Using a DVD Writer on a Slow PC

[Ma_Jie]

Hello all! I'm very new to backing up DVDs -- I plan to buy my first burner this week or next -- but I have a question: in order to burn reliably, and with some measure of rapidity (though with reliability being most important), will it matter that I'm running a K7 850 w/ 256 MB of SDRAM? Does anyone know of a possible time estimate, say, burning at 4x or 8x, that a PC with those specs, will take to burn a disc?

Also, I would to thank everyone at this site -- I've spent the last several days searching this site, and it is really helped me to learn about backing up DVDs and the different writers available (e.g., NEC 3500 and Pioneer DVR108).

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me out!!

Cheers,

MJ

[ZippyP.]

4X is about 15 mins. and should be OK for your PC. It might have trouble keeping up at 8x though.

[canadateck]

I did many burns on the same setup a few years ago at 4x , Like Zippy said there maybe trouble keeping up with 8x , I never did try there wasnt 8x then.

[Ma_Jie]

Hi guys.

Thank you very much for your replies -- I was concerned that a 4x burn could take upwards of one or two hours. Including ripping, at say 2x, which is what the Pioneer DVR-108 is I think, how long would the whole process -- ripping + burning -- take on a PC like mine?

Thanks again,

MJ

[ZippyP.]

You can speed up the ripping by using hacked firmware to unlock it, like here. Many people don't like to rip with a writer as it increases the wear and tear on the drive. With the price of drives these days I don't think it's a big deal.

There's quite a few variables when you speak of ripping and writing to a DVD, like the size of the original, the amount of compression required, the software used, your settings etc. A movie that fits on one disk w/o compression could be done in 45 mins. One that needs higher compression and deep analysis could take 2 hours.

[Ma_Jie]

Zippy, you're the man! I was actually going to start a new topic asking about DVD Writer ripping versus DVD-ROM, but you answered the question for me, so thanks.

I have another question, and I hope it's OK that I ask it here: does the Pioneer DVR-108, does anyone know, have official firmware that allows for bit-setting?

Thanks,

MJ

[ZippyP.]

...official firmware that allows for bit-setting?

Not quite "official", pioidata firmware allows bitsetting the 108, unfortunately it is rip-locked. http://www.cdfreaks.com/ is the place to go for more firmware info. BTW, i have a 108 as well.

[Ma_Jie]

Hi Zippy. What is the effect of the riplock? Does it add significant time to the rip? If that's the case, I may just buy a $25 DVD-ROM to rip with.. That way, I can get around the riplock, and still have bit-setting. That would work, right? ^__^

Cheers

- MJ

Edit: Would I have to use unofficial firmware to allow bit-setting?

[handyguy]

My 800mhz wrote a dvd just as fast as my P4 2.6ghz computer using the same writers.

Decoding time, of course, is much faster on a P4.