DVD Burning and conversion program recommendations

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Master Geek
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#2499075 5-Jun-2020 14:07

I've downloaded Any Video Converter which I'm going to have a go with next week; I won't get near the computer over the weekend most likely; teenagers. I'm also going to see if I can resize the files so I can back them up on Mega, preferably without having to pay for extra space as the budget is a bit tight right now; see said teenagers for the reason for that, eating us out of house and home!

I've got a standard 64gb USB flashdrive that I'll probably put some of them on and see if they'll play on the Sony Blu Ray. My main concern right at the moment is to ensure I can't lose the files. I can't store them on my internal HDD as there's not enough space and my second external HDD is my backup for the actual PC. I think I probably need another HDD so I have less chance of catastrophic failure. Thank you for your help so far guys, I definitely appreciate it.

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Master Geek
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#2507897 19-Jun-2020 09:43

Quick update, AVC works well for the conversion of the files. DVD Flick is what I'm trying to use for the writing since it's free and works reasonably fast, but I've been making a lot of coasters and the error message I'm getting is pointing towards my drive failing (the DVD writer). I've ordered a portable replacement since my next PC will be a home built one when I save enough for the parts and there's no space in new towers for optical drives so a portable looks like a good idea. Thought about a blu-ray writer, but that seems overkill for this.

Into Xbox, knitting, spinning yarn, and my family. Love my Android smartphone!

jpoc

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#2507911 19-Jun-2020 10:14

sewsable:

My main concern right at the moment is to ensure I can't lose the files.

Then why would you burn the files onto optical media?

One thing to understand about burning optical disks is this:

All optical media is subject to errors. Much more so than all of the other media with which we are familiar.

On recordable disks in particular, the number of errors will increase over time. Even disks that are stored in optimal conditions will deteriorate.

To compensate, they carry redundant data which is used to provide error correction.

When you burn a disk, this redundant data is created and then burned to the disk along with the intended data.

When you verify the disk after burning, all you do is discover if there is enough redundant data present to correct for all of the errors on the disk.

You do not get to discover if the data on the disk is so full of errors that the error correction logic could only just find enough recovery data to enable it to give a successful read.

That means that your freshly burned and verified disk may be just one bit error away from having an unreadable sector and may very well fail the next time that you put it into a reader.

If you are burning disks and seeing one burn in ten failing to verify then the disks that read back OK are probably marginal and will become unreadable very soon.

sewsable:

... I've been making a lot of coasters and the error message I'm getting is pointing towards my drive failing (the DVD writer)...

I have never seen a burner sold with an indication of how many disks it can burn before failing.

My experience suggests that once you have burned a couple of hundred disks, you will begin to see the error rate increase.

trig42

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#2507925 19-Jun-2020 10:50

Can you slow the burn speed down?

Back in the old days when I burned DVDs (mid-2000s), I had an 8x burner. I found changing burn speed to 2x made much more reliable discs (that could be played in DVD players).

Rikkitic

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#2507926 19-Jun-2020 10:53

I still don't understand the reason for putting videos onto DVD. Most video libraries these days are just files on servers. For ordinary video, .MP4 is fine. This is what I use and if necessary, it is easy to move the files to flash drives. Most modern devices will play them. Just about anything with a USB port should. I keep one old PC with a DVD drive for compatibility, but I haven't used it for a long time.

I do have non-technical friends, including some without any computer, and even these usually have a DVD player, and sharing videos with them is the only reason I can think of for still using DVDs at all. But as others have pointed out here, media players are cheap, portable and easy to source so you don't even need a PC to play video files. I just can't think of a use case for sticking with DVDs these days.

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88 posts

Master Geek
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#2507927 19-Jun-2020 10:54

Jpoc I'm burning DVDs partly so I can watch them on the DVD player that's attached to our TV; it doesn't have any USB ports so the other options aren't an option. I'm also putting the files onto a flash drive that has a USB 3.0 A type connector as well as a C type connector and that I can plug into our Blu Ray player in the other room or the Xbox as well as my Samsung tablet (horrible thing, getting an iPad next time)

At the moment I have them on a new portable Seagate HDD in TS format and I'm converting them to MP4 before burning them to DVD for the aforementioned purpose and putting them on the Flash Drive. I can't store them on my main hard drive as it's not got enough space left; too many games (the younger teenager plays on this PC)

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88 posts

Master Geek
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#2507932 19-Jun-2020 10:57

trig42:

Can you slow the burn speed down?

Back in the old days when I burned DVDs (mid-2000s), I had an 8x burner. I found changing burn speed to 2x made much more reliable discs (that could be played in DVD players).

I did try that, but I still kept getting the same message and google tells me that said message usually means your burner is on the way out. Will be setting up the new one shortly.

