Too many options, too many products; which one(s)

[gsd]

Thanks, first of all, for all the information on this site. This is the best place I have found.

I resisted giving up the vcr but became interested in digital and am trying to understand it.I want to record movies from direct tv, then edit commercials or even extract an interesting scene or two onto a cd or dvd; record home movies from an analog camcorder, and edit out the (most) boring parts; record media from internet (pc) including photos; and copy MY dvd even if write protected. Is that too much to ask? I have a Dell Inspiron 8200 laptop with a cd burner and dvd reader that that has 256 GB RAM and I am upgrading to 80 GB of HD. I apologize for asking the same questions that have been ask before. I have looked at the archives and tried to answer these questions but some of the info is about products that are being discontinued and hard to find and most info is about desktops. For instance, I read that several people had good results with a Panasonic LF D521 but this appears to be for a desktop and is being replaced with another model. I saw a Panasonic LF D 560 (superburner II), external that records -R and RAM and uses usb2.0 and firewire. If I go the PC route would this be a good choice to transfer ram from dvd recorder to pc to edit? Then burn with the pc or transfer back to the DVD recorder and record to dvd there?

With DVD Decripter it appears that I also need software to copy? If so, any opinions between DVD X Copy Gold and DVD Wizard Pro? The W. Pro looked good, besides being cheaper it claims to copy to cd disk.. Can that cd be played on a dvd player, Apex 1010w specifically? If I get a small Hard Drive Tivo machine will the data transfer to the Hard Drive of a DVD Recorder? Without loss of quality? Do I really need a tivo AND a dvd recorder?

thanks for any help,
greg

[noki]

DVD X Copy Gold/Platinum...
price: $100-150
speed: fast
size: large download or long walk to the software store
reliability: intermitten to bad

DVD Shrink 3.0b5...
price: free
speed: probably faster
size: download in less than 1 minute w_56k modem
reliability: great to super great

tough choice

[gsd]

Thanks for the breakdown, I believe that settles that point. I tried to use correct terminology but relaized that I said "copy" when I should have said "burn". Any opinion as to THE software program to burn? Or does it come with the burner? Any opinion as to the Panasonic LF D 560?

thanks again,
greg

[spiderman2k1]

to copy DTV use MPEG2VCR for edtting capture card's Dazzle 2, ATI AIW,Hauppauge WinTV PVR-350 or 250 model. I have ATI AIW and the Dazzle 2. Dazzle 2 is better. Go to www.dazzlegeek.com to learn more to see if it will work with your mother board.

[playtec]

To all who even think about buying DVD Wizard Pro... DONT
All you are paying for is guides on how to use other freeware and some shareware programs... DVD Decrypter being the most used program in the guides.
They want a huge chunk of your bucks to give you info you can get for free here or by asking in forums online.
I know, I fell for it!!

[b1tchm4gn3t]

PLAYTEC....

YOU are not alone as I fell for it before I knew what I was getting into!