Computer question: Burning DVD's

[bluestateguy]

I have many files on my hard drive--a mish mash of stuff--some in Quciktime and some in Real Player. While I don't yet have a DVD burner, I will soon. I have no experience with DVD burning. I can't seem to find where I should get started. Can someone here with experience in this area please tell me how to get started?

[onehandle]

1. Mac or PC...

I know Mac. If Mac, which Mac?

and OS9 or X?

[bluestateguy]

3. I have Windows XP

Macs make me uncomfortable.

[onehandle]

4. Take a blank DVD...

Fold and shove into your floppy drive. Repeat until you smell smoke.

KIDDING!

Sorry I can't help you. I'm sure someone around here can. Good luck!

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

2. You have to have a program that will do the conversion

I like Roxio. It's easy to use. There are others that know far more than me but I just thought I'd kick your thread for you.

[Ohio Dem]

5. Roxio:

I did what I almost never do. I actually paid for the super-cool Roxio (as opposed to what came on the computer). I really like it, but I use if mainly for audio applications, so I'm no real help in this thread.

Note: I used Roxio's "CD copy" function to copy the premium Roxio CD for my brother. Oh, the irony.

[donco6]

6. With a DVD burner, it's a piece of cake.

The burner (you said DVD burner, not CD burner, right?) will come with software for you to burn your DVDs from taped or TIVO-ed movies.

A CD burner will generally NOT burn DVDs, hence the distinction. You can buy some of this crappy software off the 'Net that purports to burn DVDs from CD burners, but it takes like 10 hours to burn one, so probably just as good to go to Amazon.com and buy the thing.

[Salviati]

7. Burning a data DVD is just the same as a data CD

only you get 4.7 GB instead of 700 MB, if that's any help. Without doubt your DVD burner will come with appropriate software to do the burning, and it should be pretty foolproof.

The one hitch to watch out for is that DVD media is not completely standardized yet. There are two competing formats avalible. DVD+R and DVD-R (the differance being the + or -). It is important to get the right kind of blank discs for whatever kind of burner you buy.

If you're thinking about actually burning video DVD's to be played on a regular DVD player, that's a bit more complicated. The burner will probably come with some rudimentary video editing and DVD authoring software, but it may not be terribly easy to use. I don't have too much experiance with that aspect of it...

[Ohio Dem]

9. Can you put flash movies on DVD?

And which type of DVD would you recommend, the + or the -?

[Salviati]

10. Actually...

Many of the new DVD burners being released now are able to burn either format. This may be the best way to go, as you can get the best of both worlds.

I had seen a few links out there on yahoo that laid out the differances for each kind, but I've lost the links, but if you poke around a bit it shouldn't be too hard to dig up the info...

As far as the flash movies go, I have no idea... I haven't looked into doing that before, if you could somehow convert them to mpeg or something first, it would be pretty easy to make a video DVD out of them I would imagine, but I don't know if there is any programs out there to do that...

[Liberal_as_Fuck]

8. There are two types of DVD Burners, DVD+R and DVD-R

DVD+R holds about 8 gig per disk, and DVD-R holds about 4.7 gig per disk. Once you decide which one you're going to buy, it is no harder than burning a data CD. But if you're going to burn movies, you'll probably need a program to splice it onto two disks. They're expensive, or if you download off the internet they're free-99

[Obsolete]

11. ummm, not quite....

DVD-R and DVD+R both hold 4.7 gigs (4.3 in reality). The format that holds 9 gigs is the dual-layered DVD-9, which is only for commercial pressings (such as movies)

If you are going to burn your own movies, you can easily fit a 2 hour movie with quality compression on 1 disc. The above reference to "splice it onto two discs" probably refers to copying (ripping) commercial DVD's, which can be too large to fit onto one DVD+-R. Ignore for now.

DVD-R's are said to be more compatible with home units, but I think they are about even. And like others said, burning a data DVD is just like burning a data CD.

A good overall site is www.dvddemystified.com