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Which dvd writer to get
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pmaizitis
Newbie
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9. May 2003 @ 02:44 |
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I will start a new thread here as well so I apologize for making the reccomendation to use Copy DVD Pro ... we had issues with their package and they have declined further technical support:
My (lost track) query and their abrupt and final response. Bottom line is they cut off my technical support!!!!
________________________________________________
-----Original Message-----
From: Maizitis@aol.com [mailto:Maizitis@aol.com]
Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2003 7:16 AM
To: gregory@copydvdpro.com
Subject: Re: Refund
Gregory:
Your advertisement states:
"Our guarantee is straight forward. We stand behind our packages because we know they work and we support you after the sale. In the rare case that your hardware configuration isn't supported, we'll promptly refund your purchase."
1. We had provided you with information that our discs would not burn and you stated that was a firmware issue with the Sony DRX500ULX. This was not true in our case and we resolved the issue outside of your technical support. In that case NERO did not burn the discs successfully ... Record DX did. You stated (RE: 4/8/2003 9:14:08 PM Eastern Daylight Time): "I know that if a customer can't burn a DVD with Nero, I really shouldn't feel too bad because Nero is the defacto burning tool and it's supposed to be compatible with everything, but I do feel like crap and I always refund the purchase.". Not clear why you are not refunding our money.
2. We provided Copy DVD Pro technical support with information that many of the DVDs we burned would not play in our standalone player. All you offered was that we visit your competitor's site to view their forums for support on our issues. Copy DVD Pro did not provide technical support.
3. We requested information on converting PAL to NTSC as none of these would play on our players after conversion. You stated (RE: 4/21/2003 9:32:51 PM Eastern Daylight Time): "We don't have any information in our tutorials to help you convert PAL to NTSC." At the time of the sale there was no disclaimer that Copy DVD Pro was NTSC specific.
4. None of the DVDs processed through your tutorial will play in our standalone player. Those processed through DVDShrink will play. Therefore our hardware configuration isn't supported by Copy DVD Pro.
Your software has been removed from our PC. We again request a refund. We have made an appointment with legal council.
Pete Maizitis
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Subj: RE: Refund
Date: 5/8/2003 6:31:22 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: gregory@copydvdpro.com
To: Maizitis@aol.com
Sent from the Internet (Details)
Pete,
I checked the 18 emails that I (Gregory) sent you, none of them contain the information you provided in your first point (1). You got a little creative with my words and added some of your own, my original words were:
"I've done some looking on the Sony website and a lot of other forums (not to mention all the customers of mine that own the DRU500) and there are some serious firmware issues with this drive. Many sites that sell DVDs also tell you that you'll need to update the firmware before their recordable DVD media will work with this drive. Nero is the defacto standard in DVD burning and you're telling me you have trouble with it, I'm not surprised.
I wish I have an answer for you other than make sure you've got the latest firmware in the writer. Also, I've read that you have to disable the DMA on the drive controller before you do the firmware upgrade, so be careful.
I will say that I've got several customers who've been successful making copies with this drive after getting the latest firmware, so I'm confident that it's possible to use this writer, but I'm not an expert on the drive myself."
From what I can see, there is a reference to Nero not being able to burn a DVD, however you are not required to use Nero and we recommend using DVD Decrypter together with ImgTools as the primary method of burning a DVD. If you had provided evidence of not being able to burn with DVD Decrypter to me, I would have refunded your purchase as I always do when there is a hardware compatibility issue that prevents a customer from using the software. Instead however you provided me the following:
"Actually the issue was not so much the firmware but the Hypermedia discs. It is just curious and Sony has no answer why only the 1st 6 could be burned. I did the firmware upgrade and it did not help. In one case I had success making a data disc with the included Veritas Record Now DX software (drop the whole video subdirectory into folders).I switched to Verbatim DVD+Rs 2.4X and they work great so far. I will also be trying the Fuji DVD+Rs 2.4X ."
This indicated to me that your problem was actually related to bad media. You can't expect me to be responsible for bad media.
2) Support comes in many forms, we don't claim to possess all the answers for software we didn't write. In this case however I did not send you to a competitors forum page looking for answers, I only mentioned that you are not the only one to have trouble copying a DVD, some DVDs are simply too difficult to copy no matter which tool you possess, including the competitions. I said you could confirm this if you looked on their forum pages. You have a knack for putting a spin on the original content of each email, which I preserve for cases such as this. We don't have all the answers, this is not the definition of support. Support is there to help you, we can't hold your hand through every step and make sure you do everything right.
