followed by DVD+RW with 63 percent and DVD-RW with 58 percent. Pioneer says it believes official backing by the DVD Forum industry association -- which endorses the DVD-R/RW standard Pioneer uses -- will matter most in the success of competing formats.

[dhani2489]

I've got the email from Pioneer Electronics early this month, they are launching the DVR-A06: New DVD Recording Drive with wider compatibility,
at the price $299 included Ulead Video studio 7 SE DVD.


hope this may help you,
Dhani

[dhani2489]

These are what they say,


Compatibility
The DVR-A06 provides high write speed with the various forms of media:
DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, CD-R and CD-RW.
--------------------

For the Software, I use Studio 8 from Pinnacle on the Penthium 4 PC , which is very easy to operate, you can make the menu and after rendering you can burn in form of VCD SVCD or DVD directly to the burner. Adobe Premiere is too complicated and too expensive for me.

FYI
Dhani

[CaptJR]

Originally posted by dhani2489
I use Studio 8 from Pinnacle on the Penthium 4 PC , which is very easy to operate, you can make the menu and after rendering you can burn in form of VCD SVCD or DVD directly to the burner. Adobe Premiere is too complicated and too expensive for me.

FYI
Dhani

You can be happy you have Studio 8. I got Premiere and then had to buy Studio 8 to get the quality and versitilty I wanted. Studio 8 is much much better than Premiere.

JR

[Rockyw]

If you learn Premiere you can do anything with it. Digital is digital no mater what program you use. The differance is knowing how to use it and if you have the time to learn it. I have used Premiere about 50 hours a week for the last five years. A DVD made with one program will look as good as any if the settings are correct for the project. Its all in the inport/export settings what you get out.

[CaptJR]

I used premier for about 8 months with nothing but frustration. The only thing that was frustrating me more was the horrible results and performance of the DV500 Pinnacle video capture card that premier came with. I think my first Miro capture card that I got around 1990 was better than this one.
JR

[bjnicholls]

Sony has the best drives in that they support the most media formats. You don't have to worry about making the right choice in media formats.

If you're a bit technically handy, you can buy the OEM Sony U10A model (under $200) and flash it to work identically to the Sony 510A with its higher performance specs. I just did so with my U10A drive. Here's a descriptive link, be sure to follow the link to the Firmware Forum and read the complete thread. The procedure is actually simple, but you need to get down to later posts to find the source of files and better directions on the flash hack procedure.

http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/6727

[jknights]

There is now TEAC and Plextor DVD Writers that do DVD in +/- R&RW.

They are TEAC ND1300A also Plextor PX-708A. See here for more info.
http://www.necd.de/productfiles/208_ND-1300A.pdf
http://www.plextor.be/english/products/px708a.html




I have been using Pioneer A03, A05 units and am very happy with them but I need something that does everything.

The same issues that Bryan (Swampy101) mentioned always see to crop up. Some DVD players only accept +R others only -R. If I can write both then it is not an issue.

Is there a definitive list anywhere that says which types of recordable media work in which DVD players ? e.g. SONY DVD Player xyz = +R, Kenwood DVD rrs = -R and +R, etc...

[jknights]

To answer my own question I found this.

http://www.dvdrhelp.com/dvdplayers.php

But is there a better list ?

[RacerX]

I had owned the Sony DVD burner and so has a friend of mind. He's burned over 1000 DVD's and I about 100. At one point they both stop burning at 4x and could only go as fast as 2x. We visited different bulletin boards and found out that others out there are having the same problems as our selves.

This resulted in purchasing the Pioneer's latest DVD 4x burner and it too burns both types. I purchased it at:
http://www.mwave.com/mwave/SpecA/AA22610.html

Hopefully this helps you out with your purchase.
Good Luck!

[etompos]

If you are intrested in photographic slideshows set to music, the most bang for the buck (my personal opinion, of course) is a shareware program called MemoriesOnTV availible at PictureToTV.com. Only $99 for the commercial verion.

I found it when looking for software that allowed you to easily pan and zoom across the images--just like every photo slideshow you see on television. The panning and zooming feature is so simple to use, yet adds so much to the presentation. It sets our shows apart from our competitors 'still' image shows--our clients always notice the difference.

Also, I like the software because it has a simple user interace and is quicker at when image files than other packages I've used. Other packages are 'clunky' with elaborate graphic menus and the like--MemoriesOnTv is under a 6Mb download.

It doesn't support menus, but personally I perfer DVD's without menus anyway--one less button the user has to hunt for when trying to play the disk--simply pop it in. Of course, you can still click through the chapters (typically each song or photo segment).

Great software at a great price. Best of all, you can try it for free before you buy so you ahve nothing to loose.

[Topngu]

Sofvare...
Is there any sofvare can duplicate dvd then play back on dvd?
i have Sony 510UL...just bougth a week ago...still learning...
Sony come w/recordnow DX,PowerDVD...

[Swampy]

Smunky pointed this software out to me...

http://www.dvdshrink.org

[Wichita Wayne]

I purchased a program called ProShow Gold that will write in the VCD format that allows me to burn a CDR that will play on a DVD player. It is quick and has a pretty good interface for sorting the slide show. Me and my clients are happy.

[Swampy]

DVD shrink doesn't compress more into a VCD, but does true DVD format from what I'm reading about it....

[SSonnentag]

DVD Shrink is great! I use it all the time to back up my DVDs. :D

[okidoki]

A thing to remember if you are running a MAC is that you will need to get one that goes "inside" the can... The software MAC supplies the "i" programs do not run with external burners, learned this the hard way myself...

Here is a reply from the wizards at the mac forums:

You are looking for an internal model of the Pioneer DVR-103, DVR-A03, DVR-104, DVR-A04, DVR-105, or DVR-A05.

The -103 means that it is an OEM model and ships basically only as a stand-alone drive, no software included. The -A03 means that it is a retail model (aka aftermarket) that ships with both a drive and software.

Any of the above models that ship as an internal model configuration will work with iDVD.

Please check out this site for information on how to install the drive and compatibility comments with various hardware configurations:

http://forums.xlr8yourmac.com/drivedb/search.drivedb.lasso

Use "DVD-R DVD Recorder" for Drive Type and then enter the appropriate information for your system. This will list the comments made by others who have installed an aftermarket drive into their system. You will most likely need to reinstall the last OSX update (use the Combo Update) in order for your system to fully recognize the drive as certain drivers are only installed if a compatible drive is detected at the time the updater is run. Make sure to read through some of the comments made by other owners so as to get a general idea as to what you may need to check for once you install the drive.

Apple will not support iDVD in any configuration that they did not build themselves. You will have to rely solely on other users to help you with any issues that may arise with the drive installation or the use of iDVD. I say this not to deter you, but to let you know the facts.


Hope this might be of some relief to someone here...

Best.

Timo

[smunky]

I use dvd-r alot and recommend the pioneer a06 or 106a however its listed in your country :)
ITs a dual +/- burner. I mainly use - though, +r media is way overpriced and doesnt play in alot of machines.I also use that dvdshrink software that swampy listed above. Its easy and fun and most of all FREE.
For making pictures on a DVD i use Vegas Video with the plugin.

[Topngu]

shrink....
i had this...but not play back on my reg.DVD player...???on my
Harman kardon...

[jknights]

I'd go with smunky on this.

I have a Pioneer A05 and A06 but have just purchased a Teac 1300A.

All perfom well with Nero5.5 or 6.

The advantage is that Teac1300A writes DVD+/-R/RW, CDR, everything except DVD-RAM.