Into Xbox, knitting, spinning yarn, and my family. Love my Android smartphone!

Dugimodo

168 posts

Master Geek
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#2507933 19-Jun-2020 11:00

If you want them to last you need to buy good disks as well, which used to be a widely discussed topic with a lot of information and testing around but I suspect there is a lot less interest these days. It's something I used to spend a lot of time doing but have since abandoned in favour of just using a network drive for storage.

Back when I was doing it a lot I started off with cheap princo DVDs, which seemed to work fine to begin with but had a very high failure rate after a few months and pretty much 100% failure after a few years.

So then I did a lot of research and came up with Taiyo Yuden as the best brand but found them hard to source here and eventually settled on Verbatim and Mitsubishi disks (Mistsubishi owns Verbatim) due to them being commonly available at a reasonable price and consistently in the top 3 for the test results I looked at.

All this was years ago and might be invalid now but I have since stuck with verbatim and had a lot less failures, I have 10+ year old disks that still read fine. I also have blanks disks that are years old because I don't use them much any more, on occasion I use one and they still seem ok.

For whatever reason though recordable DVDs have not proven themselves to be a reliable data storage medium, CDs by contrast seem to last decades just fine even with some really cheap ones.

And for me when my drives have failed they generally just stop writing properly but can still read disks

elpenguino

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#2507939 19-Jun-2020 11:02

For about $85 you can get a 1TB external HDD. How much time and money will burning to DVD cost?

Do you not have any device you can watch files on? Phone/laptop?

Instead of persisting in using what is essentially a format on the way out, if you have them as files you'll be ready when you eventually upgrade your desktop/laptop etc.

Most of the posters in this thread are just like chimpanzees on MDMA, full of feelings of bonhomie, joy, and optimism. Fred99 8/4/21

richms

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#2507940 19-Jun-2020 11:03

Probably 80% of the games are unused and they are just a quick steam download from having them again so you can probably delete them to store stuff till you have arranged to buy more storage.

I would be getting a many TB external drive rather than another burner and then sorting out something to play on the other tv instead of a DVD player.

Cheap Android based boxes will play media off a USB drive and can be found for $40 or so for an old Android 7 based one that will never see an update but works great as a media player.

Richard rich.ms

Rikkitic

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#2507947 19-Jun-2020 11:14

richms:

Cheap Android based boxes will play media off a USB drive and can be found for $40 or so for an old Android 7 based one that will never see an update but works great as a media player.

This. I use them and they work fine. Or get a dedicated media player. Still cheaper and a hell of a lot easier than the way you are trying to do it. You can put dozens of films on an ordinary flash drive and flick between them instead of having to get up and change the DVD every time. It is so much better in every possible way.

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88 posts

Master Geek
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#2507969 19-Jun-2020 11:39

Dugimodo:

eventually settled on Verbatim and Mitsubishi disks (Mistsubishi owns Verbatim) due to them being commonly available at a reasonable price and consistently in the top 3 for the test results I looked at.

And for me when my drives have failed they generally just stop writing properly but can still read disks

I only use Verbatim, I've got old movies burned to them from years ago which are still fine and still play on the DVD attached to the TV. My drive is still reading, probably because there's less involved with reading than writing.

Into Xbox, knitting, spinning yarn, and my family. Love my Android smartphone!

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88 posts

Master Geek
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#2507971 19-Jun-2020 11:42

Rikkitic:

richms:

Cheap Android based boxes will play media off a USB drive and can be found for $40 or so for an old Android 7 based one that will never see an update but works great as a media player.

This. I use them and they work fine. Or get a dedicated media player. Still cheaper and a hell of a lot easier than the way you are trying to do it. You can put dozens of films on an ordinary flash drive and flick between them instead of having to get up and change the DVD every time. It is so much better in every possible way.

Can you give me a link so I know what I'm looking for? I'm pretty good with most things, but this whole media player thing is new to me. I've just spent a similar amount for a new DVD writer at PB Tech (I'll need it as an optical drive with my next PC anyway since I have a very old printer which I still love) and a new wi-fi adaptor as my Netgear one was starting to fail as well. Ended up with a TP Link based on the reviews at PB.

Into Xbox, knitting, spinning yarn, and my family. Love my Android smartphone!

Rikkitic

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#2508049 19-Jun-2020 12:55

I am happy to help. Give me a few hours to get around to it as I'm busy with something else at the moment.

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Dugimodo

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Master Geek
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#2508055 19-Jun-2020 13:10

maybe something like this https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/DVAMIX18554/Xiaomi-TV-Box-MI-Box-S-Media-Player-4K-Ultra-HD-St

Not personally ever tried one though.

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