Burner ????

[David W]

What is the best dvd burner program , I try to get avi files, and I would like to burn them to DVD so I can watch the movies on my tv using my DVD player.........


Thanking you in advance

David

[LeTree]

Hi David,
If you plan to download many AVIs and convert them to DVD, you might consider another option. First of all, it takes quite a bit of time to convert AVI to DVD and you lose picture brightness and quality. So you end up with a crappier looking movie and use one DVD disc.

What I did: I bought a Philips DVP642 DVD Player which will play AVIs or DVDs. (65 - 70$) I burn 4 or 6 AVIs to one DVD disc without losing any brightness or quality. I use a freeware program called Express Burn. if you are set on converting to DVD, Express Burn will also convert and burn AVIs to DVD.

LeTree

[Nybras]

G'day David,

There are HEAPS of programs you can use to convert you .avi into DVD. A really easy one that I used to use was DVDsanta it's near fool proof and a lot quicker than a lot of apps out there. It is VERY rare for me to convert any movies these days but when I do I just use Nero Vision because I like to fool around and make a little chapter menu. Nero Vision is the best application I have used for conversion as far as quality goes. As LeTree said you could always upgrade your DVD player.

My personal opinion if you are going to be downloading movies from torrent sites and you have a bit of a collection going buy yourself a Multimedia Hard Drive. It’s just an External Hard Drive that connects to your TV via the Audio/Visual cable. You can pick them up on ebay with 750GB + Hard Drives for $200 or less. DVDs are now obsolete to me and no more scratches I use a LaCie La Cinema Premier if you want to look them up for more information.

Take it easy

[David W]

Thank You

Ok if I get one of these MM hard drives , what files do I put on it that I get from the torrent D/L and what program do I need to show the movies from it... kinda new at this , so sorry for all questions...

David

[Nybras]

Don't be sorry you never know if you never ask.

The Hard Drive has software built into it that allows you to navigate your way around. It’s just like an external hard drive so if you download a movie for example “The Matrix” once it has finished downloading you copy it from your downloads folder and into the movies folder on the Media Drive then all you have to do is plug it into your TV.

Supported Formats : Video: MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 (AVI, Xvid), DVD-Video (ISO**, IFO, VOB) So basically the hard drive supports 95% or more of the video content that you would download it is rare that I have a file that will not play.

http://www.tvsnob.com/pictures/lacie_lacinema.jpg this is what mine looks like just to give you some idea. It is VERY easy to use and worth every cent and your friends are always fairly stoked when you turn up to their house to watch a movie and you've got about 500 they can scroll thru. I cannot work out why these things are not in higher demand and flooding the market at the moment who wouldn’t want one?

[MoViE-KiNg-1]

 why was i not told abouts this. This has to b the coolist ever. I have a "few" do they make biger ones like 1tb because i have two hard drives 320g both r filled computer filled an iam tried of buying disk just to store them. Its getting to be a mess  

[F8L23]

Hey, everyone's got an opinion and I have about 10 different burners myself. But there is a website where they always have burners along with a lot of other software that's LEGAL. lol Yes I said legal. It's an awesome site and in the comments they always have comments on better and always free software.


www.giveawayoftheday.com


Every 24 hours they offer free software and it ends and a new program begins at 3 a.m. est.

[MoViE-KiNg-1]

I GOT THE BURNERS BUT I WANT THAT MULTIM DRIVE THATS WHAT I NEED I GOT LOTS LOTS LOTS LOTS BUT RUNNING OUT OF ROOM TO PUT DONT WANT TO HAVE TO BUY MORE HARDDRIVES DO THEY MAKE SOFTWARE TO TO TURN MY HARDDRIVES INTO MULTIM

[nybras666]

Sadly No! You can’t turn your existing drives into Multimedia Hard Drives as hardware is needed to connect the drives to a TV however I have an alternative that may interest you. Last year Western Digital came out with (WD TV) it is a system that allows you to plug in any existing external drive that you have that contains M-Media to the WD TV box via USB and watch all your content on TV. Here is a link so you can check it out yourself to get a better idea of what I am talking about http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=572&language=en it retails for about $200au which to me is a bargain.

Hope this is somewhat help-full for you.