3) You can copy a PAL DVD or an NTSC DVD, the tools we provide do both. Conversion between formats is not something we show you how to do, since none of the tools provide this capability. We don't make any claims that you can convert a DVD from one format to another.
4) DVD Shrink does not come with a burning tool, so if you can burn a "VIDEO_TS" folder with whatever tool you are using, you can do so with the "VIDEO_TS" folder produced by our tutorials. You said yourself that they played perfectly in WinDVD, which is all anyone can expect. After that, it's a question of media compatibility and quality and of course your standalone DVD player's ability to effectively player recordable media. Your "hardware configuration" doesn't include your television, your fridge and stove, nor your standalone DVD player, only your computer and the ability to use the software on it to copy a DVD. We don't guarantee you can play a DVD, only that you can copy one.
All of this comes as somewhat of a surprise given the fact that on 5/4/2003 you said the following:
"Hi Gregory:
Just wanted to say what a great tutorial ... I keep it open as I do my processing ... very informative for this complex process."
This came after all the problems you had and you only changed your tone once you found another shareware tool that it easier to use. If you buy a computer today, then in 3 weeks a better and cheaper model comes out, you can't expect the manufacturer to give you a refund. Since we don't have any control over the copying process once it's in your hands and since we can't guarantee that every tool will work flawlessly, we warn you of this in the disclaimer and you have to agree to it before you purchase the product, you did.
A refund will not be forthcoming, neither will any more correspondence from our company since you have obtained far more support than anyone I've ever dealt with, and I don't want the rest of my customers to have to wait unnecessarily for their answers. Free support is not for an indefinite time, yours has run out.
Gregory.
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Senior Member
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12. May 2003 @ 04:13 |
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Pete:
So much for DVD Copy pro...Some more questions about the Sony ULX. Do you still recommend it as a good buy. Also have you burned DVDs at various speeds 1X, or 2.4X or 4X? How is quality affected as speed increases? Have you tried Fuji media, do they work? (Best Buy has sale on them this week) Other than compatibility with dvd player, any preference on whether to use + or - media. I've noticed myriads of burning guides on use of Nero burning software, how about any burning guides (websites) on Record Now Max since this is the packaged (preferred) burning software of choice by Sony with its burner? Have you upgraded to firmware 2.0F, any improvements. Lotta questions, so I appreciate your taking the time....LABOY
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pmaizitis
Newbie
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12. May 2003 @ 05:43 |
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Hi Laboy:
Again ... sincere applogies with the suggestion for COPYDVDPRO ... I found out later I had playability problems with the files in my Malata which is a good standalone for critical testing. COPYDVDPRO apparently does not consider a standalone as "hardware" however even my PC's DVD player was having some playability issues as well. Had issues with both Verbatim and Fuji 2.4X DVD+R with playability of COPYDVDPRO processed files burned through NERO in the DRX500ULX. OK ... peace on that ...
Quote:
So much for DVD Copy pro |COPYDVDPRO|...Some more questions about the Sony ULX. Do you still recommend it as a good buy.
Yes, an earlier review I did on it on VCDHELP.com was based on bad experiences with Hypermedia DVD-Rs. Fuji and Verbatim 2.4X DVD+Rs work great in the machine. This is a very robust machine so far. I am happy with it so far.
Quote:
Also have you burned DVDs at various speeds 1X, or 2.4X or 4X? How is quality affected as speed increases?
No, only burned at 2.4X ... I am only using 2.4X media so I can't vouch for quality at different speeds. Nero and the drive automatically default to the media's burn speed.
Quote:
Have you tried Fuji media, do they work? (Best Buy has sale on them this week) Other than compatibility with dvd player, any preference on whether to use + or - media.
Yes, the Fuji DVD+R media does work and I bought mine at Best Buy as well ($77 for 50). Sony does not list these as a certified media for the DRX500ULX but it works for me. After switching to DVDSHRINK for DVD processing (using NERO ROM to burn) I had no playability issues. I prefer the DVD+R media as what I have read indicates it has a larger capacity than the DVD-Rs. Note that the FUJI DVD+R does not clearly annotate on the packaging that it is the 2.4X media, however it is the blue double packaged 25 packs at Best Buy.
