i have to burn some dvd's for my boss and i dont know how does anyone know how to burn a bunch of divx movies to dvd with a menu. like what program can i use? i need to put 2 scenes per dvd that have 2 seperate divx movies playing. is there a program that will convert and burn them for me very easy? i did it once with nero years ago but i cant figure it out now. oh and it took 5 hours to do.. ! please help

thanks

try convertxtodvd

Nero Recode is very good at compiling DVDs, so is Nero Vision (I think that's what it's called). But these aren't free however. But if you already had a copy or could get your hands on them somehow it would be worthwhile, because even if it doesn't work, Nero Recode is an excellent tool for burning DVDs combined with DVD-43

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Originally posted by ipab
try convertxtodvd

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burn it really slow to, I don't care if you have a 32x speed burner burn at about 4x

What if I was burning it at 16x?
Why should I burn it at 4x?

The short answer: fault tolerance....


The long answer:

First thing to know is that empty discs (no matter of they are CD, DVD, etc) are made for a specific optimal burning speed, even if to supports multi-speeds. To know this recommended speed, you need to do some advanced testing with specialized software (example in link), or find some reference tables for a particular brand and type of disc.

Second, a rule of thumb is that the faster you burn the more errors you WILL burn to the disc. Now, these errors are not visible or audible, you most likely will not notice them when you play the disc. This is because each optical disc player has a build-in error-correction meganism. This is even true for normal CDs and your average CD player. Of course, this error-correction meganism can be more or less advanced depending on brand and type of your device.

The goal of burning is to write a discs with as less errors as possible. It speaks for its own that the less errors you burn on the disc the better. Aka: the less errors which need to be corrected, the better. But there will always be at least some errors.

So, even if your burner can write discs at an extremely fast speed, it does not mean you will burn a perfect disc, even if it can be played without any (visible/audible) errors. Buying a burner because it can write faster than others is not a good thing.

But that isn't the full story, as the above is just a rule of thumb...

Third, the optimum speed, or rather the best burned disc, also depends on the combination burner / disc. Some combinations of disc brands and burner brands will do better than others. Thus this optimum speed will be different for each burner / disc combination. To make it even further complicated, it also depends on the dye used to make the discs. Thus even when you stick within the same brand of discs, the dye used can make a big difference in burning errors.

eg: Your friend can burn good quality discs using brand A discs with his burner, and thus recommends these discs to you. But it might be very well possible that you wont get the same results with these discs. This has to do with the brand of your burner, which is different than you friend's. It might be possible that the combination of your burner and the brand A discs is actually not that good.

To find the best combination can be very tricky and it is more trial-and-error than science. In PC magazines you often see tables with best combinations. These tests are again done with specialized software. These tables can be used as a guideline. Or look up the compatibility with different disc brands on your manufacture's website (example in link).


To know more about this I suggest to do a google search on CD/DVD speeds and error-correction, etc. And/or read some articles with this topic in many PC magazines.


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So, to have the best burn quality:

- As a rule of thumb: never burn at a higher speed than required for the media. At least not that much higher. eg: don't burn at x52, it will be very bad quality for sure, burn at x4 or x8 (goes both for CDs and DVDs imo). True, the burn process will take less time if you burn faster, but you will burn a lot more errors. And in the end you will gain more time with burning just 1 good disc, than burning 3 discs of which you can throw away the first two... And you will have less chance of a buffer underrun when you burn at lower speeds....


- Burn at the optimal speed recommended by the manufacture of a certain type of disc. As a small rule of thumb: the optimum speed for a certain disc type is sometimes written in small print on the label or leaflet in the discbox. Sometimes, it is also good to use the biggest printed speed on the boxlabel, but only if that isn't the highest speed available for that type and brand of disc.
eg: 4x8x16x => 16x is printed the biggest, but that's just commercial eyecatching stuff.
eg: 4x8x16x => Good indication that 8x is the optimal speed for these discs.


