I AM a newbie to all this techie stuff! I was wondering, can data ie: programs, documents, etc. be burned to a DVD? If so, MUST you use a DVD burner, or can you just use a regular CD burner? Also, how do you know how much data a DVD can hold as opposed to video? TOLD yall I was a newbie Thanks for any info yall can give me.
Yes you can use DVD-+R for data. And you do have to have a DVD burner. Single layer DVDs are approx 4.7GB or 120min of video but it's not exact.
i think i can help here... amazingly enough i use a program called Nero (which has a free 30 trial) and it gives you the Data Disk option... ive only used it for DVDs and i have put 3.75gigs onto a data dvd no prollems and a bit of room to spare. (problem i AM having tho, is that my internal player wont recognize that there is anything on this disk... my external player/burner sees it just fine. ive a post up about it, but im getting no joy from it...)
Thank you, too, catahoula. My DVD burner is in my newer computer, which is currently on the fritz-I'm using an old Dell right now that has a CD burner I put in myself, but only a DVD-ROM. I've really gotta get that other computer running again, it has ALL my new toys in it!
anytime, i'm surprised i could help at all with the way my head is spinning from reading and downloading and trying stuff out to fix my issues where i'm at right now is download anything that sounds ok, try it out (and cos i cant figure out if its what i need, i usually put it in a backup folder so as not to confuse myself further) in this spirit, i say get the free trial of Nero and see if it will go to a cd wont hurt anything, just spend some time, and at least you'll have it, it is a handy program best of luck!
Thanks, catahoula. I do have Nero, and have burnes CD's for awhile now. I just got all my video toys this past spring, but can't figure out how to use them! I can't seem to convert AVI to DVD, and then burn the DVD. All this stuff is so confusing!!!
Nero will do it, if you use NeroVision Express 2se instead of Smart Start or OEM... but i tell you, i wasnt happy and i dont know if its just my expectations are off... i went from 1 simple/clean avi to a whole Bunch of files of various sizes plus the whatnot that was needed (dvd extension stuff... dont ask me, my head is spinning) for dvd format AND i could only fit 700mgs onto a dvd... which personally was a waste of media (and i dont know if here is my expectations being off, but no one has cleared me up on this... dvdsanta has a free trial, and other people here swear by it, it coverts and burns (eliminating the need for nero??) i am converting something now, see what it looks like... on a side note, somehow yesterday i used Something (god knows what) and i took one of those 350mb avis and it is now a .m2v (whatever that is) at 1.31mb which is cool... just wish i knew what the hell i did to it!! (expirments are neat, learning stuff is great, but i think i'm gonna break something here shortly if someone doesnt set me straight hehe)
lol. That's just what I did! I broke something somewhere, now my good computer won't talk to me anymore! I did a complete reformat on the master hard drive, and now it won't recognize my 200g hard drive, or any of my other new toys
OW! thats sadness right there... i am so sorry! cautionary tale, and thanks for it... but it isnt stopping me trying to figure out what i was doing first thing this morning, cos thats when i 'shrunk' that avi... maybe maybe i can get them all this small and then they will fit on a dvd? that my laptop can recognize? (sigh)
heres a nice piece of wisdom from the master of them all scubapete which may help you: First off, we need you to change your media, Memorex is an excellent example as media goes, figures as high as 50% coasters have been reported (One member bought a stack of 50 and got 23 good burns.), not what I would call an impressive record. There are 4 different companies that manufacture Memorex BTW and product quality varies widely as you might imagine. Easy to see now why the quality of a big-named company can’t be trusted - “ Who’s making your Memorex tonight ?” Is it just Memorex ? No ! I just used Memorex as an example., Princo, Fuji, Orange Pack, Great AZO and most "store" discs aren’t all that suitable as a DVD backup media – that’s why we are specific in the type of media we are recommending. 1. * Cheap media freezes, skips, pixelats and may refuse to be recognized :-( Besides "Freezing", "skips" and pixelations, many times you’ll get a “Cyclic Redundancy error” or an "I/O error". This message can mean that your discs are scratched or dirty, it can also mean that your burner won’t accept your “cheap” media :-( Another problem which “pops up” is a “*Power Calibration Error”. This can stop you right in your tracks and most often is caused by, Yep, you guessed it, inexpensive media. *A “Power Calibration Error” can also be attributed to the Optical Components of a DVD Writer, though this isn’t usually the case. Trying to shut down your software and ejecting your DVD then restarting your program and re-inserting the same media recently cleaned has been known to help. Inexpensive media or even average media is great for text, Data, Spreadsheets, .Jpg and .Gif pictures and is good even for MP3 music BUT for DVD backups - BLAaaaaaT! It SUCKTH in an extremely Big-th way ! What we are suggesting is to download this DVD Identifier to find out who manufactured your DVD and if it's a decent quality. http://dvd.identifier.cdfreaks.com/ Once you have your disc identified, click the "More information" icon and see what information you're given. if you're not sure of the quality, come on back and we'll check it out for you - 2. A good grade, Hi-quality media is needed for DVD reproduction ! RiData, Sony, TDK, "Branded" Ritek G04's or "Branded" Verbatim Data Life, Verbatim DataLife plus, Taiyo Yuden's and generally, almost any discs manufactured by Mitsubishi