DVD Burners

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Roger Banfield
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DVD Burners

Post by Roger Banfield »

I wonder if anyone would be able to advise me regarding a suitable DVD burner. My current burner is a NEC DVD-RW ND-1300A. I have had a lot of problems getting the unit to burn DVD-R discs and have, eventually, found that only a certain Verbatim (43548) will burn successfully. Even then I have had a few of them returned as ’sticking’ when played. After burning a new disc for that person they have then reported all OK. The NEC burner does not like Memrex, Panasonic or Philips discs - the logo ‘burn failed’ occurs if they are used.

I wish to replace the current burner with a new one which would be more robust and less ‘choosy’ on the medium it uses. Can anyone recommend a suitable burner ?

My burning programme is Nero Express version 6.3.1.17

One final point. I use DVD-R format, is this the best or is DVD+R more suitable ?

Roger Banfield
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Stephen
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Post by Stephen »

Hi Roger

I've gawn through a few DVD burners in my PC time !!!!.. buy a Liteon ...the likes of Lite-On DH-20A4P CD-RW/DVD+/-RW (+/-R DL) / IDE .... no probs at all ... at 15 english pounds ye can chuck it away after a couple of years.....

I've had Sony, Samsung LG and Pioneer which have all given trouble at some time..... my pioneer 105 (paid 300 quid for that when it was first launched ...will only work with 1 type of blank!!!) it was the best seller at the time (5years ago?)

2 Liteons fitted here (last 1 fitted 12 months ago) x20 burn rates are possible .... but the most important thing is to establish a good brand of blank media.... and stick with it.....

all problems in past here have been through duff blank DVDs!!

another impossible area to pin down presently is the variance in desktop DVD players... some are just not up the mark and regardless of what you burn the original disc on it some players will spit them out...


hope this helps
Stephen

Film making is not a matter of Life and Death
It's much more important than that.
Graeme Webb

Post by Graeme Webb »

I have had a Lacie DVD-R burner for about 6 years and have used lots of different brands of DVD's without too many problems I get the occasional faulty disks over the years but have never had any problems with DVD players or Windows machines not being able to read them. I use Toast to burn.

I see they do a combined DVD+-R version now.

http://www.lacie.com/uk/products/range.htm?id=10014
peteb
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Post by peteb »

Almost all of the problems I have encounted while burning disks have been down to the disks themselves and not the burners. (But I do tend to buy cheap as chips off ebay :oops: ).
www.s2f2.org.uk - Sefton Short Film Festival
Roger Banfield
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DVD Burners

Post by Roger Banfield »

Hi

Thanks for the replies - they help a lot.

Regards,

Roger Banfield
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Willy
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Location: Antwerp Belgium

Re: DVD Burners

Post by Willy »

Roger Banfield wrote:Hi

Thanks for the replies - they help a lot.

Regards,

Roger Banfield
Hello Roger,
Benq burner
I have a Benq burner and up to now I have not had any problems.

The Isles of Scilly
I have seen that you live on the Isles of Scilly. Where do you live exactly ? About 12 years ago I was there. My wife and I stayed in a flat in the centre of St. Mary's. It was an unforgettable holiday.

One of my first films
At that time I made one of my first films. It was still an 8mm film and my camera was a Canon. I loved the Isles of Scilly. We had a walk round St. Mary's and I will never forget the rocks along the coast that had special forms. The succulents were in full bloom. I remember that the former president Harold Wilson lived on the island.

Model boat in my living-room
We also made trips to some other islands. The sea was a bit rough. We went to St. Margaret's, Bryher, St. Agnes and of course Tresco. Forgive me if some names are wrong. I didn't check them. In St. Mary's we visited the local museum. There was an impressive model of a boat. When we were on St. Agnes we met a man who made smaller models. So I asked him to make a boat just like the one in the museum. He did it and sent it to me. It's still on my cupboard in the living-room and it reminds me of that wonderful holiday on the Isles of Scilly.

Tresco and gig races
On Tresco we had a walk to the ruins of a castle and we also visited the magnificent gardens. A highlight were the races in gigs. These are special narrow boats that were used in former times to resue people at sea.

It's better to stop now because all this has nothing to do with your question.

Fascinating
Now I would make a film about the Isles of Scilly in a different way. For instance I would interview people like you. I would ask questions like : "Don't you feel isolated on such a small island ?", "If you would like to buy things like a camera, a burner, etc... I wonder if you don't have to go to the mainland."
"How many times do you go to the mainland ? How ? By helicopter ? By boat ? By airplane ?" etc... The Isles of Scilly are fascinating.
Willy Van der Linden
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Willy
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Re: DVD Burners

Post by Willy »

St. Martin's
I checked the names of the islands on internet. Of course it was not St. Margaret's, but St. Martins. We just had a walk on that narrow island. I remember I filmed some flowers in hedges. It was a glorious day. The sun was shining. The sky was blue.

