DVD burner....

[Fred H]

I've got some ideas here:

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?threadid=57641&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

Fred H

[IM_Riktar]

Doc:
I am curious what form of backup you will be using with the DVD-RAM. For myself I have tried Norton Ghost 2003 which is drop-dead easy to use to make a self-booting backup DVD of my system. The best part about this method is the self-contained info on the DVD-R. I can do the whole restore in one step simply by inserting my Ghost image into the machine. No re-installing Windows, no serial numbers to install, etc. Just load and sit back while the system is re-loaded.

My only wish is that their was some way to use the DVD_RAM media with Norton since I could continue to update my backups without having to use new media.

Maybe somebody will come up with an answer to this

[Fred H]

I could continue to update my backups without having to use new media.

I do backup (Ghost 2003) my entire system drive to another physical HD. I do full backup and use to keep one or more files, i.e. XP_1.GHO, XP_2.GHO etc. Then later when I’ll purchase a DVD burner I will burn some .GHO files to DVD-R.

What am I missing in Ghost 2003, regarding the update?
How do you update your backup?
Do you backup the Program Files directory and the Windows directory?

To backup the entire system is very easy for me and the DVD-R media are cheaper and cheaper.
The price of one DVD-RAM = 10 DVD-R disks.
What is the point? OK, the time to burn the file from HD to DVD-R?

Edited: I don’t use Ghost to backup standalone files, document and text files, image (jpg) files, video files, downloaded files etc. I do straight CD-R copy and later I’ll DVD-R copy them.

Another question: does somebody know the NEC ND-1300 DVD burner? It is a DVD-R/ +R 4x, DVD-RW 2x /+RW 2.4x burner?

Fred H

[IM_Riktar]

The 2 biggest updates I have found (Compared to 2002 version) is the ability to write directly to my DVD burner. This allows me to backup my entire system files/partitions to one single piece of DVD media.
And I can setup the whole backup procedure in Windows. No more getting out a boot disk to start the program! Simply open Ghost in Windows, select what you want "Backed up" and the program will reboot your machine directly into the PC-Dos state that Ghost uses to perform it's functions.

My backup only includes the system files and programs. The image/video/sound files are written to DVD-RAM. I just drag and drop them onto DVD-RAM from Explorer.

What this gives me is ease of restore in the event of total system failure.

IE: Say my hard drive fails completely. I install a new one, pop my ghost backup on DVD into the drive, reboot the system and reinstall ALL my programs, including the OS in one step. No more installing the OS, putting in updates/drivers/patches. After that it is simply a matter of taking my DVD-RAM media and restoring the media files.

The update part is where I find myself wishing for DVD-RAM capabilities. While I could just grab another DVD-R I would prefer to use the RAM media since it is better protected (Cartridge) and I don't have to deal with sorting through a bunch of DVD's. Using DVD-RAM would allow me to stick with just 2 cartridges. My original and the "updated" Ghost image. As updates occur to the system I could shuffle the order of the RAM discs as I determine if a update was working as it should.

I don't like relying on alternate harddrives for backup storage since the harddrive could fail. DVD-RAM/DVD-R media is much more durable. Of course saving your backups on several different types of media (HD's, DVD's, CD's) is probably another way of ensuring you will have a good backup to use in the future.

[Dr Mordrid]

There are now two kinds of DVD-RAM media: cargridge and non-cartridge.

Non-cartridge, such as Panasonics LMF-AF120U3 blanks, is mainly for video editing/recording.

My Panasonic SW-9571-CYY DVDBurner II handles both.

Dr. Mordrid

[Flying dutchman]

Having a DVD-Ram camcorder is of course a killer argument for buying a DVD-Ram compatible drive.

A friend of mine has a DVD-Ram/VR camcorder (a Samsung if I'm not mistaken) and asked my help to convert it into SVCD two months ago. The camera came without software. He had already copied the file to a hard disk.

I had major problems converting it. WinDVD 4 plays the file but the time indicator is incorrect and transitions are very blocky. tMpeg wouldn't open it. Renaming the file to "MPG" kinda worked, but tMpeg choked on it. Video Studio would import the file but insisted on re-rendering it (even if output format was DVD) and transitions between scenes were all blocky. So far little success with this format.

