I am very new to all this. Yesterday I went to Circuit City and bought a DVD-R / RW burner. Not realizing that it won't burn protected DVD's. So I guess my only option is to copy through my computer. Any suggestions on what kind of burner I should get, eg. single or dual layer? Also what software I will need to rip and copy DVD's to play on my Sony DVD Player. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.
DVD Shrink and DVD Decrypter will get you started (both free). Guides and software can be downloaded from this site - move mouse point to top of page and click on appropriate tab.
Hello webone, welcome to the wonderful world of dvd burning. Single or dual layer? I am not sure if there is a price break between reg and dual layer.The top burners usually do both and also both formats,+ and - "dash". Dual layer discs will run about $10.00 a disc. Pretty steep now,but later? Here is a close list of the top 5 quality burners that have models to both formats and dual layer, but not in any necessary order. Pioneer,nec,benq,lite-on, and plextor. Software,I use dvd shrink and nero 6.0. Seeing as how it looks like you know what you want to play those discs in, a high quality burner and media helps in the many, many issues with stand alone compatability. With these programs listed, you can copy to hardrive,thus the protection is gone, then either burn emediately or later. Good luck in your quest.
I agree with the rest on the proggys you should start out with. Here is a link to top DVD writers http://reviews.cnet.com/4502-3185_7-0.html?tag=srch&qt=&500109id=5263100&orderby=-7eRating Good luck and welcome to AD
http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,118521,00.asp PC World does evaluations on a lot of equipment. The link is for their top 10 burner picks. Conspicuously absent is the new Plextor DL burner that's on sale at Newegg right now. It's selling for about $109 with the rebates. Plextor is said by some to be one of the best. I like the Memorex that tops the PC World list though. I've had excellent luck with the Memorex burner I have. Forgot to say it, "go with the DL." Double layer burners are backward compatible and will use the 4.7 discs. There is little price differnce now, so the DL is a good buy and when the media price comes down, one can benefit from the DL ability. Lots of software. DVD Decrypter and DVD Shrink are a couple of the best freeware apps. Check out the Nero. Besides the burner, nero has Recode which is another good recording app for DVDs. My preference is the new DVDCopy3 from InterVideo. They have a full function 15 day trial.
Since you're a beginner, here is some beginner info for you. If it repeats some previous info, don't worry, I just didn't take time to edit. Info for beginners: (I'll mention a few popular programs, but there are others of these types.) Backing up factory DVD movies has 3 basic steps and a few things to remember. The steps are 1)Decrypt/deCSS; 2)Encode/Transcode (Fit to the target disc, shrink when necessary); and 3)Burn. You can have one program that does it all, some programs do a couple of the steps and some only do one step or one step at a time. Decrypting can be done with driver type decrypters like AnyDVD or with apps such as DVD Decrypter or DVD Shrink. DVD Decrypter is used to decrypt and rip files to the (HD) hard drive. If DVD Decrypter is going to be used as the ripper and burner, 2 important things have to be remembered. 1)Use the ISO read mode to decrypt and 2)the file size has to be below 4.37 (GB) gigabytes for a 4.7 disc. If the file is above 4.37GB, DVD Decrypter cannot burn the ISO file to a 4.7GB disc. [Note: 4.7 is a retail designation for a disc; the actual size of a 4.7 disc that a computer reads is 4.37GB.] File size is important to know. DVD Shrink can be used to decrypt and rip to the HD. Normally though, Shrink is used to decrypt a disc, using a temporary file, and transcoding the file in preparation to be burned. Nero isn't part of Shrink, but is the default app that Shrink uses to burn automatically. Shrink can also use DVD Decrypter in ISO burn mode and CopytoDVD can also be used. I suggest Nero, as DVD Shrink is already set to use it. Shrink is compatible for use with Double Layer media and the DL burners. There are a number of transcoding programs, browsing the forums can get a lot of info on those. It's already been mentioned what they do. Just remember, simply speaking, this step is to prep the file for burning. There are a number of apps on the market now. Due to laws, most of the popular recording programs now are trancoding and burning programs. These recording programs have to have a decrypter. With a driver type decrypter the program runs as though it was one of the older ripper programs that did everything. With the manual type decrypters the files are ripped to the HD and the file then has to be opened by the recording program. Burner or recording programs are either incorporated into programs or are separate in recording suites. I mentioned Nero as it is a favorite on many forums and a favorite of mine. There are others.
Brobear, CNET also rates the drives and they have the plextor rated 3 Just thought you might want to know that info.
Bbmayo Thanks for the input, I was just mentioning Plextor being absent from the PC World list. Most months, Plextor has made that one. That's why I mentioned it and the good price for it at Newegg. Most publications rate Plextor as it is one of the better burners. As I know most of the equipment, and get the reviews from various trades, I don't need the info personally. Your noting the rating at CNet may be handy for some of the other members though. Computer Shopper is another trade that is handy for checking out PC equipment. If the prospective consumers take the time to look around, they can find several trades and sites that do PC equipment reviews.
