Multiple DVD Recorders...

[davet]

I want to have multiple DVD Recorders to burn more than one copy of a DVD simultaneously. What would be the best DVD burner to go with? Does anyone have any experience with this?

I'm talking about making my own home videos. I just don't feel like making a copy for every part of the family individually and spending roughly five hours infront of the computer in order to do so.

I need pros AND cons, here. Any advice or direction of any kind is welcome and appreciated. Thank you much!

-Dave. (greyshirt78@hotmail.com)

[bugster]

I'm talking about making my own home videos. I just don't feel like making a copy for every part of the family individually and spending roughly five hours infront of the computer in order to do so.


-Dave. (greyshirt78@hotmail.com)

Even with only 1 burner, once the disk image is created on your HD, it only takes a maximum of 50 mins or so to burn at 1x speed. Where does 5 hours come into doing multiple copies?

[draganong]

Prassi PrimoDVD 2.0, maybe ? I am not sure, I think I read somewhere it could do that.

/draganong

[musher70]

First, you say recorder, then you say burner....
what is you you want???

[davet]

I'm talking about making my own home videos. I just don't feel like making a copy for every part of the family individually and spending roughly five hours infront of the computer in order to do so.


-Dave. (greyshirt78@hotmail.com)

Even with only 1 burner, once the disk image is created on your HD, it only takes a maximum of 50 mins or so to burn at 1x speed. Where does 5 hours come into doing multiple copies?

I've not burned any DVDs yet. Don't know how long it takes.

[BJ_M]

you can hook up 4 or so via firewire and use prassi to burn at multiple burners at once .. i dont have any problems doing this ..

[davet]

First, you say recorder, then you say burner....
what is you you want???

Sorry, I don't mean to use the terms loosely. Desired results is to burn multiple DVD video discs simultaneously. I know more about internal combustion engines than I do burning DVDs. I only know what I want to do not neccesarily the correct way to convey it.

[davet]

you can hook up 4 or so via firewire and use prassi to burn at multiple burners at once .. i dont have any problems doing this ..

Using 1394, does this create any complications with drivers or slow the process down? I burn VCDs, is the process similar with DVDs? ... encoding video, burning.. whatnot...

Thanks.

[JustPlainDon]

Dave,

I have 4 Sony DRU-500A (firmware 2.0g) in an old external SCSI 4 drive case. I used firewire interfaces and have them connected via firewire to my computer.

After spending the bucks on DiscJuggler’s 4 DVD burner license (ouch!), I found out that Nero 6 supports multiple burners to produce 4 copies at once. At any rate, both programs work with my “firewire DVD jukebox” to give me 4 DVDs in a little under 20 minutes when burning at 4X. In one hour I can realistically turn out 12 DVDs and be well into burning the next 4.

If you are interested in the firewire-IDE interface units, my hardware, etc., let me know.

L8r,
JustPlainDon

[davet]

Dave,

I have 4 Sony DRU-500A (firmware 2.0g) in an old external SCSI 4 drive case. I used firewire interfaces and have them connected via firewire to my computer.

After spending the bucks on DiscJuggler’s 4 DVD burner license (ouch!), I found out that Nero 6 supports multiple burners to produce 4 copies at once. At any rate, both programs work with my “firewire DVD jukebox” to give me 4 DVDs in a little under 20 minutes when burning at 4X. In one hour I can realistically turn out 12 DVDs and be well into burning the next 4.

If you are interested in the firewire-IDE interface units, my hardware, etc., let me know.

L8r,
JustPlainDon

Yes, I would be interested. I own Nero 6 so that's one duck in the barrel, already. I am having a hard time picturing four DVD burners connected through 1394, though. Sounds like it took you some time.

[JustPlainDon]

Hi Dave,

Here are the parts of my DVD burner jukebox:

Four Sony DRU-500A DVD+/-RW drives
External SCSI 4 drive enclosure with power supply (make sure PS can handle load of DVD-RW and firewire bridges)

I got the following two items from Firewire Depot (http://www.fwdepot.com) :

FireWire DO-1394a Dual Drive bridgeboard: This adapter connects to two burners or IDE drives so you need two to support 4 drives.

FireWire FWX2-ECS extender (mounts on the enclosure to replace old external SCSI connection. In my case the mounting hardware was a perfect match.

