Thread: Dual Layer dvd burners

Anybody using one of these? Any info, advice, pros, cons etc. appreciated. Right now I'm looking at external.

Originally Posted by Mott the Hoople

Anybody using one of these? Any info, advice, pros, cons etc. appreciated. Right now I'm looking at external.

lg, cheap but great.. and use ritek blanks, if you can't find em locally, try ebay or rima.com. not really worth it to burn dual layer discs.. they still cost around $2.50 each while a regular dvd-r costs only 30 cents.. i guess if you're into copying dvd movies it might be worth it but you can also download a program called 'dvdshrink' which will shrink any dvd down so it will fit on a regular dvd-r..

also, why would you get an external burner? get an internal and if you ever need it to be external you can buy a usb enclosure, this is a small box that you can slide your internal dvd player into and it becomes an external drive that you can connect to any computer with a simple usb or firewire cable.. an enclosure can make any internal drive an external drive, including hard drives.

ditto on the dual layer not really being worth it. It's nice to have the capability, but the only dl discs i ever burned were when i'd just got the replacement burner put in my powerbook (my old optical drive died outright) and was still geeked up on just being able to. I can't tell the difference in quality between a 4gb movie and a 7 or 8 gb movie, and if I need more than 4gb of storage space an external drive makes more sense.

ditto again on the internal.

Sorry, I sort of disagree with the two mags above. Mainly, because I have a laptop and that's why I needed an external drive (I bought a single layer NEC about two year ago, and it works great). I'm guessing that's why you are looking at external drives yourself. Also, quite a few movies don't fit on one single layer disk without losing some quality, even when using dvdshrink and stripping off menus/extras. I can tell the difference in quality between 75% or lower compression compared to the full quality, so I've been using dvdshrink to split the movies over two disks... Pain in the ass, I know, but that's the way it was for awhile when you couldn't burn dual, so I just got used to it.

Now, I think that dl drives can still burn single layer media, but don't quote me on it. If that's the case, you can buy a spindle of sl for < 30 cents/piece and a few dl disks for $2.50 and you are pretty much set for any movie you want to burn. Even if you don't plan to burn movies, buy a dual layer drive and use single layer disks until dual becomes cheap, because you know it will eventually.

I believe that most external drives are just regular internal drives with a USB enclosures on them anyways. I can take mine apart and stick it into any desktop like any other internal drive, all I would need is an IDE cable to connect to the motherboard. The external drives are more expensive, but if you buy a USB enclosure separately later on, it would probably cost you more than just buying an external drive to start with.

DON'T buy the cheapest blank media, your burns will fail alot more often and you won't save any money in the long run.

My somewhat long and ranting $0.02.

Most dl drives, afaik, will burn single layer too (at least mine does). I sprung a little extra for the dl, and I don't regret it. It just hasn't been that big a boon to me to have the capability.

Toast Titanium does all the shrinking for me. Works well. I can sometimes notice the compression, especially looking at moving gradients of solid colors... What I SHOULD have said was that I've never had it bother me in the least.

From the little bit of minor shopping I've done (and it has been MINOR), I found that getting an internal drive and then getting a cheap enclosure is cheaper than getting the whole kit put together. I could be way off base. Probably am.

Originally Posted by Infantile Egomaniac

Sorry, I sort of disagree with the two mags above. Mainly, because I have a laptop and that's why I needed an external drive (I bought a single layer NEC about two year ago, and it works great). I'm guessing that's why you are looking at external drives yourself. Also, quite a few movies don't fit on one single layer disk without losing some quality, even when using dvdshrink and stripping off menus/extras. I can tell the difference in quality between 75% or lower compression compared to the full quality, so I've been using dvdshrink to split the movies over two disks... Pain in the ass, I know, but that's the way it was for awhile when you couldn't burn dual, so I just got used to it.

Now, I think that dl drives can still burn single layer media, but don't quote me on it. If that's the case, you can buy a spindle of sl for < 30 cents/piece and a few dl disks for $2.50 and you are pretty much set for any movie you want to burn. Even if you don't plan to burn movies, buy a dual layer drive and use single layer disks until dual becomes cheap, because you know it will eventually.

I believe that most external drives are just regular internal drives with a USB enclosures on them anyways. I can take mine apart and stick it into any desktop like any other internal drive, all I would need is an IDE cable to connect to the motherboard. The external drives are more expensive, but if you buy a USB enclosure separately later on, it would probably cost you more than just buying an external drive to start with.

DON'T buy the cheapest blank media, your burns will fail alot more often and you won't save any money in the long run.

My somewhat long and ranting $0.02.

the current standard dvd burner is 16x dual layer and shouldn't cost more than $40.. they can burn anything. get the enclosure, get some ritek blank dvd-r's, get a dual layer ritek three pack and see for yourself whether you think the quality loss is worth spending the extra $2.25 per disc.

Good info. Thanks to all participants.

The cost of dual layer discs does not justify the end results.
Hell if you're gonna use DL discs you might as well just have netflix so you can watch the same movie over and over if you're astute enough to notice the difference.

Only thing I use DL's for is my monthly "important shit" backups.

Also had great luck with both the Pioneer drives and the HP lightscribe drives.

TDK media also works in just about everything (make sure origin of manufacturing is either china or japan... NOT taiwan.)

Originally Posted by focus

From the little bit of minor shopping I've done (and it has been MINOR), I found that getting an internal drive and then getting a cheap enclosure is cheaper than getting the whole kit put together. I could be way off base. Probably am.

I've found that watching for "specials" gets you an external drive for the same price as an internal. Last month I picked up a 160GB external drive for $99cdn; today it's $189. On the other hand, today I can get a 200GB internal for $89. I guess it depends on what they're clearing out of the warehouse.

I've gone to USB drives for backups and stuff because it's less hassle than buring disks.

And... before you buy, make sure you check out:

www.dealnews.com

Originally Posted by Snow Dog

I've found that watching for "specials" gets you an external drive for the same price as an internal. Last month I picked up a 160GB external drive for $99cdn; today it's $189. On the other hand, today I can get a 200GB internal for $89. I guess it depends on what they're clearing out of the warehouse.

I've gone to USB drives for backups and stuff because it's less hassle than buring disks.

True. If you wait you can find anything cheap. I got a stack of 100 Sony DVD-R's for 15 Bucks! Damn.

Originally Posted by wanghoeby

True. If you wait you can find anything cheap. I got a stack of 100 Sony DVD-R's for 15 Bucks! Damn.

In Canada DVD-Rs are $35/100. There's a copying levy on recordable media. On the other hand, since we've paid for a right-to-copy we're free to copy. The CRIA (Canadian Recording Industry Association) spends the money losing in court instead of giving it back to the artists.