12" PowerBook's DVD Burner
I am going to be purchasing new PB but I'm not sure which one. I really like the speed of the combo drive for burning CDs. I'm curious about the superdrive and its speed.
How long all together between copying and burning would it take to say copy a typical 2 hr movie to DVD? (approx)
What is the difference between DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, and DVD+RW? What of those does Apple's Superdrive support? Which one of those is the best?
Anymore useful info about the superdrive verus the combo versus the price would be very helpful.
Thanks in advance for your help.
How long all together between copying and burning would it take to say copy a typical 2 hr movie to DVD? (approx)
What is the difference between DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, and DVD+RW? What of those does Apple's Superdrive support? Which one of those is the best?
Anymore useful info about the superdrive verus the combo versus the price would be very helpful.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Comments
DVD-R and DVD+R are one time write discs so if you screw up, you gotta buy another disc. These are the most compatible with set-top DVD players.
DVD-RW and DVD+RW are rewritables, meaning you can write and erase over and over.
The difference between + and - is still under discussion. Some say + is more compatible with DVD players, but personally, I have never had a problem with DVD-R discs and my DVD players. I would definitley go for the Superdrive option. You never know when you'll want to put a home movie on DVD.
How long all together between copying and burning would it take to say copy a typical 2 hr movie to DVD? (approx)
What is the difference between DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, and DVD+RW? What of those does Apple's Superdrive support? Which one of those is the best?
Anymore useful info about the superdrive verus the combo versus the price would be very helpful.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Well the Superdrive in all the powerbooks is a 1x (though supposedly it's capable of higher and being artificially restricted by Apple), which means it will record stuff in as much time as it would take you to watch it. Now, when you say 2 hr movie, you mean home video's right? Because if you mean copying real DVDs then that's a little tricky and requires lots of perhaps questionable software. As for "2 hrs." That's only possible if you're using DVD Studio Pro. iDVD let's you record in two modes. One which will fit 60 minutes onto a disc, and another that will fit 90 minutes onto a disc with slight (and probably negligable) loss of quality. It's so much less than store bought DVD's because DVD-Rs aren't double-layered (i think, anyone correct me if i'm wrong). As for the different formats, ignore anything with a "+". Those are standards that the windows world is trying to push and they're not compatible with as many DVD players as DVD-Rs. Additionally, you cannot burn them in your mac.
As for the difference between the combo drive and the superdrive: the combo drive says it burns at 24x (CDs that is). The SuperDrive only burns CDs at 8x. That would imply that the combo drive is three times as fast as the super, but that's not entirely true. I may be wrong, but I remember reading smthg. about how there is a maximum burn speed that is fully useful because the fastest the drive can burn the innermost part is at 16x, so any drives faster than that have to break the cd into multiple parts that it will burn at multiple speeds depending on how far it is from the center. This may not be entirely true, and the number 16 may be wrong. Being a superdrive user, I can say that it is a little painful when use someone else computer to burn a full CD and it zips through. This is more of a pride thing though because unless you're going to be mass producing CDs, the ability to burn DVDs should outweigh the few minutes you would save on each burn. Hope all that helps. My advice: If you think you'll use it even just once, go for the superdrive.
-Felipe
EDIT: Filmmaker beat me to the punch
[ 02-09-2003: Message edited by: vaultingat ]</p>
Why does it say the combo drive writes at 24x in the tech specs but then on the apple store web page on the "learn more" link it sayd only 8x? Maybe a typo?
I'd like some more info and more detials about copying a DVD from say Blockbuster. Please spare the "It's illegal" I'm just wondering for the full use and possibilties of the superdrive.
Anyway you guys are great and that's why I'm always here reading I just haven't been posting but that's going to change.
Thanks guys!
As far as copying DVDs from say Blockbuster, I don't know of any software to do it and I haven't tried. I just buy my DVDs previewed and it saves me the trouble of ripping, formatting, burning, and the cost of blank DVDs. The way I would do it if I wanted to is to connect my Canon GL2 to my Powerbook via S-Video and RCA audio in and run Firewire out to my G4 and capture into Final Cut Pro. This way i get the best available video quality and I can export to DVD Studio Pro and make my own menus and such. This, of course, is only possible if you have two macs and a camcorder capable of analog to digital conversion. Good luck. I am sure there are some apps out there to rip DVDs.
<strong>The Apple Superdrives are DVD-R drives. Not sure if they support DVD-RW</strong><hr></blockquote>
The SuperDrive can burn to DVD-RW, but Apple's software won't. You need third-party software such as Toast 5 Titanium or Discribe.