DVD/Computer Questions

I have a pretty recent model PC Dell Dimension 4600 purchased last year. I am thinking of adding a DVD Burner and here are my questions.

I found an external USB2 DVD Burner (8X) I like the idea that its somewheat portable, would I loose much by going external?

How do I find out if my system has USB2

How dificult is it to install an internal DVD Burner, I have installed modems, network cards, memory etc, but never a bay item?

Do those of you that have DVD burners use them much. Can they also make back ups of your DVD movies.

Thanks for the help. Denny

fitting a dvd copier is really easy - i just took out the old dvd drive and put it in then loaded up the driver software

well worth the money!!

Legally yes you can make a backup of the movies that you own.. google a software called dvdshrink

My old system had a CD rom and a CD writer, I liked being able to copy cd to cd direct, so not wanting to get rid of my cd writer, is there anything negative about the external drive.

Nearly all DVD burners can also read and burn CDs.

Read the manual? Call the manufacturer?
I don't think there are many laptops out there that have USB 2.0 (and USB 1.1 will not be fast enough to use the 8x write speed).

If your system doesn't have USB 2.0 or FireWire (IEE1394), then you should be able to find a PCMCIA interface card with that port (either one) for about US$ 30.

An internal DVD writer will cost you a lot more.

Small external drives (e.g. Plextor 708UF) are rather pricey. There are external burners that are actually internal 5.25'' units installed in rather large and ungainly (though inexpensive) boxes. Should be in the US$ 150 category as opposed to at least twice that price.

Of course not.
Although that might of course be technically feasible with the right software (e.g. downloaded from the internet), that would most likely be illegal

Best regards,
Andy

"I found an external USB2 DVD Burner (8X) I like the idea that its somewheat portable, would I loose much by going external?"

No you won't lose anything except some space and cash because external units cost more (no matter what andythalor says in this string) and takes up more space. But you won't lose anything in functionality.

"How dificult is it to install an internal DVD Burner, I have installed modems, network cards, memory etc, but never a bay item?"

Relatively simple and straightforward. I can't say you won't be nervous but definatley doable.

"Do those of you that have DVD burners use them much. Can they also make back ups of your DVD movies."

I use mine all the time for backup of RAW files and the such. You can get 4GB on a DVD compared to 765MB on a CD. Yes they can make up backups of copyright DVD's using DVDXCopy or similair products. A matter of fact they make excellent if not identical copies just keep in mind that pro production DVD's hold 8GB of data so to burn it you either need to use 2 DVDs or use compression to get it onto 1 disc...of course you lose quality if you compress.

MTC, get an internal unless you have a definate need for portability, it's cheaper and cleaner.

By the way you'll love it.

I hope this helps.

-Clos

Dual layer DVD-r and DVD+r burners have just been announced, and should be available this summer.
These allow 8+ GB of data.
Will be very nice for storage, and backup of your movies.


However, I have already backed up some of my DVD movies to single layer DVD+r's and the difference due to compression is almost undetectable.

You do have USB 2 ports

I know the Dimension 4600 (desktop, not notebook) has USB 2 ports.

drisley wrote:
Dual layer DVD-r and DVD+r burners have just been announced, and should be available this summer.
These allow 8+ GB of data.
Will be very nice for storage, and backup of your movies.


However, I have already backed up some of my DVD movies to single layer DVD+r's and the difference due to compression is almost undetectable.

If you are particular and have an HDTV it can be very obvious depending of course on the quality of the original.

But didn't here about the dual layer DVD burners, very cool.

-Clos

Get the external, if your PC is about a year old you certainly have USB 2, and even if you dont USB drives are backwards compatable, so it wont matter.

Yes, you can burn DVD movies legally IF you already own the DVD origional. DVD SHRINK is great, and so is 321 STUDIOS DVD X COPY PLATINUM. DVD X COPY is MUCH simpler to use, With DVD SHRINK you will have to learn the program to reauthor the DVDs to fit on a 4.7GB DVD, you can only use about 4.3GB, dont go over that size, the other .4GB is overhead and needs to be there. If you need any assistance with DVD SHRINK, message me and I can help you. Its not an easy program to learn, but once you learn it its like riding a bike.

An internal DVD rom is simple to install, if you already have a CD/DVD ROM, just set the burner to slave and place it on the same IDE chain as your other ROM, use the middle connector not the end thats already plugged into your CD/DVD ROM.

Hope this helps....

drisley wrote:
Dual layer DVD-r and DVD+r burners have just been announced, and should be available this summer.
These allow 8+ GB of data.
Will be very nice for storage, and backup of your movies.


However, I have already backed up some of my DVD movies to single layer DVD+r's and the difference due to compression is almost undetectable.

Did you see the cost of the new DVD drives??? You will spend an arm and a leg to get one right away....you'll probably have to wait 12-18 months after they are introduced to afford one.....

If you properly re-author the disc, you can take out all the subtitles (very smalle files anyway), other languages, sound files in other languages, and previews to help lose all that overhead that you dont want, I just burn the movies and take everything out, so my compression is minimal.

Well,. it will matter,. USB is so slow that you would MAYBE get a 1X burn if your lucky.. but I don't think that will even happen.. (USB1 topeed out at a 4X CD-R burn.. a 1X DVD is faster than a 4X CD-R)

...you definately need USB2 or firewire for an 8x DVD-R

I can burn at 4X with an external... I dont have an 8X so I cant say... If you have a decent size buffer on your DVD burner you can do it. I only have USB 1.1 and a 1GHz CPU, with 1GB RAM...