[Mike K]

I am in the process of making master copies (DVD-RAM) of all my old VHS camcorder home movies. I will be making at least 4 (-R) copies of each resulting in a bunch of burning.


Amazingly, my cd burner quit burning, so I might as well replace it with a DVD burner that will handle RAM disks. In this way, I can use it for burning copies avoiding wear and tear on the recorder.


I see that the Iomega Super DVD has OK ratings and there is a $30 rebate on them. Is there other alternatives and where is the best place to buy? I have not looked too hard, but have not seen them at the local (Dallas area) computer stores.


At this point, I feel that my basic editing on the E80 will be fine, so I plan on waiting awhile to get good editing software such as TMPG Enc Author or equivalent.


Thanks,

Mike

 

[Redleg]

I like the Super drive; it's worked well for me with E80 and TMPG, and has burned reliable disks. I was never able to find any other -RAM drives at B&M stores.


I got mine at Best Buy last month and received my Iomega rebate last week.

 

[replayed]

Here's another vote for the Super DVD drive. I've had mine for 5 weeks and I love it. It's apparently identical to an LG unit (the actual manufacturer), so you might want to keep an eye out for that model as well.


However, I'm not sure you won't need software to transfer your DVD-RAM content to DVD-R. The Panasonic authors to DVD-RAM in VRO format which is different than the DVD-VIDEO format appropriate to DVD-Rs. I suppose you could do a straight DVD-RAM to PC HDD to DVD-R copy of the DVD-RAM file structure. But the resulting DVDs would not play in non-Panasonic players, and possibly not even in your E80 (though I'm not sure on that last point).


Feel free to try that kind of copy when you get your DVD-RAM compatible burner, but be prepared for the possibility that you'll need something like TMPGEnc DVD Author right away if you want to transfer programs from DVD-RAM to DVD-R.