DVD burners?

[tegdirb]

this is probably a dumb question, but do these exist? if so where can you get one and how much are they? checked walmart and target and so far no luck.

[PN]

Hi Bridget,

I purchased a Sony DVD ROM and a Sony DVD +/-RW Dual Layer Drive at Newegg for around $100. You will need software to burn DVDs and the two that I have heard good things about are DVD Shrink and the other is DVD Decrypter. Both of these programs should be free and I'll let others chime in with their opinions/experiences/suggestions etc. You can also purchase Roxio Easy DVD and CD Creator.

http://www.newegg.com/

http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/dvd_rippers/dvd_shrink.cfm

http://www.dvddecrypter.com/

PN

[This message was edited by Paul Nussbaum on 01-13-05 at 08:55 PM.]

[tegdirb]

thanx paul
i have roxio CD creator, but no DVD. if i just get the software from DVD shrink or Roxio, is that all i need? or will i still need what you purchased from Newegg? i admit im clueless as to the terminology and how to do this. what kind of blank discs would i need? +/- RW are terms i am not familiar with besides seeing it at the stores. i usually just buy or rent movies, but i would like to burn a bunch to send to my brother every couple weeks while he's in iraq.

[PN]

Bridget,

I think you will need the DVD ROM, along with the DVD burner, and I recommend the dual layer DVD +/-RW Drive. You will need to purchase DVD-R disc or you can get the DVD+R disc and use those to burn movies that you own. I believe it is illegal to rent a movie and then burn it to a DVD disc and send it to your husband or friend. Give me a chance to try DVD Shrink and I will post my results shortly. You may be OK with Roxio but I would recommend doing the update for the latest features/drivers.

PN

[teyrn]

Originally posted by bridget:

this is probably a dumb question, but do these exist? if so where can you get one and how much are they? checked walmart and target and so far no luck.Go to bestbuy, circut city or a store that sells computers/peripherals, or do like Pual an search online at like newegg.
Also the DVD player (not the one that comes with the computer but the one plugged into the TV) that will play the dvd needs to be able to read DVD+ or DVD- disks Some players are specific to a certain kind and some DVD players I don't think will even play DVD-/+ disks depending on the age of the dvd player, or the older ones will play only dvd- or dvd+ I can't remember exactly which. And like Paul said to decrypt a dvd and burn it to a dvd+/- disk is illegal. To send this illegal DVD through the mail is even more illegal, then to send an illegaly coppied DVD through the mail and to an agent of the fed. govt. is down right insane. http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif

http://www.tuath.org/files/sig.jpg

[tegdirb]

this is all rather confusing and i dont get the legalities involved http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/confused.gif you can burn CDs youve bought, but not DVDs? i thought it was illegal to download FREE music off the net, not if youve PURCHASED something and wanted to make a copy. doesnt make sense to me at all. oh well, ill just buy movies and send. thanx anyways guys.

[Bspill1]

Bridget, legalities and technicalities aside. It's just plain hard to do. We are pretty capable around my house with computers. I have a brand new Dell 8000 something and a variety of DVD players to try the disks on. We have not had much luck. Too many settings to mess with. Every DVD seems to have different settings. Both have some sort of security feature to prevent burning. In short, way too complicated and pricey to bother. Just buying used DVDs.

Brian C/5
http://bspill1.home.comcast.net/index1.html

[jimnms]

The program Paul posted called DVDDecrypter will copy a DVD movie to your hard drive bypassing the security encryption. I used to use it when renting movies, so I could return the movie and watch it when I wanted.

I've heard that you are legally allowed to make one backup copy of your movies.

If you get a dual layer dvd burner, then use DVDDecrypter in ISO mode. It will write an .iso image file of the dvd on your drive, then using any dvd burning software write the ISO to a disk.

If you only have a single layer burner, then you have to compress it or delete some content using DVD Shrink (which Paul posted a link to). The first thing you can do is delete the audio tracks you don't need, other languages or the director commentary tracks etc. You can also delete the extra content. If you strip it down to just the movie itself, even removing the menus, you can fit it on a single layer disk without having to compress it.

The trick is that some home DVD players look at the "booktype" of the disk. Some players will only read DVD-ROM types (instead of -R/RW or +R/RW). The neat thing about using the DVD+R/RW format is that with some burners you can set the booktype to DVD-ROM to fool these players into playing the disk.

_____
Learn from the mistakes of others, you won't live long enough to make all of them yourself.