After reading the DVD riping guide with a Mac I had a couple of questions. I am seriously considering switching to a Mac Mini. I currently have a pretty slow PIII 500 Mghz. I have many DVDs and PS2 games that I am slowly but surely making back ups for b/c my daughter (2years old) has already damaged several. I typically have to go over to my neighbor's house because he has a PIV 2.8 GhZ computer and a Sony DVD burner so he does me the favor. He is using DVD Decrypter and alcohol 120% to make back-ups of DVDs and PS2 games. All to say...I am getting tired of asking him to copy my stuff for me. Can I do this on a mac? Please advise. Anything you may let me know will be crucial in my purchase of a MAc or just building another PC.
with the work i do i use both everyday. (layout/design-illustrator, photoshop, quark) with the old G3 i was using up until about a year ago i was really fed up with the mac environment (os9 classic, some print companies still are afraid to switch to os10) and was about ready to build a new windows machine after my mac died and went to heaven. my friend let me try out his newer mac that was running 10.3 panther and i was really amazed at the stability and really cool features and programs. i got a new g4 and couldn't be happier, things like hooking up my cable modem, digital camera, external dvd burner, scanner, etc.. have been a snap. i didn't have to load all sorts of crazy software to get any of it to work. as far as dvd burning goes... my burns have worked out great. my 1ghz G4 does a fine job. ripping takes about 17min per movie, compress takes 30 min. mactheripper is free and works really good. roxio's popcorn (compress/burn) = $35ish or dvd2one $65ish(compression) + toast $60ish(burn)
I use older iMac G3 500 Mhz (with OS X), and things have been fine. Ripping and compression takes some time, sure, but the final results are what counts to me the most. I also use external Lacie D2 burner, which works fine with G3 (they recomment G4).
Great. This makes me feel better about getting into a Mac. Also, a friend reccomended FAST DVD COPY3 for ripping. Is anyone using this software? Is it any good? Should I stick with Mac the ripper? The thing I like about what I have read from the FAST DVD COPY sight is that it claims to also copy PS2 games. http://www.fastdvdcopy.com/ In addition, I am planning to buy an external Sony DVD Burner, Model DRU710A http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=27-131-236&depa=0 as opposed to getting a superdrive on my Mac. Any pros or cons associated with doing this? Can I use it in cunjunction with the supperdrive? I have noticed that not all burners are endorsed by companies making software for Macs.
as far as fast dvd copy goes, i've never used it. i did read a review in a macworld about it from a couple of months ago. i will try to find it after work. one thing i do know is that with mac the ripper it seems like those guys are constantly updating and testing out their product. so new copy protections are taken care of. plus mac the ripper is free. as far as the superdrive thing goes, i only have a combo internal drive, so i don't really know. but i think that one piece of software out there, and i think that it is fast dvd copy, has to have a superdrive or a drive that is on a small list of drives to work. (i could be wrong about the software title) i bought a cheap fantom drive from club mac and it has worked fine. with my luck, and it being cheap, it could blow up at any moment.
here is that macworld review. http://www.macworld.com/2004/08/reviews/septembermacgems/ i really like using MTR/DVD2one/toast. it has turned out to be really great combo.
Here´s a big review of Sony DRU-710A. cdrinfo.com is a great place for e.g. hardware reviews. http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Reviews/Specific.aspx?ArticleId=10957 : "- The Good Front bezel can be changed with the included black colored Can backup up to SafeDisc2 v2.8x protected discs Good DVD error correction Good CD writing quality with specific media Can overburn up to 99mins High C2% pointers accuracy Supports protected Audio discs (CDS200, Key2Audio) Supports BookType BitSetting for DVD+R/+RW/+DL formats Can be used for CD/DVD media error measurements Big unofficial community support (KProbe, Media Speed hacks, RPC1 utilities) - The Bad Retail Price is high Poor CD error correction ability DVD writing quality with many media needs serious improvement Doesn't accurately backup SafeDisc2 v2.9x+ protected discs Doesn't support reading of DVD-RAM media Retail package doesn't include DVD+R DL media Doesn't support DVD±R overburning Competition offers 16X DVD-R and 4X DL writing - Like to be fixed Inconvenient changing from 40X to 48X reading/writing DVD writing quality with many media needs serious improvement"
Thanks. Are there any DVD burners that you would recommend to be used with a Mac? Are LITEONs any more compatible than Sonys. I don't want to buy anything that will not work well with a Mac.
Well, I can recomment Lacie D2 double layer burner (external), since it works nicely with my set (I haven´t tried DL-burning though, but it´s nice to have in the future). Drive in the Lacie is "NEC ND-2510A" I guess. http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Reviews/Specific.aspx?ArticleId=9967 "- The Good Same behaviour with NEC ND-2510A which produced excellent CD writing quality with low Jitter values Very good DVD writing quality Supports CD-Text (reading/writing) Supports audio protected discs. High quality aluminum shield. IEEE1394 (firewire) and USB2.0 support Can rip/read 90min Audio CD's Double Layer media support - The Bad Low CD/DVD error correction ability Not many media (even 8X rated) supported at 8X RITEK DL media isn't supported with 2.04 firmware (will be supported in the next firmware release) Mount Rainier is not supported Cannot read or rip 99min Audio CD's Cannot create working backups with SafeDisc protected games over v2.60 DAE speed only up to 32X - Like To be fixed Faster ripping CSS DVD-Video performance More supported media for 8X/Double Layer Official firmware release to support booktype setting for +R/+RW and +R9 media" Others might have some other recommendations though, I´m not an expert. ..But Mac rules.
I recommend you getting a Pioneer DVR-109 ($75-90) and putting it in a firewire (IEEE 1394) external enclosure ($40-55).
LONDOR, i feel kind of dumb, but until now i had no idea that you could get an external enclosure for an internal drive. i went to a couple of online dealers, and sure enough they sell them. i did see that a lot of them were listed as enclosures for hardrives. can you do the same thing with a hardrive??? i would like to get an external firewire hardrive to use for music storage, dvd burns, etc... i'm kind of getting worried about dumping boatloads of info onto my emac's internal hardrive and then taking it back off when the dvd is done. if you can do this with a hardrive, what things do you have to do to get it to work? (connections, any needed software) also, what would be a good brand to buy for each, the enclosure and the hardrive? or, would it just make more sense to buy a ready to go unit like a lacie or something?
oh, and Londor (and or anyone else that could give me a few pointers), i forgot to say thanks in my last post. any help would be great! md
You can get good information at Mac Gurus (http://www.macgurus.com/info/storehome.php). Contact them or visit their forums if you have any question. For an external hard drive LaCie is a good option (http://www.lacie.com/products/range.htm?id=10033).
Here's a great site to check what dvd writers are compatible with your mac. You can also read comments from users. http://forums.xlr8yourmac.com/drivedb/search.drivedb.lasso
Here's a great site to check what dvd writers are compatible with your mac. You can also read comments from users. http://forums.xlr8yourmac.com/drivedb/search.drivedb.lasso
Here's a great site to check what dvd writers are compatible with your mac. You can also read comments from users. http://forums.xlr8yourmac.com/drivedb/search.drivedb.lasso
Sorry for this, but i had a very slow connection. I tried to send this message but it didn't react so i tried it again, and this is the result. Can't i delete a message?
