In a couple days I'll have a Plextor 708A. I'm interested in all the feedback I can get. My main curiosities are:

1. What brand of media do you use? And do you prefer - or + and why?

2. What is the best program to shrink down a 9 GB dvd in it's entirety to put on a 4.7 disc? And does it bypass copy protection?

Answers to these questions and your related feedback would be most appreciated. :)

Hey belthazor,

To answer your questions:

1) I like to use Verbatim, but I have had very good results with TDK as well. I may go and try Memorex as well being their CD-R's have served me quite well.

Do I prefer - or + R? Well depends... From what I know (which is not a whole lot about it :lol:) is that the only main difference between the two formats is the file structure and handling... Obviously the -R is cheaper at this point. So far, I have only been burning with +R's and I have yet to burn a coaster. I too have the 708A... Now if only I can find a whole bunch of 8x +R's that do not cost $5 per 1 DVD - then all will be well! ;) I myself would like to know more about the differences between the formats -/+ R...

2) Take a look at these 2 links...
Part 1: hxxp://www.techimo.com/articles/index.pl?photo=136
Part 2: hxxp://www.techimo.com/articles/index.pl?photo=137

I hope this help you out some. Enjoy the new Plextor! :)

-SlickVic78

Nice article SlickVic78.
Thanks :)

I have a major curiosity about TMPGEnc DVD Author 1.5 Ver1.5.15.49
If it's as good as the other TMPGEnc.

I use DVDShrink and DVD Dycryptor, but prefer DVDShrik. You can re-author with it. I rip with DVDShrink then burn with Nero. A nice site ishttp://www.doom9.org/ It'll take you to a lot of places.


I burned a stack of Memorex 4X +R and had no trouble. I couldn't find any more where I live and so went through a few -R no-names with good results. I'm now moving to -R since they are cheaper and I don't see any difference for my needs.

You will need both TMPGEnc programs unless your movie is already in DVD compatible MPG format.

The best program i have found for shrinking large dvd's to a dvd-r format is DVD Shrink. I'm presently using V3 Beta 5- very stable and prety fast :)

I use -R disks only, i buy cheap bulk spindles of them and don't have any problems with coasters etc. I think i am paying around £25 for 50 dvd-r disks (when i can get them on offer :D ) or around £60 for a hundred at other times- shop around and see what you can find, some places do great deals!

I'm using the NEC ND 1300-A drive with region free bios (rpc-1 patched)- great drive and i believe i first found out about it on this very site :P

So far, it looks like my choice will be DVD Shrink and Nero for backup copies, and TMPEnc and Nero for authoring.
And SlickVic78, my 1st choice would be Verbatim due to all I've heard and their reputation. Finding them at a reasonable price is the obstacle, especially the 8X.

I understand from a friend that - are older than + which cause a price difference. As for quality between the two, I'm not sure. I do understand that since the + is newer, not all DVD players can read them. Of course, that's something to consider. My friend uses DVD Xcopy and I've seen him use it. The menu selection is very simple/basic. If you want more than one backup you have to make it off the original because DVD Xcopy will not make a backup of a backup it created.

DVDShrink beats other software hands down if you want to rip and reencode DVDs. Before the DVDShrink days I had to rip using SmartRIP, and then encode seperatly using mpegrecode. The whole proccess used to take a good 10 hours, not to mention the mess manually editing DVD nfo files, etc. With DVDShrink you stick your disk in the player, and it transcodes it as it is being ripped, giving you a nice 4.3GB folder ready for burning with nero :)

If you want to download DivX's and burn them to DVDs, the easiest option would be to use NeroVision to do it all for you.

As to the best media to use, I would advise you experiment. Buy a few types of disks, and see which work on your intended player. From the ones that do work, go for the cheapest.

There is no difference as such in the proceedure for writing to DVD+/-R(W). I can get DVD-Rs for 45p or so on a good day, but they do not work with my ancient stand-alone player. DVD+RW's cost me £1.25, work perfectly on my player, and have the bonus of being reusable. Other people have players which will read almost anything. Your milage may vary. Buy a few discs, and see what happens.

Besides, if you want to be able to fit the entire DVD without cutting anything out, then DVDXCOPY XPress or Platinum would be the program to use... Although, it isn't free - It costs around $150 buck for Platinum - but you can cut scenes out with ease and it compresses what you want to fit on the CD... So basically, it does most of the work for you, at a price... :lol: From what I hear, a lot of people have been having tons of issues with this program running on their systems... I guess I am one them users who lucked out... :P

I never used DVD Shrink - but have heard many good things about it... That may be the next program of choice if Platinum poops out on me... :lol1:

@belthazor
If you can find Verbatim 8x DVD+R's at a really good price, hit me up with the info please... I'll do the same. ;)

-SlickVic78