[nybras666]

Sorry for the late reply KLAXXON banned me from posting for unknown reasons. To answer your question yes you can get bigger drives they mostly only sell 1TB drives now. When I got mine 500GB was as big as you could get so I am getting close to needing a new one. Be careful there are some dodgy Multimedia drives out there so it might not hurt to have a good look around before rushing out to buy one. My "LaCie La Cinema Premier" is great. It does start to get a little slow to load as you fill it up but there is no lag time while watching movies or anything. I have had some .avi's and mp4 videos not play for unknown reasons (rare for this to happen) but when it does just re-encode the movie to .avi and it works.

Take it easy

[MoViE-KiNg-1]

thats sweet my harddrives r WD  do u know where to get either. looked at bestbuy but they have crap an i dont shop on line just dont trust it i need to see what iam buying u know if u know that b great  if not kool 2

                                                        thanks again

[ducer1]

Hi David,

I agree 110% with Le Tree and in the past I have suggested exactly the same to 3 other ppl I know.  

Up until late 2007, I used to convert all my avi's into dvd's with Nero but it was about 3 hour process.  Far too annoying.  Bit the bullet and bought a player that played avi's (au$70).  Problem solved and no regrets.
I recently got sick of avi filled dvd's, lying around with no home & no order.  I went out & bought a Western Digital HDTV (au$179)... Best thing I've ever done.  

I now transfer all my avi's from pc to my 1gb external hard drive (au$180) via usb and then plug that into the WD HDTV, find what I want to watch and press play.  Doesn't get much simpler & may not need a new dvd player!

Currently ripping all of my dvd's to avi's so I can watch them.  Am now getting rid of all my dvd covers... less clutter

At the end of the day this is the best solution I came up with.  Hope that this also helps your decission.

ducer1

[ducer1]

David W & MoViE-KiNg-1,

If you are refering to picking up a WD HDTV, I got mine at Harris Tecnology & have also seen them in Harvey Normans, Dick Smith Electronics in Australia & also CPL & MSY in Melbourne. Sorry can't help you with the rest of the world.

Maybe try ringing WD, they are generally quite helpful.

Hope this helps

Ducer1

[David W]

TY

What kind of Hard Drive and how do you plug into TV

Thank You

[ducer1]

Hi David,

No Worries & anytime.

Firstly apologies, it is a 1tb disk not a 1gb disk... oops!

Hard Drive

I use a Seagate Free Agent 1TB.  I backed-up & then removed the free agent software leaving an almost blank drive. Works a charm for me. WD also have 'My Passport' 500gb external.  

It all depends on how much storage you need.  I.e.- I have over 500 dvd's and around 300 avi's so I need abit of storage. Bonus of the WD hdtv is that it has 2 usb ports so you can always plug in another external

Connections

You can plug it into your TV either with hdmi cable or with RCA leads (red, white & yellow like you would have used with VHS)

Have tried both & both work perfectly; HDMI is always the better option if your tv allows it.  

Have a look here and see what you think - http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=572&language=en

Other people have mentioned some niggly things that bother them about the unit. For me, I have simple needs & it does what I want it too... play my movies (rips & d/l) without a hassle.

Hope that this helps some more.  Again, this scenario has worked perfectly for me - you may get varying reports from others

Cheers, Ducer1

[David W]

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/Category/category_tlc.asp?CatId=34&cm_re=Homepage-_-Spot%2018-_-CatId_34_W10-9300


this is where I ordered the machine you suggested from....... I thought it might be a good idea because you can use most any USB drive... don't have to worry about expensive MM drive crashing..........

Thanks for your reply ........ hope it arrives first of the week :)

[ducer1]

David W,

Keep in mind that ALL hard drives can crash!  Always wise to keep a back of things as well... up to you tho.

I.e - All my rips & d/l are backed up... Imagine what a pain in the bum it would be if you had to start over

Good luck & enjoy.

[MoViE-KiNg-1]

JUST WENT OUT AN BOUGHT A 1TB HD. I HAD MY DVDS ALL OVER THE PLACE IT WAS A MESS SO NEXT WEK GOING TO BY WD TV HD MULTIMEDIA. CANT WAIT IVE READ ALL THE REVIEWS
PEOPLE SAY ITS THE BEST FOR ITS PRICE. AN IT JUST WHAT I NEED, JUST HOPE IT WILL LAST. TRUST ME ILL PUT IT TO THE TEST.