quick dvd question

griffdaddy

can i burn a dvd 9 with my regular dvd burner or does it have to be a certain type? i'm not talking about re-encoding or any of that malarky, just wondering if a normal (4.7gig) burner can do 9gig dvds aswell?
thanks for the help!

flyinfishmonkey

Yeah of course you can. The burner doesn't discriminate between 4.7 gig and 8.5 gig dvds. What software are you using to copy?

Syth

Actually I think it does matter.

4.7 GB DVD are normal single layer DVDs. 8.5 GB are double layer DVDs. You need a dual layer blank DVD and a dual layer DVD burner, AFAIK.

flyinfishmonkey

Yeah sorry I should have elaborated. I just presumed if he had a Burner that it would have been something recent and that should burn Dual Layer disks... Most of the current pcs come with the dual layer function don't they..? And yes the 8.5gb disks are indeed dual layer. Thanx Syth.

secret_squirrel

griffdaddy wrote:

can i burn a dvd 9 with my regular dvd burner or does it have to be a certain type? i'm not talking about re-encoding or any of that malarky, just wondering if a normal (4.7gig) burner can do 9gig dvds aswell?
thanks for the help!

No you cant. A single layer dvd burner will only burn up to 4.7ish Gig. A dual layer burner will needed if you want to burn more than that.

Recoding is the only solution if you have a DVD9 that you want to burn onto a DVD5 recorder.

griffdaddy

hmmm i really dont wanna re encode in this case cause it's everything everything by underworld and i wanna back up the whole thing. i bought it in tower for 7 euro and i'd buy a spare but it was the last one!
i use nero recode usually.
how do i ascertain if my burner is a dual or single layer? i got my computer in january

Mutant_Fruit

what kind of burner is it? And who'd you get the computer off.

Standard Toaster

griffdaddy wrote:

hmmm i really dont wanna re encode in this case cause it's everything everything by underworld and i wanna back up the whole thing. i bought it in tower for 7 euro and i'd buy a spare but it was the last one!
i use nero recode usually.
how do i ascertain if my burner is a dual or single layer? i got my computer in january

In Nero click "Recorder/Choose Recorder".
You'll see the drive info there.

Mine, for example:

SLIM19198

back up the whole thing to a DVD5, use DVDSHRINK (Google for it, its freeware)

This will shrink it to DVD5 and keep all the menus and extras intact.

griffdaddy

it's a hp dvd writer 300c. i got it in the sales in compustore and then threw in some ram and another hard drive myself. thanks for help so far!

flyinfishmonkey

Sorry to add to your woes Griff but I just did some searching for your Drive and it looks like you picked a bad one.
http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/99634
They seen you coming... No wonder they gave you free stuff. They were probably laughin' they're asses off as you left the store. I know you may have had no problems yet but if I was you i'd invest in a new drive and make it a dual layer while you're at it. They really aren't that expensive nowaday's. Prob could pick a cheap one up for €80 odd. In fact mine cost €89 and its been workin fine for the last 6 months and I have been burning like billie-o.

griffdaddy

i was just reading that forum and i've never experienced any problems, i'm on 200+ cds and 50+ dvd burnings. they didnt gimme that stuff for free i bought it from komplett!
i really dont wanna shrink with this dvd, i wanna have it full quality

flyinfishmonkey

I know where you're coming from but I decided to invest in the Dual Layer DVDRW cos I reckoned instead of loosing any quality on the really large dvds by using Shrink I could just burn them onto an 8.5GB dual layer disk. More costly in the long run but the whole dvd fits on with no messing around, straight from the disk with DVD Decrypter. Have you room for another drive in your case..?

ruprect

griffdaddy wrote:

hmmm i really dont wanna re encode in this case cause it's everything everything by underworld and i wanna back up the whole thing.

You can use dvdshrink to reauthor the dvd. You can record individual chapters and so span the dvd over 2 disks. but you will loose all the menus this way but keep the full quality (i actually like getting rid of menus on some films as you dont have to go through the 2 minutes of warnings and intros before the film comes on)

With shrink you can also keep the menus and reduce some songs down to mere still frames, again this may be enough to span the dvd over 2 or 3 dvds and keep them all full quality, eg songs 1-5 on disc 1 and 6-10 on the second with menus intact and in full quality, at a later date i think these could be remerged if you got a dual layer.
shrinks encoding is very good, i cant tell teh difference on most, i always do deep analysis.