Hi, First of all I wanted to thank all of you that post info based on your past experiences. All of this is really going to help me in the next month or so. Basically my question is this: Can I buy a dvd burner under a $100 and be able to burn dvd movies?? I have a lot of dvds and would love to be able to make copies of these and be able to watch them on any dvd player, or give them to my parents to borrow and watch. Is this possible to do with under 100 bucks and if so what do I need to get started?? Thanks for all your info. I'm sure after I get started I'll have more questions. Thanks!
Go to Newegg.com - You will find quality burners under $60. Beige, Black, or Silver choices are available, with or without software. Newer burners require an 80 wire/40 pin IDE cable. If you have one it can be reused, but if yours is 40 wire/40 pin, you can upgrade for a couple of dollars. I would pass on the burner included software, however. It is usually a "lite" version of not much worth. Since your budget was much higher than the burner will cost, spend the savings on quality software e.g. Nero 6.6. Personally I would go with NEC 3520 over closly priced BenQ or Pioneer models in that price range. Lightscribe choices will cost more, but DVD movie burning will be the same.
You can get started burning for under $70.00 Get a quality burner. Benq 1620 and nec 3520 are both very good for under that price-depending what you get with it. Sometimes they throw in nero oem and that is what I use.You can also check out pioneer,lite-on,sony,plextor. Those are all fine quality burners and the compatability should be better for your stand alones.My last benq 1620 was only $52.00 at newegg.com. Some of the cheaper burners I had,poor compatability on stand alones. Programs: Dvd decrypter to rip and burn. Dvd shrink to rip and compress those larger dvd-9 movies. Nero is another great program that works with dvd shrink. Last,but not least: The most critical part of backing up dvd's is the quality media. Use the high quality media. It will save a lot of time, money, and a heck of a lot less issues.Search the dvd-r media forum for quality media.
hey guys - thank you for all the information. i'm going to go to newegg now and buy the nec and get started. ill also check out some software, at work i use nero for cd writing so hopefully ill be able to check out the dvd writing side of it. as for the compression and dvd shrink: that is all new info to me so i'll read into it a little more. i will check out the dvd-r section for quality media to make sure my process goes smoother. thanks again for the quick feedback!
you will want to get DVDDecrypter also (free) and nero is one of the best for burning for guides just go to the top and pick one you like. good luck