Quote:
I've noticed myriads of burning guides on use of Nero burning software, how about any burning guides (websites) on Record Now Max since this is the packaged (preferred) burning software of choice by Sony with its burner?
I successfilly burned DVD+Rs using Record Now DX included with the drive. You basically make a data disc and make two directories AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS and all your processed video files go into the VIDEO_TS. I will say that I was able to use NERO successfully and NERO was set to detect any file discepancies before I made a coaster. I am sure RecordNowDX can be set the same way but I have not gotten to those settings yet (prefer NERO). DVDDECRYPTER is freeware and will burn DVDs as well but not sure if the DRX500ULX is compatible, NERO is compatible with the DRX500ULX. I use NERO that I downloaded and then bought a cheap OEM disc for the serial number activation. I also bought the DVD and SVCD plugins. NERO will also burn image files. You could use DVDSHRINK and RecordNow DX and see how that works for you. I personally like NERO. Yell at me if I did not answer the question as this response got a little longwinded. (SOLLY)
Quote:
Have you upgraded to firmware 2.0F, any improvements.
You are already ahead of me ... cool ... no I had only upgraded to 2.0e. I will have to check out the new upgrade ... thanks for the head's up! The sales guy at Best Buy told me he could burn the Fuji's without the firmware upgrade but did so later anyway to be on the safe side. The Sony instructions at the time of the 2.0e upgrade were a little ambiguous but I did know that I could not upgrade with DMA disabled. I disabled the DLA, however for the upgrade and that worked.
Quote:
Lotta questions, so I appreciate your taking the time....LABOY
No problemo, I again applogize for the bad reference to COPYDVDPRO ... I know you will enjoy DVDSHRINK ... suggest you might want to download this freeware ... a new revision is coming out in June I heard. There are other guides out there for using DVDDECRYPTER, DVD2AVI, and IFOEDIT but I had some sync, playability and some black screen problems going this route (RE: COPYDVDPRO)
Cheers!
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awesomejt
Junior Member
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12. May 2003 @ 06:10 |
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Well, back to the topic of which DVD burner to get -- I can recommend the Sony 500AX. I have no problems writing discs and the only coasters I've made were from dirt cheap "see-through" house-brand media from YesBuy.net (don't recommend). I have used Memorex, Fuji, and Verbatium which all work wonderfully. What is nice is you can choose which media you want to use based on which players or drives you have or need to play on -- that is DVD-R and DVD+R are not 100% supported in all players in the market, so get a drive that supports both. Some newer players will be able to handle both, but not all (especially the cheaper ones). Also for simplicity -- just buy what is cheapest or on sale at the moment (as long as it is good quality media) and you should be golden.
Just my 1.9999999999 cents worth (ooops, I thought they fixed that problem).
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pmaizitis
Newbie
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12. May 2003 @ 06:45 |
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Hi awesomejt:
Its good to know that Memorex also works in the drive .... thanks!
Hi Laboy:
I am glad I went back to the Sony site based on your prompting of a newer firmware upgrade. Sony updated some information on the Windows XP service pack 1, as well. Please note:
Quote:
Windows XP Service Pack 1 For CD-RW drives ONLY We recommend that Windows® XP users download the Service Pack 1 update from Microsoft. The update is available at the link below. Includes patch for CD recording issue where CDs recorded in Windows XP may have missing files or errors.
Important: DVD drive owners should not download this service pack.
So you should not download the service pack for the SONY DRX500ULX based on this latest info from Sony.
Cheers!
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Moderator
3 product reviews
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12. May 2003 @ 07:11 |
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LOL
At last , I've been trying to tell people about that...hahaha
Cheers Pete
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pmaizitis
Newbie
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12. May 2003 @ 11:08 |
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Hi herbsman:
Yes, sir ... you were right all along ... it appaered that it took Sony some time to post the warning. I did not notice the same warning for the 2.0e firmware upgrade, but it is real clear now on their site ...
Excellent call!
Hi Laboy:
If anything the 2.0f firmware upgrade did not effect the last DVD I burned using Nero. For the upgrade to 2.0f I uninstalled Veritas DLA as per the Sony upgrade instructions (the 1st upgrade 2.0e I just disabled DLA with no adverse effects).
Cheers guys!
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Moderator
3 product reviews
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12. May 2003 @ 20:03 |
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happy burning mate
some british saying: All's well , that ends well
: )
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