jacour
join:2001-12-11
Ypsilanti, MI
 ·Comcast
| Which disk type should I use?
I am fairly stupid about all things CD/DVD since I maybe have to burn one or two disks a year. I have a collection of files from various sources, some AVI and some MPEG, that I would like to burn to a DVD to watch on my television via your basic Sony DVD player.
Does the player care what media I use? I have a bunch of unused DVD-RW disks that I bought to use for backups of my hard drive, but will those work in the player just so long as I remember not to write over them?  If I want to add a menu to the DVD, is there a software you can recommend? Nero came with my external burner and it looks like it will do the basic job, but it doesn't seem to have a menu creation function. |
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howie
Premium,MVM
join:2003-04-08
Little Falls, NJ
edit:
July 20th, @10:12PM
| Some players are picky as to which media will function correctly in them so just burn a DVD and see if it works in your Sony. I'm guessing it will.
As for a DVD authoring tool, I'd highly recommend TMPGEnc's DVD Author 3. It can create a variety of menus, the quality is top-notch and the cut editing feature is very easy to use. You can pay hundreds for some others but this does a great job at a fraction of the cost.
»tmpgenc.pegasys-inc.com/en/product/tda3.html
BTW, I'm pretty sure Nero can do it too but it seems you have the Nero Express bundled version.
[EDIT] Shown above is a menu created with DVD Author 3 and a 480p (DVD Progressive) screen capture from a DVD I created from a 720p HD DVR-MS source file. The results are superb, IMHO, and look great on a 16:9 HDTV using a progressive scan DVD player (and naturally a component video cable, required for 480p playback).
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N.Y. Giants - Super Bowl XLII Champions |
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wings10
I Am Legend
Premium
join:2004-06-09
South Elgin, IL
clubs:  | reply to jacour
Stay away from cheap brands. I have had no issues with Sony or Memorex. |
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Dogg
Premium
join:2003-06-11
Belleville, IL
·Charter Pipeline
| reply to jacour
The only way to know for sure, is to try it and see if it works. For new media, Verbatim and Taio Yuden are the most highly recommended. But it is still sometimes trial and error finding the brands/types that work in your player.
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Google is your Friend |
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howie
Premium,MVM
join:2003-04-08
Little Falls, NJ
| Taio Yuden blanks have a real following, it seems but to tell you the truth, I've been using DVD+/-R and DVD+/-RW discs from Verbatim, Sony, TDK, Memorex and a few others on several name brand burners/home players and never really had issues (perhaps a few among hundreds) over the years. I think you're pretty safe as long as you use one of the name brands and not bargain basement no-name cheapies and keep your firmware up to date. Newer firmware often adds compatibility with more types/brands of blank media on that particular burner.
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N.Y. Giants - Super Bowl XLII Champions |
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PCInTech
Brooklyn Cyclones
Premium
join:2004-06-07
Massena, NY
clubs:
 ·VoicePulse
·RoadRunner Cable
| said by howie  :keep your firmware up to date. Newer firmware often adds compatibility with more types/brands of blank media on that particular burner. While I agree with the importance of that... be very, VERY careful updating firmware on an optical drive! I managed to toast a couple in my life for no explainable reason. Sometimes bad things happen during the EEPROM flash. |
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howie
Premium,MVM
join:2003-04-08
Little Falls, NJ
| said by PCInTech :said by howie :keep your firmware up to date. Newer firmware often adds compatibility with more types/brands of blank media on that particular burner. While I agree with the importance of that... be very, VERY careful updating firmware on an optical drive! I managed to toast a couple in my life for no explainable reason. Sometimes bad things happen during the EEPROM flash. Good point. As with any firmware update, only do this if the update will help resolve an issue you are seeing that may be fixed by the newer firmware and always read what the update addresses before attempting a flash.
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N.Y. Giants - Super Bowl XLII Champions |
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Dogg
Premium
join:2003-06-11
Belleville, IL
·Charter Pipeline
| said by howie :said by PCInTech :said by howie :keep your firmware up to date. Newer firmware often adds compatibility with more types/brands of blank media on that particular burner. While I agree with the importance of that... be very, VERY careful updating firmware on an optical drive! I managed to toast a couple in my life for no explainable reason. Sometimes bad things happen during the EEPROM flash. Good point. As with any firmware update, only do this if the update will help resolve an issue you are seeing that may be fixed by the newer firmware and always read what the update addresses before attempting a flash. Depends on what you are updating. For standalone players, you shouldn't update unless you know it will fix a known issue you are having. For burners, most updates are write strategies for media support. (not to correct known issues). |
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