About to buy a DVD Burner

tastyweat

Just gonna grab a DVD Burner - NEC ND2500A - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatal...k_Only_25.html

What would you say is good software for converting a divx/xvid/avi/mpeg into compatable files and burning to the DVD to be able to watch these files on a set top dvd player?

Necrosis

Nero should do what you need though some folks have had problems with it..but AnyDVD works pretty good. One thing you should look at is what formats you dvd player supports.

tastyweat

what do you mean by formats?

Crash Override

Theres 4 standards currently out

DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW


Currently my burner supports all 4.

The most compatible format though tends to be -R although I have seen some players that will only take +RW for some odd reason.

Necrosis

Hmm odd it's been said +R is the most supported. I only have the +R format for my burner & haven't seen a reason to upgrade yet especially since my dvd player supports it. Normally I just refer to the formats as - R & + R to keep it simple.

Here are some various links for you to check out.

http://www.herrie.org/
http://www.cdfreaks.com/
http://www.cdrinfo.com/
http://www.dvdrw.com/
http://dvdplusid.cdfreaks.com/

I'm sure there are plenty more sites out there too.

Dyre Straits

It is a very well debated topic as to which DVD format is 'most compatible'. Here's another one among the ones that I found that state the -R is the most compatible:

"Quote: CDR-Info, has determined that DVD-R is clearly the most compatible DVD recording format on the market. To assess the compatibility level of DVD Formats we created video content on a DVD writer using DVD-R/RW and +R/RW media. These discs were then played back in other DVD players and DVD-ROM drives –over a 1,000 combinations of drive, media and player were tested."

ReviewHQ

Necrosis

It depends on the manufacture of the DVD player which is most compatible. You can upgrade the firmware for your dvd rom (I had to) to get it to recognize my burns. I did not state + R "was" the most compatibile it was just what I heard. However, if your dvd player is less than two years old you shouldn't have a problem either way. You can also find info. about how to configure burns that work the best with your dvd player. For instance my dvd player will only work with CDRW+ media if I setup the bitrate manually.

tastyweat

... oh right - you were on about + - etc... ok

Yeah - this NEC ND2500A has DVD+-R 8x and DVD+-RW 4x

And I will be wanting to play in my set-top dvd player - so I will be mainly after DVD-R discs

BWX

A few weeks ago techTV recommended one that supports all formats and was the least expensive to do so- it was also the quietest. I think it was on the Screen Savers. - it was a Sony I think. You might want to check that out real quick before you make the final decision.

tastyweat

Thx - I was looking at the Sony - £20 more expensive - the NEC is on special offer

mainman

I almost bought a Sony DVD burner yesterday, but i think ill just wait for the price to drop a bit more... with the new DVD burners comin out with dual layer tecnologie prices are bound to fall...

Logla

Ive got a Pioner 106. At CES, Pioneer demonstrated the dual layer discs on that very burner just by adding a new firmware. I'm wary of the Sony burners though - they have a tendancy to be picky about the media they will burn to. I believe they prefer Sony media funnily enough

mainman

Very interesting info bud, thanks for the heads up.

eyeguy616

Y'all should check out livewarehouse.com for their dvd-burners. Their prices are some of the cheapest I've found (NEC ND-1300A 4X DVD±RW Dual Drive for $99!) and the DVD-R media is dirt cheap ($30 for a 50 pack, but they're 2x).
So far I've had my dvd burner drive for almost a year and am just about to run out of my first 50 pack. DVD-R's just seem to work all the time since i've yet to have any drive reading problems.

Good luck with your purchase!
~eyeguy616

WildChild

Most commonly used format for movies burned is +R.....-R is usually used for data as far as I can find...

hasher

i've always like tdk drives the new one 880n is r+8x and r-8x. also i think LG dvd rom is dvdr/rw+/- and dvdram.

tastyweat

It's arrived the NEC - just gotta install it!