- To have the real optimal speed you need to do a lot of testing with specialized software and test for C1, C2, and CU errors. The speed at which you have the least number of errors is the real optimum speed for that specific burner / disc combination.

Note that it might be well possible that with your burner / disc combination you could burn better quality CDs at 16x speed than your friend who is using another brand of burner and discs and burns at 4x. But you can only know this when you do this extensive testing, in other cases use the other guidelines written above.



In very short: Burning at the highest speed is almost always NOT good.

rodger.. got convertxtodvd, works a treat. much appreciated. by the way xen0h why can you burn fast? isnt faster better?

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Originally posted by Pyro
rodger.. got convertxtodvd, works a treat. much appreciated. by the way xen0h why can you burn fast? isnt faster better?

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Originally posted by CookieRevised
The short answer: fault tolerance....


The long answer:

First thing to know is that empty discs (no matter of they are CD, DVD, etc) are made for a specific optimal burning speed, even if to supports multi-speeds. To know this recommended speed, you need to do some advanced testing with specialized software (example in link), or find some reference tables for a particular brand and type of disc.

Second, a rule of thumb is that the faster you burn the more errors you WILL burn to the disc. Now, these errors are not visible or audible, you most likely will not notice them when you play the disc. This is because each optical disc player has a build-in error-correction meganism. This is even true for normal CDs and your average CD player. Of course, this error-correction meganism can be more or less advanced depending on brand and type of your device.

The goal of burning is to write a discs with as less errors as possible. It speaks for its own that the less errors you burn on the disc the better. Aka: the less errors which need to be corrected, the better. But there will always be at least some errors.

So, even if your burner can write discs at an extremely fast speed, it does not mean you will burn a perfect disc, even if it can be played without any (visible/audible) errors. Buying a burner because it can write faster than others is not a good thing.

But that isn't the full story, as the above is just a rule of thumb...

Third, the optimum speed, or rather the best burned disc, also depends on the combination burner / disc. Some combinations of disc brands and burner brands will do better than others. Thus this optimum speed will be different for each burner / disc combination. To make it even further complicated, it also depends on the dye used to make the discs. Thus even when you stick within the same brand of discs, the dye used can make a big difference in burning errors.

eg: Your friend can burn good quality discs using brand A discs with his burner, and thus recommends these discs to you. But it might be very well possible that you wont get the same results with these discs. This has to do with the brand of your burner, which is different than you friend's. It might be possible that the combination of your burner and the brand A discs is actually not that good.

To find the best combination can be very tricky and it is more trial-and-error than science. In PC magazines you often see tables with best combinations. These tests are again done with specialized software. These tables can be used as a guideline. Or look up the compatibility with different disc brands on your manufacture's website (example in link).


To know more about this I suggest to do a google search on CD/DVD speeds and error-correction, etc. And/or read some articles with this topic in many PC magazines.


---------------------------------

So, to have the best burn quality:

- As a rule of thumb: never burn at a higher speed than required for the media. At least not that much higher. eg: don't burn at x52, it will be very bad quality for sure, burn at x4 or x8 (goes both for CDs and DVDs imo). True, the burn process will take less time if you burn faster, but you will burn a lot more errors. And in the end you will gain more time with burning just 1 good disc, than burning 3 discs of which you can throw away the first two... And you will have less chance of a buffer underrun when you burn at lower speeds....


- Burn at the optimal speed recommended by the manufacture of a certain type of disc. As a small rule of thumb: the optimum speed for a certain disc type is sometimes written in small print on the label or leaflet in the discbox. Sometimes, it is also good to use the biggest printed speed on the boxlabel, but only if that isn't the highest speed available for that type and brand of disc.
eg: 4x8x16x => 16x is printed the biggest, but that's just commercial eyecatching stuff.
eg: 4x8x16x => Good indication that 8x is the optimal speed for these discs.


- To have the real optimal speed you need to do a lot of testing with specialized software and test for C1, C2, and CU errors. The speed at which you have the least number of errors is the real optimum speed for that specific burner / disc combination.