The only trick I had that made it work was by frame serving the file through DVD2AVI and re-compressing in tMpeg but that's a very non-friendly way of doing it. My preliminary conclusion is that you need special software to become happy with this file format. Maybe the new MSPRO or Premiere versions handle it, I don't know.

Isn't there a trick to simply scene-separate such a file into individual "compliant" MPEG-2 files?

[Fred H]

FD,
If I understand, it doesn’t mater if you put the camcorders disk into a DVD-RAM or you copy the file from the camcorder, if the video format is wrong.
Converting the file is time consuming. Capture the DV to right format is time consuming too.
Than, what is the major plus of DVD-RAM?
If I understand it, DVD-RAM is an equivalent as a safer “hard disk”.
Please correct me if I am wrong.
Doc,
How do you judge the slower (only 2x) DVD-R in your Panasonic burner vs. the faster 4x speed of the other burners, e.g. the A05 or ND-1300 (NEC) without DVD-RAM?

(It’s not a question: )
We have not much choice here, in my country. The Panasonic DVD Burner II SW-9571-CYY is not even announced here. Ordering from other places is quite complicated (warranty, taxes, etc).
And the DVD-RAM media is expensive as hell here, too.

Fred H

[Flying dutchman]

If it isn't possible to do a speedy conversion to "normal" DVD I don't see any advantage either. Re-rendering would be rather clumsy. But I guess/hope/assume it's just a matter of having the right authoring software (which the chap doesn't own - yet) to do an "on the fly" DVD conversion.

[Topha]

Look at this one

[wkulecz]

FD,

Get the MSP7.0 free trial download. It's supposed to edit DVD/VR format mpegs.

I'd like to know how it goes.

--wally.

[Flying dutchman]

Sorry, I won't be able to try it out since I don't have the DVD/VR file at hand anymore , the chap wanted his hard disk back.

[keithm]

I always burn dvd-r to a constant bitrate, that way I can work out the maximum datarate to fit on a blank dvd and know it will fit: I use the mad bitrate calculator to do this and it always gets it right. I'd like to try vbr but would be concerned that time would be wasted by creating a file too big to fit on the blank disc.

[Jerry Jones]

My tests with the Panasonic LF-D311/LF-D321 models reveal these earlier models love SONY-brand DVD-R discs and ONLY Sony-brand DVD-R discs.

(As for DVD-RAM, don't buy the Memorex - they're crap. All the other brands - including CompUSA - work fine.)

But I didn't get to test the SW-9571 extensively.

So maybe it can use other brands without any problems.

Seems like your tests are so far showing that to be the case, Doc.

I'm finding the DVD-RAM discs are very handy for storing short native DV .avi files and REALLY handy for storing files I just want to get off of my hard drive, but still want to keep.

The only problem with DVD-RAM is that it is slower than I would like.

Otherwise, it's quite a robust format.

At my former place of employment, I got to test a DMR-E20 stand alone Panasonic recorder and it worked great with DVD-RAM.

Using the Panasonic DVD-Movie Album software that shipped with my retail Panasonic LF-D321, I could use my SW-9571 to read the DVD-RAM discs recorded in the DMR-E20 stand alone recorder.

Then I tested the editing using that software and it worked also.

I then tested using MediaStudio Pro 6.5, but couldn't get decent test results because of the lack of AC-3 support.

So I would be very curious to get the following question answered:

Can the VBR material recorded by the Panasonic stand alone recorders be edited without re-rendering using MediaStudio Pro 7.0 and its AC-3 audio support?

I suspect that it may - indeed - be possible to Smart Render such VBR-recorded material.

If so, I can see myself purchasing one of those Panasonic recorders in the future.

That would be so cool.

The new DVD-VR capability of MediaStudio Pro 7.0 is something I have not yet tested.

But I plan to do so as soon as I get time.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[wkulecz]

DVD-VR editing without re-rendering could be cool enough to get me to buy a DVD-RAM drive, please let us know how it goes!

--wally.