When we came back home in Belgium, our country was mourning. Our previous King Boudewijn had just died of a heart attack in Spain.

As you see I remember quite a lot of things that happened those two weeks.
Willy Van der Linden
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Dave Watterson
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Post by Dave Watterson »

Hi Roger,
Some helpful suggestions on hardware there ... at such low prices DVD burners (plural) should be on every desktop!

To answer your second question, most people prefer DVD-R format discs which seem to be accepted well by most players.

Three additional notes on DVDs:
  • - beware of using stick-on paper label systems. I've had no problem with them but other people have and many competitions will not accept discs with such labels. You can buy printable - or better "white printable" DVDs which can be printed in many ink-jet printers. Otherwise use your best handwriting!

    - check your burning software to make sure you use the setting designed for "standalone DVD players" or "set top boxes" rather than computers and be sure to use the option to "finish" each disc. That means you cannot burn anything more onto it later, but it also makes it easier for many players to handle.

    - finally - and perhaps over-the-top - if you are sending DVDs to someone special, or doing wedding videos, consider sending a DVD player with them as a gift. It sounds crazy but with players starting at £17 or so you can make sure your disc works on the player and send people the complete package.
Dave

P.S. I do recommend reading the excellent articles by Ray Williamson about DVD making - start at
http://www.theiac.org.uk/resources/DVD_Problems.html
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stingman
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Post by stingman »

Dave Watterson wrote:
- beware of using stick-on paper label systems. I've had no problem with them but other people have and many competitions will not accept discs with such labels. You can buy printable - or better "white printable" DVDs which can be printed in many ink-jet printers. Otherwise use your best handwriting!
I think the above system is called LightScribe, or something. Alot of modern printers have this. I`ve never seen it as I still live in the stoneage over here.

Be good.........

Stingman
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Stephen
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Post by Stephen »

Lightscribe is where the DVD burner, burns an image onto the disc ... looks a little like the holographic images....
you need special DVD disc for that... and they can be a bit pricey...

best results are with white printable dvd blanks and something like the Epson R220 which has the dvd carrier to print to... easy peasy and takes all the guesswork out of it...

R220 will have been updated by now !!!!
Stephen

Film making is not a matter of Life and Death
It's much more important than that.
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stingman
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Post by stingman »

Thank you Stephen. I thought Lightscribe used ink! Sorry to confuse but we all learn`t something.

Just don`t stick your hand in these special DVD Burners. You may get a Tatoo..... if you like it or not. Or you could do a Tatoo of any design of your choise, and the bonus thing is that it would be free! Yes, Free my friends!

Be good.....

Stingman
Ian Gardner
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billyfromConsett
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Post by billyfromConsett »

For my tuppenth I've used Pioneer burners and Ritek disks for years, and had very very few probems with them. I tried one dual layer disk, which failed, and at £5 a disk, I didn't try another one.
Roy

As post

Post by Roy »

I have used a Pioneer 105 since the model first came onto the market and have never ever had any problems with it as a burner. You only get what you pay for in this world, and so it's a good policy to buy the best quality discs that you can afford. It's not cheaper to buy cheap if you have to throw away half the discs you burn. It's a well known proven fact that it is not wise to put on stick-on labels onto DVD's. I use the Epson R300 to print onto DVD's. Again I have never had problems with this printer, yet to read most of the comments on this forum, you would think that Epson is a terrible product. and in fact you would wonder how the company stays in business. I guess we should allow for the fact that every company producing anything has to have a few duds come off the production line. Roy Alexander
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Dave Watterson
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Post by Dave Watterson »

to read most of the comments on this forum, you would think that Epson is a terrible product
Where did you get that impression, Roy?

I have just done a search for "Epson" on the forum and come up with:

The projected pictures were superb using an Epson projector.

The Epson Stylus Photo 900 (pretty cheap at £75) does a most excellent job of printing direct to Verbatim white top discs.

and a couple of neutral mentions of the brand.

I have found nothing derogatory about Epson products.

Dave
Roy

Post by Roy »

I got the impression from reading threads on the forum. Mostly extolling the virtues of Cannon against Epson. Also countless reports of Epson's heads clogging up if the machine is not used frequently. Countless complaints about not accepting compatible ink cartridges. Complaints about the tray not performing correctly. These are obviously true for the people complaining, but I beleive I am entitled to say that it has never happened to me. Roy
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