DVD Writers

There is lobbying going on all over the world by Hollywood to make it a criminal offence to do what you suggest. Go to www.afterdawn.com to read their news/links. In the USA they are trying to make it a criminal offence for anyone to even suggest how you might make a backup copy, or point to tools which can do it.
So if for example, I was a USA resident, and suggested that you visited www.doom9.net and downloaded 'DVD Shrink' I could be jailed. But of course I would never do such a thing, so each time your kids scratch your DVDs you will have to stop their pocket money and buy another one.

However, assuming that you want a DVD writer for legitimate purposes I strongly recommend the NEC ND 3500 available from www.cclcomputers.co.uk and elsewhere for around £62. It is the fastest DVD writer that I am aware of and can write to the double layer (8.5 gig)discs just starting to appear on the market. As you would expect it can write to the 'normal' DVD+R, DVD-R discs and CD formats too.

Ditto on the NEC.

cheers,
Paul

Jez, Paul

Thanks for the advice - it will be purchased and installed.

Why can't the bl**dy DVD makers use a better quality of plastic to make them more resiliant to scratches ?

PS: Jez - my intentions are moral. I would never dream of visiting such sites as www.cdcovers.cc

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Why can't the bl**dy DVD makers use a better quality of plastic to make them more resiliant to scratches ?

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I refer the honorable gentleman to the answer I gave earlier

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so each time your kids scratch your DVDs you will have to stop their pocket money and buy another one

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In fact it's not usually the scratch itself (unless it's really bad), but the muck that gets into the scratch and deflects the laser. A good clean will recover most. Unfortunately DVD blanks are even easier to scratch than the commercial ones.

NEC bought this afternoon at my local supplier. It comes recommended to me by them also.

Picked up some Verbatim 4x DVD blanks too. Any preferences to blanks ?

CD covers is a bunch of crap now, they got caught basically

....and that is why I would never dream of using them......

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Any preferences to blanks ?

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The blanks made by Ritek are my choice, they are widely available mostly hiding behind other firms brands.

You can check the disc manufacturer (and a few other details) with DVD Identifier

Re: Blanks.

These guys are good and do a whole range of Ritek dye discs; these seem to give best results and widest compatibility.

http://www.blankdiscshop.co.uk/

Andy.

Andrew,
Good prices and I like how they give the dye type as well as the brand.
They also sell TDK 'scratch-proof' blanks that may be of interest to long-time.

An update on the NEC 3500.

When you get to trying out the dual layer discs the Verbatim brand should work ok. However you might have problems with the Ritek dual layer blanks (also sold as Traxdata DVD+RDL). I have a firmware update for the NEC 3500 that I can email you if you need it.

Before they wen't bust I got a copy of DVD Rescue from 321Studios (with the ripper), so far it's let me mrescue several DVD's that were copies and (although it took 12 hours) one with a 2cm crack in it!

one word

DVD43

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Originally posted by Jez Quigley:
I have a firmware update for the NEC 3500 that I can email you if you need it.

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Jez,

can you e-mail it to me, too?

What does it fix/improve?

cheers, Martin

E-mail:- MartinPayne (at) Dial.Pipex.com. Put "Naim" in the title.

ok Martin, it's on its way.
It enables the NEC 3500 to write to Ritek dual layer blanks (at present only Verbatim dual layers are officially supported). I've used it successfully for a few days now. It also allows writing at 4x if the blanks are capable of it even if it says 2.4x on the label. NEC says they will release an official firmware update that will support other dual layer blanks but they don't seem to be in any hurry. In the meantime this unofficial update works just fine and is a total breeze to install, but I must stress that you use it at your own risk as it will invalidate your warranty and could potentially stop your drive working altogether. I'd suggest you backup/get a copy of the current firmware from the NEC site to reinstall just in case, alternatively stick with Verbatim discs until the official update comes out. Having covered my arse, I have to say I had absolutely no problem with it. Just run the file, wait till it has finished, and then reboot the PC so that Windows can detect the 'new' drive.

The file is 1mb so I hope you are on broadband!
Also your email client (Outlook?) might not like it as it is an executable.

[This message was edited by Jez Quigley on Thu 30 September 2004 at 16:24.]

Bugger, your email service thinks it is the netsky virus and won't deliver it. I'll try a different way. Do you have an unzipper for .ace compressed files? I could try that.

Martin, I tried sending it as a compressed .ace file, but pipex says your mailbox is full! Let me know when you want me to try again.
I've virus scanned it just to be sure and it is clean.

At the risk of ending up like Berlin Fritz and talking to myself, here's more. I've had a look on the NEC website and there is still no sign of the official firmware update, but I did learn that the NEC3500 will burn Verbatim 2.4x at 4x with the original firmware.

just sold a guy two! MAX servers each one holds 900 uncompresed dvd's £45,000 each!!

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Originally posted by Jez Quigley:
Martin, I tried sending it as a compressed .ace file, but pipex says your mailbox is full! Let me know when you want me to try again.

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Jez,

sorry for the hassle.

I've got a copy of WinACE, and I've now cleared some space in my mailbox (again!)

Thanks for your attempts.

cheers, Martin

E-mail:- MartinPayne (at) Dial.Pipex.com. Put "Naim" in the title.

Ok, I'll try it again.

Thanks, it has arrived.

Much appreciated.

cheers, Martin

E-mail:- MartinPayne (at) Dial.Pipex.com. Put "Naim" in the title.

Let me know how you get on. I've tried 2 flavours of Ritek discs now with no problem (except the price - £4.xx , jeez).
For info - anyone passing through Leeds check out the stall in the covered market. They have a massive choice of CD/DVD blanks at =< internet prices.