are excellent bets. Among the better discs we're looking for, any media boasting "Advanced Metal AZO" - BUT it must say "METAL" AZO !, this indicates a superior dye and dye application on a good composite disc, while they are sometimes a bit "pricey" they are just the type of media we're looking for to do our DVD backups, Prices online from Meritline.com have gotten Ritek G04 starting at about a $ .45 (USD) a disc - Question - If you make coasters out of 3 cheap or even average discs and good copies from 3 RiData, Ritek, TDK, Sony or Verbatim discs - which ones then will you say are too expensive ? The 3 “Cheapo’s with no movie backup OR, the 3 recommended discs with a perfect backup on each disc ? Bear in mind, Memorex, Orange Pack, Princo, Fuji, Great AZO and others are quite good for your MP3 music, picture archives, Spread sheets, Data and your text backups and archives, they just don’t work well for DVD backups. Even DataSafe G04’s made by Ritek have been reported as an inferior quality media and are evoking that “Oh no, I shouldn’t have gotten those.” Remember, for DVD backups, purchasing inexpensive media or even average media is a gamble, some people win, the majority of people lose, varying amounts varying amounts, true but, they still lose :-( Using good grade media can guarantee you one thing to an absolute certainty; it surely cannot hurt. BTW, In an effort to clear the air, when I speak of "Cheap" or "Inexpensive" media, I'm not referring to the price you pay at the counter - I'm referring to the type of composite some manufactures use, their method of dye application and the lack of OR the poor quality control used during manufacturing. when I say "Branded" that means that when you pick up a disc in your hand, it says "Ritek" or "RiData" on the disc itself. The monetary cost of the media we recommend many times is cheaper than that you are buying now. As for your difficulity with Nero, First - Do not use Nero Wizard - I suggest that you print this out so you don't miss a step and follow along word for word. I'm going to attempt to make this as easy and painless as I possibly can. To get to Nero Classic, follow the "bouncing ball". First, - lets go to Start, All Programs,then Nero, then Nero Ultra Edition and finally Nero Burning ROM. Good - When you open Nero Burning ROM, you will be at the "New Compilation" window. Directly under the title "New Compilation" is a choice block to choose either DVD or CD, choose "DVD". Directly under that click on the "DVD Video Icon." Then click "New" in the upper right corner of that screen, NOT the main screen. You now are in the "DVD Video" window. In the left screen, click "VIDEO_TS". In the "File Browser" screen, 3rd from the left, trace your path to the VIDEO_TS folder, the one you made earlier holding all of your files and click on that folder. All of your VIDEO_TS files are now opened in the right screen. Click on the top file, hold down the "Shift" key and then click the bottom file thereby hi-lighting the entire column of files. Click and (holding the left mouse button down) drag the entire column of files to the open screen, second from the left and release the mouse button. Now click the icon on the task bar that shows a match on a disc, and then click "OK" and now, clear the room, stand up tall and shout out, "Burn Baby, BURN" ! One more time, let me hear you say it, "Who's your Daddy Now ???" Guess what my Friend ? You are done !!!
ive seen some of that before... [bold]2. A good grade, Hi-quality media is needed for DVD reproduction ! RiData, Sony, TDK, "Branded" Ritek G04's or "Branded" Verbatim Data Life, Verbatim DataLife plus, Taiyo Yuden's and generally, almost any discs manufactured by Mitsubishi are excellent bets.[/bold] is why i traded in the Sonys which the external wouldnt see, for TDKs which the internal MIGHT not see... got that on my first day here and i havent forgotten, thanks i Still dont know if its that it is a Data Disk, no one is addressing this... IS it a possibility or IS it the media and ive got to find another store here? (shame that, ive completely wasted that money. at least the tdks for the sonys was a straight trade...) Nero Ultra to Nero BurningROM arent options for me inside Nero. i do have the newest and updated, did that the first day here as well. but thanks, i'll see if i cant find it, somewhere...
for the record, it was cucusoft that coverted that avi i mentioned earlier... ive no idea what i did... ive just been reading everything i can and downloading what they say... its all a blur... still dont have a clue what i am doing or even if its possible... a 350mg avi turns into a 1.74gig dvd (i still dont understand that math...) (now im gonna get yelled at for being off topic in a thread
when you convert from avi2mpeg there is always going to be a difference in file size and 1.74 gig seems right as i also use this program for avi conversions. When you convert using that program you will notice there are 3 files being produced. 1 x audio (m2v) 1 x video DEMUX IS DONE AUTOMATICALLY 1 x audio / video Make sure that you use the same formula on all the files like all are converted to pal and are the same size.Once you have done that then use a program like tmpgenc dvd author to put them onto dvd disc (this program will utilise nero as the burning engine) Here's a little maths equation that may help you cgram7 Newbie 29. August 2004 @ 13:26 Report an offensive post Keep in mind that manufacturers quote the capacity of a writable DVD disc in decimal (base 10) rather than binary (base 2) notation so a 4.7 GB disc stores 4.7 billion bytes [4:700,000,000 bytes ÷ 1000 = 4,700,000 KB ÷ 1000 = 4,700 MB ÷ 1000 = 4.7 GB] . Expressed in binary notation (as is typical with CD-R, CD-RW and most operating systems) the same disc has a capacity of roughly 4.38 GB [4:700,000,000 bytes ÷ 1024 = 4,589,844 KB ÷ 1024 = 4,482.27 MB ÷ 1024 = 4.38 GB] . _X_X_X_X_X_[small][/small]
