choosing a DVD burner

EZ CD Creator 5 (with the update) works great here on WinXP. But you may
also want to consider some other programs, too, like Nero (for example), for
DVD work, which can offer more (but I wouldn't recommend installing the InCD
part)

FWIW - I never installed any of the packet-writing stuff (Direct CD, or
InCD, etc), however, as I consider it potentially too problematic. So I
always burn CDs or DVDs in the DAO mode (Disk At Once) mode, and then close
it. IOW, once it's burned, it's done, and that is rarely, if ever,
problematic.

Jo-Anne Naples wrote:
Thank you, M.I.5¾! It turns out that my old, supposedly CD-only, burner
also
burns DVDs. Today, for the first time, I used it with a DVD, and Easy CD
Creator 5 worked fine. I do still plan to replace the read-only drive
soon,
but it's good to know for now that my ancient program works OK. When I buy
a
new drive, if it doesn't come with software, I'll check out the free stuff
first.

Jo-Anne

"M.I.5¾" wrote in message
...

"Jo-Anne Naples" wrote in message
...
I've decided, with help from people here, that I can install a DVD
burner
in my 5-year-old Dell desktop computer (with Windows XP SP3 and an IDE
internal hard drive) rather than having it done at a local shop.

Newegg sells the "Pioneer 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model
DVR-115DBK - OEM." Is this drive likely to be a good fit with my
computer? (I don't need a slim drive, right?)

Also, does "OEM" mean it's missing something that a non-OEM drive would
have? One of the reviews said the drive doesn't come with software--but
the same was said of at least one other burner that was listed as
"Retail." (As I mentioned in another post, I have the old Easy CD
Creator
5, which can burn data onto DVDs.)


I should also have pointed out that Easy CD Creator is not officially
compatible with Windows XP, but in practice it is only the Packet
incremental part that is not compatible.

"Gurney" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 9 Jun 2008 08:15:33 -0500, "Tom [Pepper] Willett"
wrote:


":
: WHAT DVD unit you buy has NOTHING to do with the OS and the topic is
: out of place HERE.
:
: Ask elsewhere
:
Bull****.

Such eloquence you have.


Well it's brief and apposite.

I found CDs/DVDs written with INCD to be a problem when trying to read or
write to them on another PC with INCD. Turns out, after trial and error,
that apparently, unless both PCs have the identical version of INCD, there
may be problems.

Earlier versions of INCD, had problems with CDs holding their INCD written
data. Lotta frisbees.

--
Dave
"Bill in Co." wrote in message
...
EZ CD Creator 5 (with the update) works great here on WinXP. But you
may also want to consider some other programs, too, like Nero (for
example), for DVD work, which can offer more (but I wouldn't recommend
installing the InCD part)

FWIW - I never installed any of the packet-writing stuff (Direct CD, or
InCD, etc), however, as I consider it potentially too problematic. So I
always burn CDs or DVDs in the DAO mode (Disk At Once) mode, and then
close it. IOW, once it's burned, it's done, and that is rarely, if
ever, problematic.

Jo-Anne Naples wrote:
Thank you, M.I.5¾! It turns out that my old, supposedly CD-only, burner
also
burns DVDs. Today, for the first time, I used it with a DVD, and Easy CD
Creator 5 worked fine. I do still plan to replace the read-only drive
soon,
but it's good to know for now that my ancient program works OK. When I
buy a
new drive, if it doesn't come with software, I'll check out the free
stuff
first.

Jo-Anne

"M.I.5¾" wrote in message
...

"Jo-Anne Naples" wrote in message
...
I've decided, with help from people here, that I can install a DVD
burner
in my 5-year-old Dell desktop computer (with Windows XP SP3 and an IDE
internal hard drive) rather than having it done at a local shop.

Newegg sells the "Pioneer 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model
DVR-115DBK - OEM." Is this drive likely to be a good fit with my
computer? (I don't need a slim drive, right?)

Also, does "OEM" mean it's missing something that a non-OEM drive would
have? One of the reviews said the drive doesn't come with software--but
the same was said of at least one other burner that was listed as
"Retail." (As I mentioned in another post, I have the old Easy CD
Creator
5, which can burn data onto DVDs.)


I should also have pointed out that Easy CD Creator is not officially
compatible with Windows XP, but in practice it is only the Packet
incremental part that is not compatible.

Interesting to hear this - thanks. The fact that it can be this fussy
just makes it not worth it to me to even bother with it. (Besides which,
the discs are now cheap enough to be able to use a new one when you want to
update what's on the CD or DVD, anyways).

And I've also heard some horror stories about folks trying to install both
DirectCD and InCD (or any two packet-writing versions), and the consequent,
often serious, system problems that result (due to conflicts between the
different packet writing stuff).

Lil' Dave wrote:
I found CDs/DVDs written with INCD to be a problem when trying to read or
write to them on another PC with INCD. Turns out, after trial and error,
that apparently, unless both PCs have the identical version of INCD, there
may be problems.

Earlier versions of INCD, had problems with CDs holding their INCD written
data. Lotta frisbees.

--
Dave
"Bill in Co." wrote in message
...
EZ CD Creator 5 (with the update) works great here on WinXP. But you
may also want to consider some other programs, too, like Nero (for
example), for DVD work, which can offer more (but I wouldn't recommend
installing the InCD part)

FWIW - I never installed any of the packet-writing stuff (Direct CD, or
InCD, etc), however, as I consider it potentially too problematic. So I
always burn CDs or DVDs in the DAO mode (Disk At Once) mode, and then
close it. IOW, once it's burned, it's done, and that is rarely, if
ever, problematic.

Jo-Anne Naples wrote:
Thank you, M.I.5¾! It turns out that my old, supposedly CD-only, burner
also
burns DVDs. Today, for the first time, I used it with a DVD, and Easy CD
Creator 5 worked fine. I do still plan to replace the read-only drive
soon,
but it's good to know for now that my ancient program works OK. When I
buy a
new drive, if it doesn't come with software, I'll check out the free
stuff
first.

Jo-Anne

"M.I.5¾" wrote in message
...

"Jo-Anne Naples" wrote in message
...
I've decided, with help from people here, that I can install a DVD
burner
in my 5-year-old Dell desktop computer (with Windows XP SP3 and an IDE
internal hard drive) rather than having it done at a local shop.

Newegg sells the "Pioneer 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model
DVR-115DBK - OEM." Is this drive likely to be a good fit with my
computer? (I don't need a slim drive, right?)

Also, does "OEM" mean it's missing something that a non-OEM drive
would
have? One of the reviews said the drive doesn't come with
software--but
the same was said of at least one other burner that was listed as
"Retail." (As I mentioned in another post, I have the old Easy CD
Creator
5, which can burn data onto DVDs.)


I should also have pointed out that Easy CD Creator is not officially
compatible with Windows XP, but in practice it is only the Packet
incremental part that is not compatible.

"Lil' Dave" wrote in message
...
I found CDs/DVDs written with INCD to be a problem when trying to read or
write to them on another PC with INCD. Turns out, after trial and error,
that apparently, unless both PCs have the identical version of INCD, there
may be problems.


Unfortunately there have been many versions of the UDFRW format in which
they are written. It is unwise to use the format for any archival
purposes.

Earlier versions of INCD, had problems with CDs holding their INCD written
data. Lotta frisbees.


This is a known limitation. DVD-RWs suffer from the same problem, but
DVD+RWs are quite reliable.