Want a DVD writer ...

[Daminator]

... and I know NOTHING about them.

I've never really looked into the Pros+Cons of the different types, because I've never had any interest in getting one. I'm now thinking seriously about taking the plunge though as I'm an animator and the 700Mb limit of normal CD writers is starting to be a pain.

So what should I be looking for? And any recommendations?

What sort of price range do I need to be looking at?

I'd probably be going for an external one unless I could get an internal for my Laptop at a sensible price.

Thanks a lot for any feedback

Damian

[Capmaster]

Getting an internal one for your laptop will limit your choices and will cost considerably more than an external. Do you have firewire or USB2 on your laptop? If not you can get a PCCARD (PCMCIA) that'll take care of that for about 40 bucks. I personally prefer firewire's stability, but for a writer either will be plenty fast.

Then you want to get an external USB2 (or firewire) enclosure for the drive. These accept the USB2 connection from your laptop and allow you to buy an IDE interface writer. This is much less expensive than buying a writer that's already set up for USB2 (or firewire). Several models handle USB2 and Firewire with the same box. Check out Computergeeks.com. They run about $45.

Then get a writer. There are a whole slew of combination drives that'll handle every possible combination of media types. What type you go with will be up to you, but you might want to lurk in the media section of the forum and read about the pros and cons from users of each media type. Price range is whatever you want to spend - from about $50 to several hundreds of dollars.

Generally DVD-R and DVD-RW media is less expensive than DVD+R and DVD+RW. DVD-R has the advantage of being compatible with more set-top players, but it's not hard to find a player that'll handle whatever you want to burn. If you already have the player then pick one that's compatible with it.

[makntraks]

snip, snip....player that'll handle whatever you want to burn. If you already have the player then pick one that's compatible with it.

And the next question will be "How do I do that??"

makntraks

[Capmaster]

snip, snip....player that'll handle whatever you want to burn. If you already have the player then pick one that's compatible with it.

And the next question will be "How do I do that??"

makntraks

I know. I'm mellow today though

I remember those painful scary days of noobdom with video stuff though. I'm glad some sage stopped to show me the ropes, so to speak. Plus, there's so much more now in the way of hardware than there was 2 years ago when I started. The good thing is that the hardware is more user friendly

Bottom line: Read the guides on the left. Also read the "How-To" section. Lots of good answers and you won't risk catching a board old-timer on a bad day and getting your tail feathers singed. People here have varying levels of patience when someone doesn't read the forum rules before posting ....especially:

Please try to do some basic research before posting.
Most fundamental questions are answered on the How To's on this site.

This one gets ignored over and over.

[makntraks]

snip, snip....player that'll handle whatever you want to burn. If you already have the player then pick one that's compatible with it.

And the next question will be "How do I do that??"

makntraks

I know. I'm mellow today though

I remember those painful scary days of noobdom with video stuff though. I'm glad some sage stopped to show me the ropes, so to speak. Plus, there's so much more now in the way of hardware than there was 2 years ago when I started. The good thing is that the hardware is more user friendly

Bottom line: Read the guides on the left. Also read the "How-To" section. Lots of good answers and you won't risk catching a board old-timer on a bad day and getting your tail feathers singed. People here have varying levels of patience when someone doesn't read the forum rules before posting ....especially:

Please try to do some basic research before posting.
Most fundamental questions are answered on the How To's on this site.

This one gets ignored over and over.

True dat compadre, true dat...

makntraks

[sunderland]

"How-To" section. Lots of good answers and you won't risk catching a board old-timer on a bad day and getting your tail feathers singed.

and believe me there is a lot of them on this site

[Daminator]

Thanks for the help. One of those IDE enclosure things is a great idea, I've been meaning to get one of those for a spare hard drive I have too.

So for, I think DVD-R may be the one for me, but I'll try to read up on it more. I'm just wanting it for backing up large files and showing my animations on lots of different DVD players.

[makntraks]

Thanks for the help. One of those IDE enclosure things is a great idea, I've been meaning to get one of those for a spare hard drive I have too.

So for, I think DVD-R may be the one for me, but I'll try to read up on it more. I'm just wanting it for backing up large files and showing my animations on lots of different DVD players.

You'll never REALLY know until you also TRY +R..... j/k...

makntraks

[indolikaa]

I recommend a FireWire-capable Dual-Format burner.

[crs117]

Daminater,

i wanted to post here but the stupid forum rules prevented me from posting the day i signed up (despite the fact that i have been lurking here for about 3 months). Why is there a need for a one day delay before you can post??? Anyway i had a family member pass away and couldnt get back here till today.

There are some good suggestions here for you to follow...but i wanted to say you are very talented. I checked out your site and your animations crack me up. I really liked the MJ dancing toy (the whole movie was great). i am kinda suprised that you render you animations on your laptop. How long does it take to render those vids on your laptop? Anyway nice work, and a DVD burner would work nicely for you to show off your work.

Christian

[Kamran]

Get the pioneer 107 ist the best

[Daminator]

Thanks for that Christian!

It's always nice to hear positive feedback about your work, but trying to get on to post for 2 or 3 days is above and beyond the call of duty Thank you indeed!