DVD-RAM Format Gets Big Boost: Panasonic/Thompson Alliance

[Specialist]

http://www.thomson.net/gb/06/c03/030828.htm

For those who aren't aware, Thomson markets DVD players with the RCA and GE brand names.

DVD-RAM playback support will be featured as early as 2004 as a result of this new alliance between Thomson and Panasonic.

Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Bob W]

DVD-Ram has some advantages for sure so this is good news. I had to buy another DVD drive for my computer that would also read DVD-Ram disc so that I could edit recordings from my E50 recorder.

[q1aqza]

Bob W

I'm looking at buying my first standalone DVD recorder and whilst I prefer the Panasonic E50 I was put off by the DVD-RAM compatibility with my PC for editing so I was leaning toward the Philips DVDR70 (+RW) for better compatibility with my PC.

Which model DVD-ROM did you buy for your PC that is compatible with RAM?

Thanks.

[Specialist]

I have the following DVD-RAM capable DVD drives:

1. Panasonic LF-D311 (OEM)

2. Panasonic LF-D321 (Retail)

3. Panasonic SW-9571 (OEM)

I love them all, but the Panasonic SW-9571 is the fastest and also features support for DVD-RW in addition to DVD-R and DVD-RAM.

The Panasonic SW-9571 also burns to CD-R and CD-RW.

There is an ATAPI version ($175):

http://store.yahoo.com/ourstore-2000/panswmuldvdd.html

There is also an external Firewire version ($249):

http://store.yahoo.com/ourstore-2000/panswmuldriv.html

I also like the fact that the Panasonic drives feature DEEP DISH TRAYS that accept either the bare DVD-RAM discs or DVD-RAM discs in cartridges.

If the deep dish tray isn't important to you, then you could select the new LG GSA-4040B, which writes to *all* formats - including "+" formats!

It's $179:

http://store.yahoo.com/ourstore-2000/lggmmudrwrto.html

Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net

[CHAOS]

Or if you just want a dvd-rom drive for reading ram to transfer from your standalone dvd player, you can try the Toshiba SD-M1712, i picked one up for about $35.00-$40.00 shippped and it reads everything i put into it, ram, -r & +r. Bob W helped me out with how to transfer to my pc from ram when i first picked up my panasonic e30, very easy indeed!!!!
Best thing i ever bought!!!!!!

[handyguy]

" I'm looking at buying my first standalone DVD recorder and whilst I prefer the Panasonic E50 I was put off by the DVD-RAM compatibility with my PC for editing"

those write to dvd-r too....

Put on a dvd-r then put in your computer.

I see hsn.com discounted their cyberhome dvd recorder to about $328. from $920. Hmmm

[q1aqza]

"

those write to dvd-r too....

Put on a dvd-r then put in your computer.

I see hsn.com discounted their cyberhome dvd recorder to about $328. from $920. Hmmm

I don't want to waste a -R disk just to copy something to my PC HDD only to edit it and burn another -R disk again !!! But sure I would burn a -R from it if I didn't need to do any further editing.

I need to search for some guides on how easy or hard it is to transfer/edit DVD-RAM on to PC before I take the plunge with the E50 plus the purchase of a compatible DVD-ROM drive - I don't want to replace my Pioneer 104 writer yet.

Thanks to the others for the replies with RAM compatible models - ideally I would want a RAM compatible DVD-ROM that is also not locked at 2x ripping speed for DVD back-ups ??

[Specialist]

I need to search for some guides on how easy or hard it is to transfer/edit DVD-RAM on to PC

It's a snap with ULEAD's MediaStudio Pro version 7.0:

http://www.ulead.com/msp/features.htm

The ULEAD software supports DVD-VR, which enables the user to browse to his or her DVD-RAM-capable drive and then click a button to extract the raw MPEG from the DVD-RAM disc to the hard disk.

Then ULEAD's Smart Render technology preserves the quality of the original MPEG, rendering only *changes* made by the editor - such as titles, transitions, and filters.

Then - the user has the option of burning to DVD-R or recording back to DVD-RAM using an included DVD-VR EXPORT WIZARD.

The ULEAD software works great with the Panasonic player/recorders because the software supports AC-3 audio editing.

I also have the Panasonic VDR-M30 DVD disc camcorder...

http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ModelDetail?storeId=11251&cata...fModel=VDR-M30

...and it records to mini DVD-RAM or mini DVD-R discs.

I use it very successfully with ULEAD MediaStudio Pro 7.0 software.

Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net

[q1aqza]

Specialist, thanks for the info. I have been trawling the forum and it appears that DVD Workshop 1.3 should do the job I need (which I have).

Despite this I'm still torn between the Panny E50 and the Philips DVDR70 as I will primarily be using this for archiving from Sky+ PVR so some of the "better" features of the Panny (e.g. timeslip) won't get used and I would also need to buy a RAM compatible DVD ROM for my PC.

Oh well, I'll just have to keep reading more pros & cons between the two !!

[handyguy]

Try epinions.com before you buy as you can read opinions there. Didn't that Philips stop recording when it detects a small amount of snow & then start when it clears?

[Specialist]

Specialist, thanks for the info. I have been trawling the forum and it appears that DVD Workshop 1.3 should do the job I need (which I have).

One clarification about Ulead DVD Workshop.

It is the one Ulead application that doesn't have DVD-VR support.

You'll need MediaStudio Pro 7..

http://www.ulead.com/msp/runme.htm

...or Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2...

http://www.ulead.com/dmf/runme.htm

...or Ulead VideoStudio 7...

http://www.ulead.com/vs/runme.htm

...for the DVD-VR support.

DVD Workshop also comes in two flavors.

The regular version...

http://www.ulead.com/dws/runme.htm

...does not support AC-3 audio.

Then there is an AC-3 version...

http://www.ulead.com/dws/ac3.htm

That's the one you'll need for *editing* AC-3 MPEG without re-encoding.

Even Ulead's non-AC-3 applications will *burn* AC-3 MPEG without re-encoding.

Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net

[q1aqza]

Specialist,

Good point about the AC-3 editing, I was looking at it from more from the point of view of DVD authoring and assumed (I guess wrongly) that the smartrender would also "ignore" any cuts I'd made prior to the authoring process.

I'll just keep on reading up on all this for now, and hopefully by the time I've decided which one to go for the prices will have been cut yet again 8)