DVD Formats. Info on how to use them, and tell them apart

[kcredden]

Hi folks: I'm on vacation, and have some access to the internet. I wrote up a new Printer Cable article on my blog. I'm afraid I don't have access to a PDF creator, so I'll just give you a link here to the article. Later, you can get the article on my web site.

http://www.livejournal.com/users/kcredden/20957.html

This article describes the various DVD re-writable formats, what each does, and a limited outline, of what machines does what. Any questions post here, and I'll respond if I can. I'll be back on Nov. 1.

[Foxy]

OK I read it, but im STILL lost. I know it is legal to create a back up copy of your own personal DVDs. And that is all I want to do. We have a car DVD player and it would be nice to use the copies there. Goodness knows my kids have lost enough of them on our "road trips"!
I have a laptop with a "Compact Disc Re-Writable high speed" "DVD MULTI RECORDER" "RW REWRITABLE" on in the same drive.
I have MS Windows XP SP2, Mobile Pentium 4 CPU, 3.20 GHZ, 512 MB RAM.
I have that Shrink DVD 3.2 and I can shrink it. But i can't get it to burn on the disc. What kind of blank DVD should I be using? I bought Memorex DVD+R, but that doesn't seem to be working. I know that I have enough memory and a fast enough processor.
Can some one any one give me step by step instructions? I would be willing to call someone if that is possible.

[tkcomer]

Hey Foxy. With me, after DVD Shrink does it’s magic, the DVD player will open and you take the movie out. It will then ask for the correct type of media that your burner uses. Most of the new types of burners will take both DVD+ or DVD-. Make sure that DVD Shrink sees your burner. After that, just stick the blank disk in and click on burn. I’ve only done this twice and it has worked so far. My ‘puter is a lot slower than yours but I have a brand new burner. Have you ever used this burner yet?

[kcredden]

TK: Thanks for helping out here. I haven't used any DVD burning software yet, so I'm lost here. If you like sometime, I'd be glad to co-author a sequal to my article, dealing with DVD burning software. Just drop me a private mail or e-mail anytime.

Hey Foxy. With me, after DVD Shrink does it’s magic, the DVD player will open

[kcredden]

Hi Foxy:

A good idea, using copies. I do that with my CDs myself. I rip, and MP3 them and play them in the car. Saves me some serious money. :)

I looked over my article, and I suspect what you have is a DVD Multi, which according to the article, "Drives labed with "DVD Multi" handles DVD-R/W, and DVD-RAM formats, but not the DVD±R/W."

So try the DVD-R/W and the DVD-RAM disks, and see what happens. I don't know if you can just get one disk to try before you buy a large number of disks.

The friend I'm staying with, has been burning DVDs of his home movies for months, and all play on his DVD player, which is a Sharp DVD-RW/R VHS, and DVD recorder. Notice it says "DVD-RW" That sounds like a DVD multi

Also he buys only DVD-R disks, and has had no problems in his DVD player, but mine he did.

Hope that helps.

We have a car DVD player and it would be nice to use the copies there. Goodness knows my kids have lost enough of them on our "road trips"!
I have a laptop with a "Compact Disc Re-Writable high speed" "DVD MULTI RECORDER" "RW REWRITABLE" on in the

[tkcomer]

Here is a step by step way to do it, but bear with me, I’ve only done this 3 times. I just redid a movie on DVD+RW to get these steps. Stick the movie in your DVD burner and close the drive.
1 Start DVD Shrink
2 Click on open disc. Make sure your burner is selected. A pop-up window comes up. The movie should be listed.
3 Click OK. DVD Shrink will now analyze the movie. When that is done, you should see menu, main movie, extras, etc listed in the left upper pane. It should have main movie listed. That’s all you want. The right pane will have all options selected for different languages. I take the checkmarks out on anything but English to save space
4 Click on backup. It will now ask for a region. USA should be listed. Click OK
5 A pop-up window appears. You DVD burner should be listed in the backup target line on the top. The second line shows where DVD Shrink is going to save the temp files. Click OK if that is where you want the temp files to go. Just remember where they are as you will want to delete them when you are done. They take up a lot of room on the hard drive. Click OK
6 The encoding screen should pop up. Now go hassle the kids for about an hour.
7 When it’s done transferring the files to the hard drive, the burner will open and DVD Shrink will ask for an empty disc. It will also list the type of disc your burner uses. You said DVD+R. If that is listed, remove the movie and stick the blank disk in and close the drive. If it is not listed, you DVD+R won’t work and you will have to get the right type. DVD Shrink should now start burning the movie to the DVD. When it is done, it will tell you so and the drive will open with your new copy of the movie.

[tkcomer]

Hey KC. Back again. The different formats boggle my mind. I can remember last year a friend loaned me a kid’s movie because I wanted to watch it. Iceage I think. Funny movie. He had made a copy and it wouldn’t play in my cheapie DVD player. He said no problem and burned it in another format and it played fine then. I can’t remember if it was a + or – that played. Right now, the 2 movies I burned are in + format. Heck, they say DVD+RW does not play well in stand alone DVD players, but mine did fine. That was my practice DVD. Any idea which format is the best to use in cheapie players? And what is the best media? I was on another post about how the Memorex CD-RWs were not up to snuff in my burner. The TDK 12X was doing fine in my old CD burner, but I notice my new DVD burner is having trouble with them. The DVD-ROM can read them, but not the burner. I’ve been transferring files over to DVD+RW so I can still add and delete files like I used to. My ancient HP burner running 98 on my old ‘puter never gave me a problem. These Sony burners seem to have trouble reading what they write. I used to blame the CDs. Now I’m not so sure. Any ideas?

[kcredden]

TK:

erks, I totally missed this. I guess it was in my e-mail box, which was inindated with mail when I got back, and may have accidently erased it. I'm on work detail at the moment, but I left myself a note to get back with you on this, ASAP.

Thanks for the mails, for this. I see you wrote several times :).


Hey KC. Back again. The different formats boggle my mind. I can remember last year a friend loaned me a kid’s movie because I wanted to watch it. Iceage I think.