external dvd writer

Hi,

I think the latter will be do the job @ low cost.


regards - sunil

A DVD-writer will be around 1800/- LG 42N is currently the best. A casing will be about 300 bucks. But this will not be very reliable.
An external writer was around 4-5K last time I checked. Might have reduced by now.

Is an externalDVD writer really necessary?
I mean, can't you go in for an internal one?
Reason IMHO ,externals connect thru a USB port which is much slower compared to an internal which connects to the MB bus-much, much faster.

The interface speed really doesn't matter in case of optical drives cos no optical drive can saturate the ~35MB/s bandwidth of USB2. In any case, you can buy an LG H42N or Asus 1608p3s (a rebadged pioneer) and put it in a cheap casing like the zippys (~1200 bucks). Easily the best solution.

thanks guys... will check out the options in the market and come back with what is available

guys... bought LG H42N + zippy casing...

damage ==> 1900+800

Congrats-& enjoy!

gbharani schrieb:

guys... bought LG H42N + zippy casing... damage ==> 1900+800

What is this casing for? To provide mechanical protection to the drive? Does your writer write double-sided DVD 9. That's very useful for backing up large movie DVDs.

What does a Double sided DVD blank cost, vis-a-vis a single sided DVD ?

^Neutral, the casing is to make the drive external. It provides USB connectivity.

And I think you guys mean Dual Layer DVDs. They are available for around 150-200 I think. All the recent DVD writers can write to Dual Layer DVDs. As for dual sided DVD, I don't know the cost, but any writer will be able to write on it.

Hi zhopudey ,

You are correct. Thanks.

I did mean Dual Layered DVDs...

Given the fact that they are almost 10 x more expensive than single layers DVDs, recommending them would seem difficult, unless absolutely necessary... such as probably High Quality DVD movie copying.

Most DVD rippers (software ) provide the facility to selectively copy chapters of the DVD and drop stuff like the trailers etc...

Most DVD copy software will also compress and write a 2 layered DVD onto a single layer .... ofcourse at a compromised quality...

^^ DVD Shrink is the best for this. However, most new movies exceed 4.3gb even when all menus and extras are removed. Fitting these onto a single layer DVD needs compression to 75-80%. Not such a bad idea I guess, unless one has a 100" screen and needs 100% quality

Original pressed movies often exceed 4.5 GB, the max a DVD-R will take.
The answer is,as mentioned above By Amp_Nut, to use software that helps get rid of unecessary stuff,& if that does not reduce the size to 4.5 GB, then to compress the movie at the cost of quality OR to use software that splits the movie so that it can be recorded onto 2 DVD's.
Did this with some movies like Gladiator, shakespeare in love to preserve the sharpness/detail.

Kamal schrieb:

Original pressed movies often exceed 4.5 GB, the max a DVD-R will take. The answer is,as mentioned above By Amp_Nut, to use software that helps get rid of unecessary stuff,& if that does not reduce the size to 4.5 GB, then to compress the movie at the cost of quality OR to use software that splits the movie so that it can be recorded onto 2 DVD's. Did this with some movies like Gladiator, shakespeare in love to preserve the sharpness/detail.

Oops Yes, I was referring to dual-layered DVDs. As pointed out by you folks, most good English movies are too big to fit onto a single DVD. Unfortunately, I don't know how to remove 'unnecessary' details or split a movie. Those in the know, please suggest an online guide for me.

As for dual-layered DVDs being costly, DVD prices are crashing. Give it a few months, and they will cost change As soon as they become affordable, I would suggest that you guys back up all your music on them. Optical discs are fragile. At my friend's place, there are over 10 dics which won't play correctly! A loss of Rs 4,500 (450 x 10) at least. You will need just 10 DVDs (to back up an average collection of 100 CDs). So, go protect your investment of Rs 45,000.

BTW, we only need the English DD soundtrack, so all others can be safely removed.

Neutral, you can use DVDshrink + DVD43. Both are free software. DVDshrink will let you remove unwanted parts of the movie. DVD43 is to override the macro protection on DVDs.

You could also check out afterdawn.com for more such software tools.

You will need just 10 DVDs (to back up an average collection of 100 CDs

Nope, you can't back up music Cd's on DVD's

as zhopudey ... the casing is for making the drive external. wanted to use one for my laptop which had a dvd rom. cheaper this way to move it around when i go in for a new machine..

its cheaper to buy 10 blank single sided dvd's than buy a double sided one ...

zhopudey schrieb:

Neutral, you can use DVDshrink + DVD43. Both are free software. DVDshrink will let you remove unwanted parts of the movie. DVD43 is to override the macro protection on DVDs.

you mean if dvd's are copy protected and wont copy the normal way, this software will help me copy the dvd? mmmmmm

zhopudey schrieb:

Neutral, you can use DVDshrink + DVD43. Both are free software. DVDshrink will let you remove unwanted parts of the movie. DVD43 is to override the macro protection on DVDs.

Thanks Zhopudey,

I will do my R&D to find out how the DVD Shrink works. So wish that things were simple. But, anyway thank goodness that it is possible. BTW, does DVD Shrink back up to MP2 or MP4? Will a DVD created using this software work on any DVD player or just on computers?