Note that it might be well possible that with your burner / disc combination you could burn better quality CDs at 16x speed than your friend who is using another brand of burner and discs and burns at 4x. But you can only know this when you do this extensive testing, in other cases use the other guidelines written above.



In very short: Burning at the highest speed is almost always NOT good.

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To add to Cookies post, The Golden Rules of Burning.

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Originally posted by linx05
To add to Cookies post, The Golden Rules of Burning.

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Originally posted by CookieRevised

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Originally posted by linx05
To add to Cookies post, The Golden Rules of Burning.

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cool find. I've bookmarked it .

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Originally posted by CookieRevised
However point 1 isn't correct. The brand (or better brand id) does _not_ matter, what matters is how much the brand (id) you choose is compatible with your burner drive. That isn't neccesary Taiyo Yuden or Verbatim, it can be anything.

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Actually that is incorrect. If you wish to have superior burns you should only use the two brands posted in that link. When burning DL DVD Video, you should _only_ use Verbatim +R DL (MKM-001-00, I use 003) from Singapore (not India - sorry JAnderton ).

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Originally posted by CookieRevised
Point 4 is not that accurate either. Again it depends on the combination of your drive and disc brand and type. But if you aren't able to find a reference table for your burner drive, or you can't test different combinations yourself, it is a good rule of thumb though (see also my post).

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Sorry, wrong again.

I have seen _MANY_ posts and scans which confirm those are the only two trusted media (Verbatim for DL) you should use for burning DVDs. The media is more than a "rule of thumb", they are a must. With dud brands, some burns may burn successfully if you are lucky, but will deteriorate quicker and errors will pop up sooner.

If you go into any reputable DVD burning forum/site they will tell you the exact same thing. You post about a burn problem and they will ask you to change DVD brands if you use the wrong one.

Sorry but the combination of burner brand/type and media _is_ important. It might well be that there are many more good combinations to form with Verbatim media than other media, true. And it would be normal if people recommend Verbatim because of that.

But that does not mean the combination burner/media isn't important. It simply means Verbatim media will have the most chance of forming a good combination. (it is the most "compatible" if you like) Hence why it is suggested so much, because it is easier to take your chance with a media which gives good results with most burners, than actually doing a very time consuming test to see if there is other media which might give better results for your particular burner.

quote:

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Originally posted by CookieRevised
Sorry but the combination of burner brand/type and media _is_ important. It might well be that there are many more good combinations to form with Verbatim media than other media, true. And it would be normal if people recommend Verbatim because of that.

But that does not mean the combination burner/media isn't important. It simply means Verbatim media will have the most chance of forming a good combination. (it is the most "compatible" if you like) Hence why it is suggested so much, because it is easier to take your chance with a media which gives good results with most burners, than actually doing a very time consuming test to see if there is other media which might give better results for your particular burner.

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Originally posted by linx05

They are the best because they are made so well. When the disc makers create these discs they don't have each burner in mind. They create the discs as best they can with the top quality materials and dyes.

You may use a disc suited for your burner but they may not last long. Crap dyes will soon deteriorate and leave you with a nice little coaster.

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Originally posted by Aardvark
I don't necessarily think they are the "best", but just seem to be a well known brand which seem to work well for people a lot of the time.

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Originally posted by Aardvark
These imation disks right in front of me could be the best, but are they sold at every single shop and are they the most expensive?

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Originally posted by Aardvark
And what defines "best", produce the least amount of errors on average? That's very important but I don't think that makes a certain brand of disk "better" overall in terms of other aspects of a disc (such as longability, which you mentioned). Verbatim might have very competitive prices which make people want to buy them, and they seem to get the job done quite well. Just a thought...

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ahhh alright now i understand. sorry just somthing i always wondered.  WOW thanks for such a detailed answer to the question. we need more people like you and cookie

No problem Pyro! Let us know how it all goes.

Woo, little text argument!

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Originally posted by Volv
Woo, little text argument!

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