Quick Newb Question For DL Drives & Burning DL Discs

[OptimusPrime]

Hi everyone, it's been ages since I've posted in here.

I'm one of the very few people on the planet who don't have a dvd±r drive yet. I've done a little research and have boiled it down to a few dual-layer dvd±r drive options (located below), which are the only type of dvd±r drive I'm looking for. If you have any other suggestions for a dual-layer burner I'm all for it.

Pioneer DVR-111D
NEC ND-3550A
LG GSA-4167B

Now, to my question. Ok, so let's say I pop in a dual-layer dvd movie. Will the software tell me it's dual-layered and to put in a dual-layer dvd+r disc? Sorry for the ignorance and any help would be greatly appreciated!

[platinumsword]

Read here

http://club.cdfreaks.com/forumdisplay.php?f=107

It's all a matter of opinion.

[Kerry56]

To answer your question on the dual layer movie, yes, many different types of software will tell you the size of the dvd you are attempting to copy. In fact, most commercial dvds are dvd9 (dual layer size), so you should expect to find them that size. This is the whole reason software such as DVDShrink, CloneDVD, DVDRebuilder, etc. came about---so that you could reduce the size of the movie to fit onto a dvd5 (single layer) disk.

And if you are using Windows, just put the movie in the dvd drive, right click on the drive in My Computer, hit Properties and it will tell you the amount of data on the disk. If it is over 4.3Gb, (approximately) you've got a disk that can't be copied straight over to a single layer disk.

If you want to copy the entire movie onto a DL disk, I suggest using DVDDecrypter in ISO Read mode, then burn to your dual layer disk with ImgBurn. If it has an advanced protection scheme that Decrypter can't handle natively, then my favorite way is to use AnyDVD in the background, then use DVDShrink to output to an ISO (without using compression). Then burn with ImgBurn. These techniques will keep the layer break set correctly. Remember to exit AnyDVD before burning with ImgBurn.

There are other combinations that will work just as well though. And I have to admit, I don't often do this method. Most of the time I'll just copy the main movie. If I want to look at the extras, I'll just dig out the original disk.

As to your choices on a burner---I think you've got a very good selection.

[OptimusPrime]

Thanks for the reply guys, that saved me a lot of questions/searching.

1 more question, then I'm done:

1.) Ok, my choice is the Pioneer drive, but it doesn't come with any cables. I would assume this 80-pin cable will work fine with my dvd-rom drive as well, I assume?

[platinumsword]

The only thing is that the Pioneer DVR-111D and NEC ND-3550A
require crossflashing in order to do bitsetting ( Booktyping ).

Buffalo firmware for Pioneer DVR-111D
Liggy and Dees firmware or Maddog firmware for NEC ND-3550A

If you do this you will void your warranty

I would suggest to you to go with one that supports bitsetting on its own.

Examples

BenQ DW1650
Sony DRU-810A ( Rebaged BenQ DW1640)

[OptimusPrime]

Oops, just ordered the Pioneer. Oh well.

Back to burning dual-layer movies, can I just use 2, single layer dvd+r discs instead or 1 DL dvd+r? I don't see why not, right? DL media is still hella expensive.

[Kerry56]

You can use two single layer disks if you want. I used to do this with the ReAuthor mode in DVDShrink, to divide them exactly where I wanted---especially on extremely long movies that would have required a lot of compression in Shrink. There are some guides for this procedure out there---look at www.mrbass.org or this guide at dvdshrink.info:
http://www.dvdshrink.info/splitting-v2-3.php

These days I use DVDReBuilder and reencode the movie to fit onto one disk. You can choose to keep just the movie, the movie and menu, or everything on the disk. The quality it produces is excellent, even with the free encoder included in the program (called HC). I personally use CCE Basic, since it is slightly faster than HC. I usually set the program to encode overnight, cause even with a relatively fast computer, it takes two and a half hours or more to encode.

There is a free, perfectly functional version of DVDRebuilder available if you want to try it. And it is simple to use.

[OptimusPrime]

I think of burning a movie like burning a mix-cd. I only like .wav files, no compression (I HATE .mp3's! ), so thanks for clarifying that I can use 2, single layer discs. Much appreciated!

Now I have to look in the endless media section on here to find out which quality discs to get. I assume either Verbatim Data-Life, or genuine Taiyo Yuden discs are the way to go.

[gregtherotterius]

just go for the verbatims, i wasnt aware Taiyo did dual layers, in fact i dont think they do.

[OptimusPrime]

gregtherotterius, no they don't. I'm thinking they're going to pass on that alltogether and just put out hd dvd-r's or blue ray dvd-r's. Just think, in probably less than 2 years all of our drives will be obsolete. I love it.

Those DL dvd+r's are just way too much right now anyway.

[platinumsword]

That's right, the next burner to buy will support Blue-Ray and HD-DvD as well. Although it could be sometime, the burners are expensive and so is the blank media.

[OptimusPrime]

Um, is encoding a movie, with all the menus/audio, without any compression at all.....in 9 minutes 45 seconds good?

[Kerry56]

Encoding? What exactly did you use?

Do you mean ripping the movie from the disk to the hard drive? Encoding is quite a different process, and can't be done quickly.

[OptimusPrime]

Yeah, it was ripping it to the hard drive, using that DVDShrink software you suggested to use.

[chef]

You have it on the hdd now.
Either you skip out some unwanted content and maybe shrink it to dvd5 size or burn it straight to a DVD9.
But i would prefer ImgBurn for that action.

[OptimusPrime]

Got my first pack of dvd+r's. Verbatim MCC 004. In Nero's CD/DVD Speed, under the general disc info section, it lists 4x, 8x, 10x, 12x and 16x as the write speeds. BUT, under the extended disc info section it says "write strategies 4x".

Why does it say only 4x in the extended info? Is that the recommended burn speed for these Verbatims?

[chef]

No, you cannot trust on what Infotool or CDDVD Speed shows you...