DVD/CD-RW/CD-R Drives

I'm new to computer DVD drives. What's the best way to go in purchasing one. I'm not looking for a DVD-RW drive just a good mid-level combo DVD/CD-RW/CD-R drive.

Also is it best to get one which does NOT need a special decoder? I'm clueless about special decoders needed or not needed to run the device. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

The only combo drive I can recommend are from Ricoh, I have the MP9060A, but this has been superceded by the MP9200A

I'm not sure what you mean by a "decoder ", you will need DVD player software to play regular movie DVDs, which costs extra, or you can get many dodgy ripper software packages that allow you to convert to an AVI/MPEG file and play in a regular media player.

As far as drivers are concerned, most DVD/CD players contain the driver in the firmware, which can be updated, and are are recognised by Windows.

 

Back in the day when DVD first appeared in computers they used a decoder card. Your DVD player hooked to the card internally, your vga connection hooked to a port on the decoder card and then your monitor hooked to the other port on the decoder card.

The majority of DVD players today are soft DVD meaning the necessary instructions to decode the DVD format and display it on your screen is part of the software that you install for the DVD player. Almost all DVD players I've seen also include the software application necessary to play the movie on your computer.

Is there a particular reason you want a combo drive?

I keep mine as two seperate units. I'm just skeptical right now of having my DVD and CD-RW units all crammed into one package. It gives me more options for copying, etc and It doesn't put me in a crisis situation if a unit fails, I still have the other available as a reader.


Gary.

 

CDRW DVD combo recommendation

I've installed a Toshiba CDRW-DVD drive that works nicely
it has 16x10x40x (R-RW-Read) 12x DVD read

It's model TSDR1202BK ATAPI and comes w VOB Instant CD/DVD software. The price is well under $180

I've used Easy CD, Nero, and now VOB -this software, although less well known than the former 2 is easy to use and works well.

It's the least expensive combo drive of its type and unless you need much higher speed CDR writing -than 16x a very good drive.
There is no compromise for CDRW writing speed and 40x read.

The PowerDVD software for DVD playback works very nicely too-this newer version of PowerDVD has a better interface than some earlier versions.


Just a suggestion.

 

I just had a new computer built by a friend with Windows XP Professional. He installed a Toshiba DVD-R/-RW Combo Drive and it works fine. I know I can only burn DVD-R & DVD-RW discs (and not +R and +RW)and they work fine also. However I have noticed that there are many more +R and +RW discs available. I tried 2 places today and they had only -R and no -RW, but had plenty of +R and +RW. Since I really need the re-writable ones I am wondering if I should have installed a DVD+R/+RW Combo drive instead. Toshiba told me they do not make the + format.

 

LoisTo: Tiger Direct is offering DVD-RW disks, 25 for $49.95. That will be plus shipping, probably about $10.

www.tigerdirect.com

Go to their site and type DVD-RW in the search bar. I've been buying stuff from them for a couple of years and find them to be quick and reliable.

I have a Pioneer DVD-R/RW AO5U drive and am not sorry I bought it. I use mine to burn DVD movies for archiving for the kids to watch when they get to be my age.

If you haven't done it already, go ahead and plunk down the money and get Nero Burning Rom.

 

Thanks so much for the reply. I wish folks selling this stuff knew more about what they are selling!

 

Now that my disc problem is solved, I have one more question. When I burn a movie DVD the audio is out of sync with the video. Is there anything I can do to fix this? Thanks for any help. This Board has given me more help than any tech I have called!

 

What programs are you using to edit, create, burn movies? I had a similar problem but don't offhand remember the solution.

 

I have used Power Director Pro (which came with the Toshiba DVD Drive) and the newest Roxio Easy CD Creator 6 and both programs give me out of sync audo. If it was just one program, I would blame it on the program, but I have used 2 programs several times and have never had a good result.

 

Does Power Director Pro actually burn the disks or just do the editing? In my setup the movies are created and edited in one program and burned by another. After creating the movie, can you preview it before burning? If so and the sound is in synch, I suspect your problem is in the Roxio burning program. I don't use Roxio, regrettably I can't help.

If you purchased the retail version, get their tech support on the phone and describe the problem, they should have a solution. If the program came with the drive, you need to contact Toshiba, one of these should have a fix.

You also might try Roxio's web page www.roxio.com for support FAQs. I'd bet you are not the only one with the problem and a fix may be there.

Have you downloaded Microsoft's Movie Maker 2 (free)? I used it with some success before installing my current software.

Maybe another BBS member knows the answer.

Post back any results.

 

Buy a Lite On combination drive at newegg, banannapc or beyondcomputing and don't sweat the small stuff. Nero and Power DVD software included with retail and OEM versions and you'll be problem free. There are a lot of choices out there, but you can't do better than Lite On and that includes Plextor too.

 

Rockster, I heartily endorse Nero Burning Rom for burning DVD movies, never a hitch.