Recommendations sought re: purchasing an external DVD burner for my new iBook G4. What's the bestest and fastest, and are there any good bargains to be found. I'm likely to just go ahead and splurge, but wouldn't mind saving a few bucks...
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external DVD burner
- Thread starter c23roo
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get LaCie's external Dual Layer DVD Burner if you feel like splurging on the "latest and greatest." For future reference, bestest is not a word. If you're looking for speed, just buy an 8x DVD Burner, or wait on the next gen. of SL or DL burners. DL is only 2.4x right now, so while slower, they can pack twice as much data onto a DVD (provided it is a Dual Layer DVD), so you can copy commercial dvds without re-compressing them, or just store files on it (how boring).
I was looking into buying that LaCie Double Layer burner that you mentioned, but now I'm not sure that it would be the best move... maybe I should wait a little bit more?
My 867Mhz G4 will only burn at 1x, even after the firmware update that supposedly makes it burn at 2x
(yes, i'm sure the dvd media is 2x, its 4x, actually.)
Anyway, since I do a lot of video work and DVD production, I really need a new burner, and I definitely want a double layer burner since I will be using that all the time once the dual layer discs come down in price. The only thing I'm concerned about is the speed of the dual layer burning. 2.4x is kinda slow.
Should I wait a couple months and see if they roll out some 16x DVD+/-R, 48x DL DVD+R drives?
My 867Mhz G4 will only burn at 1x, even after the firmware update that supposedly makes it burn at 2x
(yes, i'm sure the dvd media is 2x, its 4x, actually.)Anyway, since I do a lot of video work and DVD production, I really need a new burner, and I definitely want a double layer burner since I will be using that all the time once the dual layer discs come down in price. The only thing I'm concerned about is the speed of the dual layer burning. 2.4x is kinda slow.
Should I wait a couple months and see if they roll out some 16x DVD+/-R, 48x DL DVD+R drives?
LaCie Drives and advice requested
LaCie drives use to come with Toast and now only come with Toast lite. I am not sure how important that is.
In order to burn from iDVD an internal Superdrive is required. How much of a disadvantage is burning files made with iMovie if one cannot use iDVD.
BrianKonarsMac said:
LaCie drives use to come with Toast and now only come with Toast lite. I am not sure how important that is.
In order to burn from iDVD an internal Superdrive is required. How much of a disadvantage is burning files made with iMovie if one cannot use iDVD.
On an aside, some versions of the firmware hack are not very reliable for increased speeds. So that may be the case on yours.
Dual layer is maxed at 2.4. I use it and its not that bad. If you had to burn 50 disks a day, it would be, but for a few its really not much different than 4X.
Of course, sometime soon DVD-R will be dual layer and faster than the dual layer DVD+ disks. The LaCie with 12X, A) hard to find 12X media, B) not any perception that is faster than 8X to me.
But its a nice drive.
Dual layer is maxed at 2.4. I use it and its not that bad. If you had to burn 50 disks a day, it would be, but for a few its really not much different than 4X.
Of course, sometime soon DVD-R will be dual layer and faster than the dual layer DVD+ disks. The LaCie with 12X, A) hard to find 12X media, B) not any perception that is faster than 8X to me.
But its a nice drive.
cwright said:I was looking into buying that LaCie Double Layer burner that you mentioned, but now I'm not sure that it would be the best move... maybe I should wait a little bit more?
My 867Mhz G4 will only burn at 1x, even after the firmware update that supposedly makes it burn at 2x
Anyway, since I do a lot of video work and DVD production, I really need a new burner, and I definitely want a double layer burner since I will be using that all the time once the dual layer discs come down in price. The only thing I'm concerned about is the speed of the dual layer burning. 2.4x is kinda slow.
Should I wait a couple months and see if they roll out some 16x DVD+/-R, 48x DL DVD+R drives?
daveeh said:
That isnt entirely accurate.
See here:
http://homepage.mac.com/geerlingguy/personal_site/mac_guide/pages/15-burn_idvd_other.html
There is an iDVD easteregg (NOT a hack, as it does not alter the program. It just unlocks a feature) that allows burning to an external DVD burner or writing a dvd .img file to the hard disk which can be burned on any dvd burner.
The easter egg consists of dumping a couple files into your home directory. Then, instead of hitting the "Burn" button in iDVD, you hold the Apple button and hit Burn. You get a window that pops up and asks you if you want to burn to an external burner or write an iso image of the dvd.
It works perfectly.