what do you use your DVD burner for?

[gsjohn]

I have a rather extensive DVD collection of feature movies and music videos, and was wondering if DVD burners would make backup copies.

1. Does DVD copy protection prevent this?

2. If not, does a name brand DVD burner copy DVD movies with its included software?

3. Are there any retail versions of DVD burner software out there? Roxio and Nero are examples for CD burners, but I don't see any for DVD burners.

And finally, what are you guys using your DVD burners for? Storage? Making/editing your own videos and putting them DVD?

[RJ]

Hello,

1) No. Every so-called "copy protection" (actually it shouldn't be called copy protection, coz it doesn't protect copying) failed, there is none that really prevents copying.

2) No. Copying a Video DVD is not always easy. Only a few video DVDs are DVD-5 (single sided, single layered). Most video DVDs are DVD-9, and there is no dual layer burner on the market, so you can't burn DVD-9 1:1. For movies up to about 100 minutes you can copy if you stripe out unwanted stuff, for movies above about 100 minutes you'll need either to re-encode or to split up.
Long movies (2 1/2 to 3 hours and more) are the most 'problematic'. Re-encoding means noticeable quality loss, so splitting up would be the only reasonable choice here.

3) You mean EZ CD Creator, right ? Roxio is the name of the company, not the software. I dunno about CD Creator, but WinOnCD and Nero burn DVD just fine. I've used Nero at the beginning, and now using WinOnCD.

I use my DVD burner for. . . well, for burning DVD lol well ok, I use it for hard drive backup and video burning.

RJ

[gsjohn]

thanks RJ. Saw your responses in the archives as well, and you offer some good insight.

So if I understand you correctly, single sided and single layered DVDs should copy perfectly. All I would have to do is make an exact copy with the included software, right? Or do I need some 3rd party tools to take care of the "copy protection"?

And since you say most are dual layered, do you have any word on when backing up DVDs will be as easy and economical as backing up CDs?

[gsjohn]

are these things selling well? i realize they are quite heavily marketed and the price has come down, but $400 still seems to be a lot of $cache$ to throw down on something where there still is no universally accepted media format, as well as the difficulty in making backups of most DVDs.

[RJ]

Hi,

single sided and single layeres DVD will copy perfectly, because both DVDs have the same size, so all the content of the source DVD will fit on the destination DVD.
If there is such a "copy protection" on it (most DVDs do) you need a tool to rip the contents of the DVD it to hard drive first. The most common tools would be DVD decrypter and SmartRipper.
I dunno if CloneCD would work, but it might (I've created an image off a DVD with Clone CD to test it and it worked, I just haven't tried to burn it. I gotta try this one).
The difference is that the ripping tools read the contents out of the DVD and the copy protection is gone. Using clone CD will do an exact image, and copy the copy protection, too (nice copy protection, eh ?)
Once you ripped the DVD use WinOnCD or Nero to burn it to an empty DVD.

And no, there is no sign yet of a burner that can burn dual layer DVDs, no matter which format. So a backup of a dual layer DVD still means quite some work during the next time.

I don't know if they sell well, but in the dedicated DVD forums many own a dvd burner. Media price has come down to $4 for a +R and a few bucks more for the +RW. Prices for -R and -RW are similar, and sometimes even lower, but the quality of the $1 DVD-R isn't good, so even with the '-' format you should spend about $4 for a blank.
The prices of the recorder depends on the format you want to use. Pioneer A04 (a '-' burner) lowest price is $260. The '+' burners are more expensive, but in two months the third generation of '+' burners will appear with 4x DVD+R and 4x DVD+RW, so the prices of the 2nd generation burners will drop further.

RJ

[Furius92]

And in that 3rd generation, some DVD burners will be supporting Mt. Rainier. I think something like DVD+MRW or DVD-MRW somethign like that, right?

[RJ]

Only DVD+MRW. All 3rd Generation DVD+ burners will support Mt. Rainier. On the other hand, there is no Mt. Rainier support planned for the DVD- burners yet.

RJ

[tmp]

GSJohn,

I hear some people use DVD burner to put their VSH tapes on DVD to preserve them.

[RJ]

Yep. I do.

I use it for hard drive backup and video burning.

That's what I means by video burning. I digitalize my VHS tapes and convert them to DVD video. I don't use the VCR anymore. Straight from TV to hard drive. Much better quality

RJ

[gsjohn]

yes, i heard a lot of people were transferring tapes to dvd. do the newly burned dvds work in all the component dvd players out there (not just the computer)?

How do you connect the VHS equipment to the computer? I guess another piece of hardware is necessary.

And what about laptop users? Is the best connection option firewire? My USB 1.1 connection is real flaky (and slow) so I can't imagine it being good for video transfer. And USB2.0 is pretty much available only by PC card.

[RJ]

Firewire is the standard for digital video. If you have a DV cam with analog input, you can use it for digitalisation.
I have no dv camcorder, I use a video capture board for this purpose, the Pinnacle Studio DC10plus.

RJ

[tmp]

RJ,

Without the a firewire port, can you use the S-Video port on the graphics card to input into the computer. Or is the S-Video port strictly for output to the VCR only?

I bought a Pinnacle Studio 400, but never used it. Will try it one of these days.

tmp

[RJ]

Depends. Most graphics card have only a S-Video output. So you need to check what you have, output only or input, too.
For digital video it is possible to "digitalize" the video through s-video, but firewire is better.

For analog video, either RCA or S-Video is possible. Analog video capture boards like my DC10plus have both RCA and S-Video input and output.
I dunno about the Stuido 400, though.

RJ

[gsjohn]

i think the only laptops that had on board video capture were some older IBM Thinkpads. I remember one of the high end A- series models with video inputs. I believe they had S video and RCA inputs. But now with firewire and these Pinnacle devices, it doesn't really matter because you get more connection options using the Pinnacle device.

[RJ]

And since you say most are dual layered, do you have any word on when backing up DVDs will be as easy and economical as backing up CDs?

I answered: And no, there is no sign yet of a burner that can burn dual layer DVDs, no matter which format. So a backup of a dual layer DVD still means quite some work during the next time.

Well, this was true up to now. But now there are rumours out there that currently a dual layer blank media is indeed under development. It's for DVD+R/+RW (no signs about a dual layer -R/-RW yet). It is possible to burn dual layer by changing the wavelength. +R shouldn't have any problems with it, even +RW shouldn't, although the current +RW's surface has the reflectivity of the second layer of a dual layer DVD.
Anyway, when the dual layer blank dvd arrives you will be able to burn 9,4 GB to it. The layer change will be managed by the drive itself.

The rumours say: March 2003.

That'd be in 8 months, and that'd be the 4th generation of DVD+RWs. The first one was only able to burn to DVD+RW with 2.4x, the second one (the current one) can also burn DVD+R (both +R and +RW with 2.4x).

The third generation is expected to be released in 2 moths (september). The first drive, Ricoh MP5140+, will support 4x DVD+R and 4x DVD+RW burning, supporting DVD+MRW and being available in 2 versions: MP5140+ with parallel ATA and MP5140+SA with serial ATA.

So the fourth generation could indeed be the one that supports dual layer. And higher writing speeds.

RJ