The CD writer in my desktop PC is useless, so I plan to replace it. Seems stupid to get just a CDRW drive now since DVD writers are so cheap, but I'm confused by all the different DVD formats. I will probably only use it for data, but obviously if I can record stuff that will play in my DVD player, it'd be silly not to get something capable of that. However I'm totally ignorant of the processes required.

So - any recommendations as to:

Reliable makes and good places to buy (including you if you happen to be a supplier )

The format to go for for data / film

Price of media versus capacity

Just how difficult it is to convert MPEGs / AVIs etc to something the DVD player can handle

I've already been pointed to www.videohelp.com, thanks Chris, but that's a bit like handing someone the Encyclopedia Britannica when they want to know what a mouse is. I'd appreciate a few quick words of advice.

TIA

FWIW I've no idea on the techie stuff, but I bought online a Lite-on double layer CD/CDR 16x DVD/R-RW as a clearance item for about

Used Lite-On stuff before. Pretty good.

Own rig at home has a dual format Samsung DVD-+R/RW.

Never actually burnt a DVD as yet - trying to convert 2 hours of cam footage into a suitable format is proving problematic for my little brain.

Still, the bundled software seems up to the task. My problem is that i used windows movie maker on it first, and it's a bit difficult to do anything with it now....

Might not be a general issue, but specific to my set-up (haven't rebuilt the system in months) but since i installed the DVD wrtier, disc-to-disc copying/duplication causes the system to crash......

Pioneer have always had a good reputaion for Burners and as Dr Z says Blankdiscshop are ok.

Most are multiformat now so should cover your needs.

I've got NEC3540As in both my home and work machines, driven by Nero 6.6. They do everything they say they do, and haven't created any coasters yet.

As far as compatibility is concerned, I think the majority of older standalone DVD players (for movies) prefer DVD-R discs.

Newer players are less picky and should read both DVD-R and DVD+R formats.

Rewritables can sometimes be read in old machines, but that will probably depend more on which pickup / laser they use to read the discs.

Any new burner you buy will be dual format (and possibly dual layer).

My current dvd burner doesn't support dual layer, and I'm not bothered about it due to the media costs. Dual layer discs cost more than twice as much as single layer discs, so unless you want to fit that long movie on a single disc, it ain't worth the premium IMHO.

As other have suggested, new burners are all pretty much the same. They vary slightly in performance, i.e. speed, writing quality, reading quality of bad discs. Also, some dvd burners aren't quite as good at reading / writing CDs as a dedicated CDR/W burner.

Brand wise, it's up to you. Whether Pioneer, Lite-On, Samsung, NEC.....

Just be careful of Panasonic - they really like their DVD-RAM format which very few players can read.

DVD-R is the format certified by the DVD forum, DVD+R is a rival format championed by Sony and some others IIRC. But, probably all drives now available cope with both formats, media costs are similar - make sure you buy media from www.svp.co.uk (i.e. blankdiscshop) as waaaaay cheaper than the high street, ~25p a disc. As pointed out above DVD-R is more compatible with DVD players.

Converting to DVD format is a pain but I do it using DVD Santa to convert, then TMPEnc to create menus, then DVD Santa again to author and burn. Not much fun though and I think it's about worth buying a DIVX/DVD player to save headaches

You cant go wrong with either the Nec drives or the pioneer. They both do a 16x speed drive which is the quickest you will ever get (discs tend to fall apart when spun quicker), Both can burn dvd-r and dvd+r, and both the latest one's do dual layer, which may come in handy in the future.

On a personal note, I heard many things about pioneer starting to lock out certain brands of blank media due to them not being certified. Certified basically means that the company have paid pioneer money and they add support to the frmware. I know this was true of the pioneer a105 as people were advised to buy the older model at the time. All this of course can be sorted with firrmware upgrades, and might not be an issue now.

I bought an NEC, but my last was a pioneer and dont have a bad word to say about either.

As for blank media. I use Datawrite Titanium DVD-r's. as said before dvd-r is supported by more devices. Also the Titaniums are meant to be virtually indestructible under normal use so is a real bonus. They are quality and havent coastered a single one.

For burning onto dvd to watch in a player, your best bet is to make sure you download a codec pack from the video help site to make sure you have all the right stuff and then use nero vision express. This will allow you to build menus and add chapters and will convert the files to the correct format before burning. Be warned though it can take up to two hours to convert something and on some occasions it will lose sync between sound and video.

Failing that get a dvd player that supports all the media formats like divx and and burn them straight to dvd without converting. Thats what I did

For cheap dvd-r's worth checking out uk.dvdr.com

Good advice, keep it coming guys. Slightly concerned about this "DVD writers struggle writing CDs" does this mean I need two drives?

Good advice, keep it coming guys. Slightly concerned about this "DVD writers struggle writing CDs" does this mean I need two drives?

I've had no problems with either of my DVD writers burning CD's so I'd say no

Chris

I've had no problems with either of my DVD writers burning CD's so I'd say no

Chris

Agreed. No problems whatsoever burning normal cd's burn everything at maximum too 48x. Even audio cds. Lovely

The NEC ND-3500A is very good, however, if you have a little more to spend have a look at the LG GSA-5163D.

Scan have an OEM version of this writer at just under

For me NEC is the way to go and I use DVD-R media as it's compatible with most DVD players and the discs are cheap. Dual layer is a bit hit and miss at the moment as far as i'm aware. I flashed my drive to convert it to dual layer and backed up a movie.

It works fine in the pc but not on any standalone player. I think it is an issue with media compatibility so i tried different manufacturer's to no avail. Cost me