I have just spent about $1200 on a Japanese TV series. (Waited 40 odd years to see it again!) The disks are precious to me both in money and content and I need to back them up. They are double layer, CSS DVDs and I can't do anything with them at the moment. I do not want to shrink them or compromise the quality in any way. If possible, I just want a straight copy. I am quite prepared to buy a couple of DVD DL drives to enable me to copy the content. My questions are as follows:
1. Do I need a special DL DVD reader or will my current GDR8162B do the job? (I'm happy to buy a drive if need be.)
2. Nero will knock me back for sure. Can I use Isobuster to extract the content of a DL DVD (it sort of works now but with errors) and reburn with Nero?
3. Put simply, if I have the hardware and media to read and burn double layer disks, what software is recomended so that I do not lose video quality? I have the time and the motivation to tinker if I have to.
Ok wel for a start your drive is a DVD Rom drive so wont burn any Dvd's... you want to look at buying a Pioneer 111 Here
A few words of advice...
1- Install the latest firmware on your burner; as to avoid coasters.
2- Buy Verbatim DVD+R DL Media (optional but...)
DVD-R DL are still causing issues since they are pretty new and not all drives support them, even with the latest firmware.
3- Do not burn at MAX speed. Burn at 2.4x!
4- If you are going to burn a DL .ISO(.mds) burn with DVD Decrypter(if you have it :D) and/or Image Burn and load the .MDS not the .ISO
The .MDS has the Layer Break information, and should help creating a smooth DL burn.
5- Don't multitask durning the burn, ensuring a smooth burn.
6- Follow the rest of the usuall burning precautions...
I didn't make it clear that I also have IMWDVRW8DR as my current burner. (I would be silly if I tried to burn to a DVDROM.) I always have a read-only drive and a burner to make disk-to-disk copies.
What I was asking: if I replace the burner with a DL version, is my Hitachi DVD reader good enough for the copy or should I also upgrade that to a newer version?
Sorry about this. (It's 3.50 in the morning so I'm a bit dopey!) The reason I asked the previous question was that I try not to use my burner for reading only for writing. So I want to capture the image with a DVD reader.
Also, I always use Verbatim when I can. Seems to have longer life and more reliable burns. And I always burn at a lower speed than the max. It's great to have confirmation that I'm not just being superstitious.
