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[blu]

I want to buy one on Wed. The Best Buy I goto had 3; two Panasonics and a Philips. The Pans use DVD-Ram. I know that the you can only use those players to view DVD-Ram.
The Philips is DVD-R (I think; I can't remember if it's + or -, but I think it's -).

I'm gonna go with the Phillips. The lady said that it's discs will be more universal and can play on DVD players.

Now, what do you guys in "the know" have to say about formats and brand names? I could wait and order elsewhere, so all info is requesred/appriciated!!!!

Here's a query too; when using a standalone; can you burn a copy of another DVD-R? (Like burning cd-r's)

[rebel]

I don't know much myself, but I saw a thing on that "Screen Savers" show on techtv about them. It seems like they said that the dvd-r+ was the most universal. Maybe somebody else knows more.

[Anonymous]

I have a Phillips 985 DVD+R/RW stand alone unit hooked up to my tv, and it's an okay setup. I use it mostly to convert my home movies from vhs/vhs-c to dvd. What I've seen is, it doesn't work the way, like coping a disk from a cd burner--stand alone, or computer. You have to add the tracks or you can set it to insert a track/marker every 6 min. ALSO, you can't just copy anything! If there's a copyprotect, the DVD recorder gives you message that says "Can't copy". I paid $$$$ for this, but I might have been better off buying another computer that has DVD+R/RW. But it works for the main purpose that I talked my wife into getting it for me--converting home movies to DVD. :)

But IMHO, DVD+R/RW is better. It works on all the dvd players I have at home. The DVD+RW doesn't need to be finalized to play on another DVD player, but the DVD+R does. It also lets you make little picture boxes of what each chapter is, but not the same way pros do it on the computer.

[Chris UK]

There is some useful info on this topic here;

http://www.vhtrading.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=15;t=000006

I have also heard that the DVD+R system is better than the - system. A good friend of mine is an ex BBC TV engineer and a real perfectionist when it comes to video quality and he has just ordered a Philips stand alone unit, so they must be OK!

[Anonymous]

I haven't used a standalone unit, so I dunno. I like my PC based one (DVD+) because I can make menus, chapter selections, etc and do all the editing I need to. I don't think you can do that with a standalone?

The plus side definitely is getting any VHS over to a digital media, though. That's a bit of a pain with a PC setup.

[guitard]

Blu,

Why a stand alone?

With an PC burner you can do everything a stand alone does and more.

Also, if you get a nice PC authored disk with cool menus, etc. and try to copy it with the stand alone, guess what? All of the formatting is gone.

I think PC burners are cheaper also.

Randy

[blu]

Well, I was figuring standalone was better, but now I know it's not.

Here's a question though; which is better; the "-R" or the "+R"? Will both play on most normal DVD players?

I did look at the PC burners yesterday and noticed they were cheaper, but I'm guessing I'll need more than just the burner to get the audio/video feed to the pc?!?!?

[Yerfdog]

Blu, I hadn't really noticed a difference yet as to which will play on DVD players. Just my info thus far.

In addition to the burner, you need a capture card, and a few other things. You might wanna ask guitard, or fletch, just to name a few. Also, www.vcdhelp.com is pretty informative. Please keep us posted - I'm looking to get a burner in the near future as well. The PC based burners appear to have more options, and they're markedly cheaper.

[guitard]

Quote: Originally posted by blu:
I did look at the PC burners yesterday and noticed they were cheaper, but I'm guessing I'll need more than just the burner to get the audio/video feed to the pc?!?!? Hands down the best thing out there for capturing analog video is the Canopus ADVC-100. I bought one for $299. I don't think the price has gone down, but you'd have to check. It's awesome. You can capture analog video to your harddrive and author DVDs, or you can edit it (add subtitles, clean up any crap at the beginning/end of the tape, move stuff around, cross fades, etc.) and then send it right back to your VCR, and you haven't lost anything in terms of generational loss. That's good for sending VHS to people who haven't joined the DVD crowd (yet).

Getting set up for DVD authoring is expensive - but well worth it.

But just to get started, just get the DVD burner and do what you did with CDs: 2-for-1s, loaners, etc. Once you get a couple of decent shows, start hunting around at other DVD traders' websites and promote your list and you'll have a nice list of DVDs after a while. You already know that drill, so it doesn't need explaining.

Loaners: I've found a few people who have some nice DVDs, but don't have a burner. I borrowed their DVDs and sent them back copies of other shows when I returned them (or in a few cases, I sent back copies of the DVDs they sent me so they could use them for trades).

Randy

[Anonymous]

Quote: Originally posted by blu:
Well, I was figuring standalone was better, but now I know it's not.

Here's a question though; which is better; the "-R" or the "+R"? Will both play on most normal DVD players?

I did look at the PC burners yesterday and noticed they were cheaper, but I'm guessing I'll need more than just the burner to get the audio/video feed to the pc?!?!? There's no 'real' answer to this, as it's sort of the way VCR and betamax duked it out. You pick a format and hope it wins. DVD- was made to be compatible on all PCs and some DVD players. Supposedly it's not the same format that professional DVD producers use for commercial release (I don't know if you guys recall a time when DVD formats switched on professional releases and older DVD players wouldn't play all movies).

Basically, DVD+ is the format all DVD players are supposed to support in the future. I've ran into 1 DVD player that wouldn't play a DVD+ so far, and that's my parents really old one. DVD players nowadays usually support both. My suggestion is to get one of the DVD+/DVD- burners. They make them for a reasonable price, and you can work in all formats.

[Scott Roberts]

Great topic! :)