There are various formats but perhaps the most versatile burner is the new Sony drive
http://www.sonystyle.com/home/item.jsp?hierc=9683x9714x9715&catid=9715&itemid=50044&type=o
With this burner you are covered for +R/+RW & -R/-RW should either format run out as the defacto standard.

you can check out stand alone player compatability with the various formats at www.vcdhelp.com

It isn't just the burner or format that count for compatability. You need to use quality media & good DVD authoring software as well.

agree with the Pioneer. I bought my a03 when it debuted, for 1200$ CAD. Works well. THe program we tried to use with it did not: Minerva Impression - what a waste of disk space! DVDit is far superior, though the Ulead product line is good too. I use a Dazzle DVC II to make the MPEG2 in real time.

pb

Brace yourself. This particluar niche is going through evolution very quickly right now, so assume that whatever you buy won't be worth very much in 2 years (from a price perspective, of course--the drive should still be perfectly usable). I have the -A04 drive, bought in April for $330; there is a new version coming out in a month or two that burns twice as fast. I would imagine that as we get closer to launch date the current drive will be found for $199 or less.

Thanks SonicBoom. BTW what the difference between both dvd-r(w)
dvd+r(w)?

Thanks,
Gus

Thanks everyone for the info. I'm new to this and this forum is really great!
vonhosen what DVD authoring software do you use?

Thanks guys!
Gus

I have DVDit & DVD Complete .
First is overpriced & can be problematic (but does have Dolby support for NTSC compatability). Second works like a charm & is cheap but doesn't have Dolby support only MPEG & .wav audio.

With PAL that is not a problem but with NTSC the base spec is for PCM (.wav) & Dolby support which means if you create NTSC content with MPEG audio then not all NTSC players will support it. That said the numbers that do support it are growing all the time.

If you are looking at producing a lot of DVD's professionally then also look at ReelDVD. It is a lot more expensive but offers a lot of extra features such as more audio tracks , subtitles etc.
http://www.sonic.com/products/reeldvd/

Thanks again vonhosen...wow, I went to ReelDVD's site and it looks great but I can't afford 1000 bucks. Are there any other pro DVD programs that you could recomend that cost less? I know that you get what you pay for but sometimes there other packages that out do or come close to the costly ones. Maybe someone knows of some other DVD programs that I might check into.

Thanks again,
Gus

I would wait and see what program comes with your DVD burner and try that first. I have a Pioneer A03 and it came with Sonic MyDVD 2.3. This does a nice job of making DVD's and the 2.3 version is like a low end DVDit. The 3.0 version of MyDVD is totally different and actually has less authoring features because they turned it into an all-in-one capture-to-burn program and in the interest of making it easier to use they took away flexibility. For example with MyDVD 2.3 you can set your chapter points manually when you author the menus. With MyDVD 3.0 and 4.0 you can only set chapter points when you capture. Since I capture and editing AVI's with VV and then create my own mpeg, MyDVD 3.0 and 4.0 are useless because they won't let me make chapter points; thats why I stayed with MyDVD 2.3. The only way to make your own chapter points with Sonic software is to spend $300 USD on DVDit SE. I’m not about to spend that much for DVD authoring. So when you look for a DVD authoring program, make sure you check out the features.

I also bought Ulead DVD MovieFactory which is a great program for $45 USD if you just want to make quick home DVD's with chapter points that are thumbnail images. If, however, you want to control your own menus or make chapter points from text you can't do this with DVD MovieFactory. So, once again, be careful that the software you choose has the features you want.

~jr

Hi all. I am also new to this and getting ready to buy a DVD burner. There is a ton of info regarding burners, how to's and software tips at http://vcdhelp.com/. They explain the whole DVD-R, +R thing also. I am going to wait a little while until the Sony DRU500A hits my budget. Of course next week someone else may come out with an even better product.

The ReelDVD, mentioned above, at $1,000.00USD is list price, I believe. I looked around and found it in the very upper $700s. Might as well say $800. Which ain't chicken feed, but it is a little better than $1,000.00.

The funny, and sad, thing about it is that in a few years just about every decent video editing program will have the features of such programs as ReelDVD, even VV, I suspect, since there is so much talk about it here. But, don't expect ReelDVD to stand still. They will have moved on, too. To bigger and better reasons for keeping the price high.

bush:
here goes....dvd-r means you can only write information on the disc ONCE
lots of players support this format
dvd-rw means you can write on the disc 1,000 times....this is a great feature because you can mess around when burning discs
go to vcdhelp.com and check out there compatablity charts
dvd+r and dvd+rw works the same way--they are encoding in different formats--
from this website i deceided to get dvd-r(w) pionner burner
i am really happy with it
also, form this forum people suggested i start with a pioneer disc.
the disc you use will without a doubt play an integral part in the quality of your final dvd
i have seen with my own eyes---pioneer is best
others are very very good, but i can tell the difference
good luck
sbsbsbsbsbsbsbsbsbsbsbsbsbsb

ReelDVD is a mid-range product for Sonic Solutions

You've get entry level MyDVD (very automated), DVDit LE,SE or PE (gives you more control) , then Reel . DVD Producer follows (DVD Fusion for Macs) & lastly if you've got a budget (they don't advertise prices but I think your talking anything between $20,000 to $80,000 depending on spec) you have their Hollywood Windows based platform Scenarist.

There is a new version of DVDit (5.0) due out the end of this year that will have motion menus etc & will be based on Sonic Producer code but no real release of features or price yet.

I bought the HP 200i and have been delighted with it. On the authoring side, I used DVD Movie Factory from Ulead and thought it was good, though chapter points were a little hard to set. Last week on the advice of vonhosen and others, I picked up DVD Complete. A great little program, especially at $39.99 this week after rebates at Circuit City in the U.S.

Regards...

Al

I just bought ReelDVD but cannot speak about it just yet as I
've been so busy filming and editing that I've had no time whatsoever to even install it. I did open the box and noted it comes with a dongle and a 140-ish page manual. I went for this one for two reasons (both mentioned by Mr. Van Hosen), they are, first, multiple languages, and second, subtitle support, and I guess it's really three reasons, the Dolby support (also mention by Van Hosen previously).

In any case, I suspect it's all a matter of your intended audience. Because I cannot predict what player folks who buy my stuff will be using (compatibility), and because space for .wav vs. Dolby is an issue (at times) also, I opted for this mid-range program. However, because I am so busy I really wish I could have gotten by with a Wizard driven type of program like the lower-end programs mentioned as learning the basics of this program will tak a few days out of my life while one of the others is almost a no-brainer operation (or so I am told).

In any case, this will ultimately prove to be money down the toilet (like so much technology spending) because surely these fuctions will be incorporated into the editing environment. I mean already Pinacle is offering some of their NLEs with internal DVD authoring support, and competition means others (i.e. VV, Premier, etc.) must counter, or lose in the marketplace. Meanwhile, we have just over 20 titles to move over to DVD by years end and simply cannot wait so we bought in now.