The above two items came with all the necessary internal 6" cables needed for inside the case. If you can manually install a CD-ROM drive in a computer case, you should really have no problems with this. I expected to have to tweak everything, but it worked properly the first time and has been pretty much problem free.

Remember that these are my experiences with the above installed in my system and YMMV.

L8r,
JustPlainDon

[davet]

Hi Dave,

Here are the parts of my DVD burner jukebox:

Four Sony DRU-500A DVD+/-RW drives
External SCSI 4 drive enclosure with power supply (make sure PS can handle load of DVD-RW and firewire bridges)

I got the following two items from Firewire Depot (http://www.fwdepot.com) :

FireWire DO-1394a Dual Drive bridgeboard: This adapter connects to two burners or IDE drives so you need two to support 4 drives.

FireWire FWX2-ECS extender (mounts on the enclosure to replace old external SCSI connection. In my case the mounting hardware was a perfect match.

The above two items came with all the necessary internal 6" cables needed for inside the case. If you can manually install a CD-ROM drive in a computer case, you should really have no problems with this. I expected to have to tweak everything, but it worked properly the first time and has been pretty much problem free.

Remember that these are my experiences with the above installed in my system and YMMV.

L8r,
JustPlainDon

Sounds like a weekend project! That's some serious jerry rigging. I think I have a good idea of what you're talking about. However, if you don't mind emailing me a few digitals I would greatly appreciate it. Or if you can find someone with a similiar setup that's already out there that'll be just fine, too.

Thanks again, Don.

[BJ_M]

its a good setup he has -- and would work well ... i just plug in 6 firewire external cases with burners in them .... i have a lot of old scsi cases which have good power supplies .. but no time to bother with mod'ng them to firewire ... everything there is off the shelf and goes together very quickly ..

[JustPlainDon]

Dave,

It took me about the same amount of time as installing the same hardware in a regular PC case. A short afternoon project would probably be a better description of how long it will take. When I get home I will probably just draw you a diagram of how everything connects inside (not really that difficult to throw together). I'll also take a pic of the front and back so you can see the final product.

I had considered indivual cases for them, but I wanted a single unit and I already had the SCSI drive enclosure. All I had to do for the enclosure was to remove the SCSI connection plate in the back and replace it with the other item I mentioned (perfect fit, no drilling and even the screws were a perfect match). I gambled on it working and it did.

L8r,
JustPlainDon

[davet]

Dave,

It took me about the same amount of time as installing the same hardware in a regular PC case. A short afternoon project would probably be a better description of how long it will take. When I get home I will probably just draw you a diagram of how everything connects inside (not really that difficult to throw together). I'll also take a pic of the front and back so you can see the final product.

I had considered indivual cases for them, but I wanted a single unit and I already had the SCSI drive enclosure. All I had to do for the enclosure was to remove the SCSI connection plate in the back and replace it with the other item I mentioned (perfect fit, no drilling and even the screws were a perfect match). I gambled on it working and it did.

L8r,
JustPlainDon

I appreciate the visuals! I'm not out of the woods, yet.

Thanks, again for your help with this, guys.

[qpskfec]

The new plextor burner will burn 8X with 4X +R media. Each disc should take 7-10 min to burn. Depending on how many discs you need to burn, this is a pretty simple solution. You should also be able to install 2 of these drives on IDE.

[The village idiot]

If you want to build some of these boxes, there are several places that offer them. Mostly all you have to do is put Firewire bridge board into google and you will have several to chose from.

http://shop.ily.com/default.htm

http://fwdepot.com/thestore/product_info.php/products_id/360

Guess I didn't save any more. Or just buy them in boxes.

[JustPlainDon]

Hey Dave,

You should have a two pics of the unit and a crude schematic of the internal connections in your hotmail.

L8r,
JustPlainDon

[davet]

If you want to build some of these boxes, there are several places that offer them. Mostly all you have to do is put Firewire bridge board into google and you will have several to chose from.

http://shop.ily.com/default.htm

http://fwdepot.com/thestore/product_info.php/products_id/360

Guess I didn't save any more. Or just buy them in boxes.

Hey you guys! Found some enclosures online. Thought I would share my discovery.

http://www.triumphtech.com - they have 8-bay enclosures (300W ps)