DVD writer?

[Shining Knight]

Hi all,

Ok, very new to all of this, hence posting in this forum, so please bare with me.

I have recently got into the 'downloading' of movies via Morpheus - only a few - but very nice.

I've not yet tried burning them to CD - as there is little point - I have no DVD player.

I have today considered buy a DVD writer - but I am not 100% convinced yet that it will do what I want it to, so here's my question.

If I was to buy this Hewlett Packard DVD writer, can I take a 1:1 copy of any DVD?

I have been using CloneCD (which I know will not work with DVD's) - for 1:1 copies of CD-rom's - so I figure there must be (by now) a way to do 1:1 copies of DVD's.

I'm not overly interested in the hassle that seems involved in taking rips of DVD's to VCD's etc - dont fancy having these films on a mulitude of CD's..

So, can I read in a DVD with the writer, to say an 'image file' or something - then burn back to a blank DVD in it?

The HP site suggests that I can create movies (from camcorders/videos etc) - and also burn music to them, the Nero webby (www.ahead.com) - suggests that their new software can write in RAW mode, so can I?

I'd really like some feedback on this before I lash out on this product as its just under £400!:scared:

[rmatei]

I've not yet tried burning them to CD - as there is little point - I have no DVD player.
First off, if you were to burn your downloaded movies to CD you wouldn't be able to watch them on a standalone since they're probably divx.


If I was to buy this Hewlett Packard DVD writer, can I take a 1:1 copy of any DVD?
No. DVD burners as of now only support single-layered discs, and dual-layer burners will take a while because of the opposition from movie studios and the complexity of burning two layers on top of each other. Basically a single layer holds 4.7 GB and a dual-layer disc has two of them. Most grade B, bare-bones type DVDs are single-layered but most good new releases are dual-layered. Don't buy a DVD burner if you're only interested in 1:1 DVD copies.

If you do buy one, your HP one seems a bit expensive and I'm not a big fan of HP burners. The cheapest ones are around $300: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=list&catalog=156&DEPA=1 and this very good IBM one is $500: http://www.directron.com/ibmdvdram.html. Note that the IBM says it supports 9.4GB, but that's dual-sided, not dual-layered.

Don't know about UK prices though

[Shining Knight]

As above...I guess you just saved me about £400! :)

So, what I would be looking for would be a 'dual' layered burner as and when one arrives?

Also, I have read some of the info on this site, and it suggests you can remove a lot of the information from the DVD's prior to burning on a 4.7Gb, is it 'easy' (ish) - or does it take a lot of time/patience/money to buy replacement DVD-r's when it goes wrong?

Thanks again for the reply..

[rmatei]

Yes, then you'll have to wait for dual-layer burners and discs. I have no idea when they might appear.

Alternatively, you can remaster a 9.4 DVD to 4.7 with IfoEdit, by removing some of the extra stuff and reencoding at a lower, DVD compliant resolution. As with every not-so-newbie friendly program, it will cause quite a bit of frustration until you get to work right, and after you've got it down it will all go faster. (I can rip a DVD with my eyes closed)

IMHO it's not really worth the trouble, lost quality, and price of a DVD-R (which unlike a CD-R's, is not negligible); but then again I've never tried IfoEdit because I don't have a DVD burner.

[Shining Knight]

hey ho :)

Yeah, I read about reducing the quality of the video/sound etc...

Would this be any worse than the divx (take Tomb Raider for example) which I downloade - it seemed pretty good to me (unless you pause it - then you can see the odd 'grain' or two etc - but it runs well, sounds good, and look good)...

[rmatei]

Well divx can vary from VHS to nearly indistinguishable from DVD, so it's no term for comparison really. Yes, reencoded DVDs will look quite good if you chop out some of the extras and reduce the resolution. Probably cleaner than most divx in terms of compression artifacts, but less sharp. Still worlds apart from anything analog. The closest thing to a reencoded DVD would probably be an SVCD, so you can look at a good one before deciding to buy a DVD burner.

[Shining Knight]

...whats a SVCD ?

[rmatei]

Super Video CD. Like a VCD only with more resolution. Like a DVD, SVCDs are encoded in mpeg2, but on regular CDs and at a lower resolution.

More info @ vcdhelp.com. DVD -> SVCD can be done using DVD2SVCD (http://dvd2svcd.doom9.org).

[Shining Knight]

Thanks for all your help :)