I have taken ur advise in burning home movies on to dvd rather than vcd/svcd, in which case i need ur help once again, Which DVD rewriter should i be looking at and where are the best place to go to?
Whats all this 8x/16x and single/dual stuff about?

Ive also notised the hype with 2 particular software Pinacle and Ulead, again which one???

Also just to say, U GUYS KNOW UR S*"$T

Hi - just bought an NEC dual layer number from microdirect.co.uk -gr8 prices...check em out

[MarkE19]

You really ned to do a lot of internet searching for the best prices as they change from day to day. A good starting point nearly always seems to be www.ebuyer.co.uk
As for which drive, well the Pioneer A08/108 should be a good bet. The A06/106 was voted the best DVD burner of 2003 by Computer Video Editing mag at the start of this year and the newer versions are faster and read more formats.
That brings us on to your question of "Whats all this 8x/16x and single/dual stuff about?". Well 8x etc is the speed the drive can burn the data to the disk - the same as for a CD burner etc. 1 hour of video will take 1 hour to burn on a 1x burner, or 15 minutes on a 4x burner etc. Single/dual is the layers on a disk that the burner can write to. Most are single layer burners that can put 4.7Gb on a disk but dual alyers are just starting to become available and can burn about 8.5Gb. Sounds like the dual layer burners are the ones to go for at first glance, but as you might expect they cost more to buy and the disks are also very expensive (about £10 each IIRC). Also there is very little software that will work, and just about none that will work reliably. In fact the above mentioned mag says that the dual layer disks wont play on the vast majority of DVD players. For this reason I would recommend steering clear of dual layer burners for a while and get the above mentioned Pioneer A08 (I think this is the latest model number).

Pinnacle is an excellent editing package that can do all the capture, editing, titling, file conversion & authoring and even burn the final DVD. The problem is that many users have found it very unstable and next to impossible to work with. Ulead on the other hand is rock solid, but you need to buy a couple of different packages to get all the features available in Pinnacle. But IMHO Ulead is very easy to use and gives excellent results. I have however never used Pinnacle Studio so can't comment first hand on it.

Mark.

[MartinImber]

Is it a Pioneer
buy it
else
dont

[waz2004]

After checking the prices you can now buy a DVD writer that can write on both formats and also on dual layer for less that £100.

One of this month's computer mag has tested several external DVD writers. It has chosen Liteon SOHW-832SX as a best buy. That is an external unit. If you want to fit it inside the PC then go for SOHW-832S which is ths same without the external box.

I have placed my order with dabs.co.uk who was the cheapest i can find at around £76. It arrived the next day.

I don't know how good Liteon is compared to Panasonic/NEC for reliability but by searching through Google I haven't found any bad reports.

Good hunting

Write on dude

[thebrummy_one]

Maybe a little late to help you but,as far as burners go, the NEC 2510 is a dual layer burner at under £50 has alot of good reports. The later model NEC 3510 is twice as fast for dual layers and is only pennies dearer.
For editing programs, 'PC how to' mag this month looks at Digital Video and has trial versions of both Pinnicle and Ulead on it's cover disc along with a full version of Editstudio.
I'm working with the trial of Pinnicle as I write this
For a complete novice (idiot) like me, there is a good tutorial to follow.