Dvd-writer, should I buy one? 4

[JeroenT]

I really want to buy this cool gadget, but on the other hand I can't afford to waste my precious money. The only thing that can make a Dvd-writer a good investment (for me that is) if it is capable of writing X-box or Playstation 2 games. So my question is, can Dvd-writers write these games or should i leave this and keep my money in my pocket?

 

[ANFPS26]

Copy protection is an issue. Some new games and movies don't allow for copying. Some will copy and some won't. For me, I'm waiting for the price to come down. The DVD disks aren't cheap either------yet. "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing....."

 

[CitrixEngineer]

..Nor have they been standardised;

There are essentially 3 different ways of recording DVDs, and hence 3 different media and DVD writers;

DVD-R/RW. One of two official standards. Backed by Sony, Philips, Yamaha, Mitsubishi and Ricoh, among others.
DVD-RAM. Developed principally for multi-re-recording. Backed by Toshiba and Hitachi, among others.
DVD+R/RW. NOT the same as DVD-R/RW - it's an unofficial standard with fairly widespread support. Including Sony, Philips, Yamaha, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Verbatim. Website at

http://www.dvdrw.com/

DVD-RAM, although much faster, and supporting higher re-write rates, suffers from compatibility issues; most current DVD players/DVD Roms won't play DVD-RAM discs. Not a problem if you won a DVD-RAM drive, but...

DVD-R, in my opinion, will become the Betamax, and DVD+R will be the VHS. At the moment, however, it's an open playing field - I read somewhere that Panasonic have just brought out a consumer DVD player that reads DVD-RAM...

In short, I'd advise waiting, unless you have a large amount of cash burning a hole in your pocket.

Hope this helps

CitrixEngineer@yahoo.co.uk

 

[CitrixEngineer]

Update: Sony have since brought out some models that writes both DVD- and DVD+ R/RW - the DRU500A and DRX500UL. The reviews I have read so far indicate that it's pretty good, but there are compatibility issues with this drive and Verbatim DVD-R discs.

I have seen no reviews on "authoritative" sites, such as tomshardware.com, pcstats.com, arstechnica.com, hardocp.com or sharkyextreme.com, so caveat emptor. My advice is wait until the technology matures, unless you have to be the "first kid on the block with one".

There are still NO drives that support DVD-R and DVD+R with DVD-RAM, however. Looks like this format is going to be consigned to professional use only. CitrixEngineer@yahoo.co.uk

 

[crwpulsar]

Dont know about the X-box but you will be able to "a copy" of playstation games.Have been told works better on the standard black disks and has to be recorded in mpeg-2.i know a guy who bought(DVDR) one yesterday for the same reason and he has been having teething problems so far. Anyway the reason some PS2 games can be copied and some cant is... sony have the Boot info recorded in such a way on the original disk that it provides some BIOS info to the PS2.Thats why some can be copied...for the ones that cant be backed up you can still copy them but you will have to "chip" you PS2 processor to play the games.
hope this Helps
David

 

[cdogg]

Not to be a party pooper, but regardless of whether it can be done or not, this is not the place to discuss it.

Citrix was turning the discussion into an explanation of the different DVD writeable formats, and turning it away from the illegal side. There's no reason to go back...



~cdogg

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
- A. Einstein

 

[crwpulsar]

Like I said in my reply..."you are allowed to make ONE copy of your disks" and chipping isnt illegal..the companies which develope the mod chips are helped by sony so that the new mod chips dont do the same kind of damage as chipping the first one(PS1).
David

 

[cdogg]

crwpulsar,
Interesting...you say you're allowed to make ONE copy, eh? I know you're not allowed to for CD's or DVD's, but you're saying Playstation games are different?

I'd be curious to see for myself. Could you kindly point me to your source of information??


~cdogg

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
- A. Einstein

 

[crwpulsar]

cdogg....

http://news.com.com/2100-1040-946640.html?tag=rn

Like it says..Sony cant stop you playing your own backups or imported games...I know its definitey not illegal in England bcos the company thay started it all was a UK based chip company.
Of course if you decide to rent a copy from your local video store to copy thats different and shouldnt be done as you are just harming the independent games companies and it will lead Sony to put more secirity into future PS consoles
David

 

[cdogg]

Yeah, here in the US, the 1998 Digital Millenium Copyright Act is the main obstacle that may or may not prevent a person from making a "backup" copy of the media they own.


I found this at

http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=fair use

[ul][li]the DMCA states quite explicitly that, "Nothing in this section shall affect rights, remedies, limitations, or defences to copyright infringement, including fair use[/li]
[li]the Act contradicts itself, stating that, "No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title," and so making it illegal for the legitimate purchaser of a DVD to copy the content they have paid for in a format not licensed by the industry[/li][/ul]


Ultimately, it would be up to the court to determine whether you went outside of the restrictions of fair use. How many people out there are really making backup copies and only using them in the case that the original becomes corrupted? And I'm not talking about commercial customers here - this is about the average home user. ~cdogg

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
- A. Einstein

 

[crwpulsar]

cdogg,
Heres a piece of useless information...Sony Music was one of the companies which strongly lobbied to have copyright infringment inforced( 1998/2001? Digital Millenium Copyright Act) however it was Sony and Philips that invented C.d technology and so every time a c.d is sold they get a percentage of that money..weather it has data on it or not!maybe thats the problem with copyright,the companies want you to keep buying the blank c.d/burners but they dont want you to use(except for digital pics).Anyway this wasnt a thread to complain about multi-nationals so Il stop!!!!
David

Ps Dont use your burner(DVD) "if you get one" to make more than one copy as it is WRONG)

 

[cdogg]

Well, I think there's a big difference between using your DVD burner to backup say, your hard drive versus backing up a DVD or music CD.

The only point I was trying to make was that the subject of these threads shouldn't focus on making copies of copyright protected software, even if it's only illegal in one country. We should stick with what we know to be fact and steer clear of the borderline stuff.

There are hundreds of other forums out there that don't care, but this is not one of them.


~cdogg

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
- A. Einstein

 

[crwpulsar]

good point..heres a star!

 

[cdogg]

Here's one for you as well, for the references...

~cdogg

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
- A. Einstein