I found a Pioneer burner (DVD+/DVD-) that I’m going to buy for my Windows-using son. There are two choices for software packages, but I don’t know enough about Windows software to know if I need both or just one. He has a video camera, so I’m sure I want the software that comes with the $39 option. What I can’t tell is whether or not that package includes all of the basic burning stuff that the $20 option has or if I need both so he can have a full range of choices in terms of burning data and video. I think the $39 option is the one I’m after, but would some Windows user please look at this link and confirm that for me?! Thank you!!! 🙂
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Thanks, Ed. That’s the way I was interpreting it, too. I’d rather get "too much" than too little. I have nightmares of repeating the stunt I pulled one year when I gave him some kind of a great techie gadget but forgot to buy the one piece that would allow him to use it! 🙂
Thanks, Ed. That’s the way I was interpreting it, too. I’d rather get "too
much" than too little. I have nightmares of repeating the stunt I pulled one year when I gave him some kind of a great techie gadget but forgot to buy the one piece that would allow him to use it! 🙂
I know the feeling. I looked around, it’s a good price.
I would interject one thought. If the install goes bad, can you return it?
I’m sure it’s returnable if there’s something wrong with it, but I’m not concerned about the installation itself. He builds computers for sport; last year’s Christmas list included stuff like mobos, processors, and fancy video cards. He’s even got me into it – I replaced several components in my own computer last year about this time. 🙂 It’s the software thing that was confusing to me, because I don’t pay much attention to what’s out there for users of Windows.
I’m sure it’s returnable if there’s something wrong with it, but I’m not
concerned about the installation itself. He builds computers for sport; last year’s Christmas list included stuff like mobos, processors, and fancy video cards. He’s even got me into it – I replaced several components in my own computer last year about this time. 🙂 It’s the software thing that was confusing to me, because I don’t pay much attention to what’s out there for users of Windows.
I’m sure he’ll eventually want to upgrade at least some of the software, but getting one of the packages to go with the burner looked like a good place to start. That way he can at least "sample" something to see if it would be worth investing in a more sophisticated version. It’s pretty obvious from the price that nothing in either option is going to be top of the line, but I won’t have to live with the guilt of giving him a piece of worthless hardware he can’t even play with! 🙂 For $39 I’m not expecting too much!
Not knowing much about the Windows world myself, I can’t comment on the included software that comes with that drive. I was, however, going to make the same suggestion that Nancy did. Roxio makes great software, Toast is one of my favorite programs and I use it almost daily. Both of my brothers own XP machines and I’ve helped them out on occasion using Easy CD/DVD Creator 6. It’s a decent program.
Incidentally, that’s the same drive I put in my G4 a couple months ago. It’s a great drive and I’m sure he’ll like it.
Beth, IMO the $39 package should be fine. The Record Now software has the basic burning capabilities that Nero has, although Nero is more popular. Nero has some other bells and whistles that are covered in the other packages included in the $39 set. Plus getting the 4 blank media along with the drive is nice for testing after installation, esp on Christmas day. 🙂
I know Roxio makes good CD burning software, but that higher priced package includes some additional stuff for editing videos and making slide shows. They look like they’re equivalent to iMovie and iDVD. As far as I know, the Roxio Easy CD Creator can’t do that, because isn’t it almost identical to Toast Titanium? I think if I go for the $39 option he’d get modest software to do a little bit of anything. When he figures out what kind of full version software he’d use most he can put that on his birthday list! 🙂
I don’t think Easy CD/DVD Creator can do an raw video editing like iMovie but from what I’ve seen it does include capabilities similar to iDVD. Toast 6 can do basic DVD authoring including transitions, menus etc., but you’re right that it can’t edit video like iMovie.
Actually I’ve heard that some of the G5’s are shipping with Sony "Superdrives" now too. That Pioneer’s a great drive anyway.
I cannot give you any firsthand information about DVD burners. I have considered purchasing one, but for some reason just haven’t been motivated to do so as yet. However, I do some video editing using Pinnacle Studio 8. It is a low end video editing program that does a reasonably good job for me even though a lot of the users on the Pinnacle user forum seem to be having problems with it constantly. But in following that forum, I find that quite a few of the users have purchased the Pioneer DVD burner and have been very satisfied with it. As far as the Roxio software is concerned, it will do a good job of burning DVD disks for you, but the video editing software that is included is very basic. And even though Pinnacle Studio is a low end product, it provides many, many additional features that once you become accustomed to using them you realize just how basic some of the other software packages can be. The main reason many people turn to either Roxio or Nero is that many of them have difficulteis burning DVDs using Studio. So they do their video editing in Studio and then turn to the other software to burn the disks. I’m not going to recommend Studio because of the problems I have seen documented by others. Personally, I enjoy using it. But I’m only creating VCDs and SVCDs.
If your son is planning on getting into video editing he should be aware that the editing software is very processor intensive. It is not something he would want to try to "get by" with an older machine. My machine handles the video editing fairly well. I have a 1.6 Ghz Pentium 4 with 512 MB of RAM. I have a 80 GB hard drive that is dedicated solely to video editing. And I’m going to add another 120 GB drive soon. Not only is video editing processor intensive, but you REALLY need a lot of hard drive space. One minute of raw video footage will consume well over a GB of hard disk space.
I probably haven’t given you much information that you didn’t already know. But I thought I would just throw in my two cents worth anyway.
Good thinking on that second option. It’s waaaaaaaaay better than the first option, for any self-respecting Windows geek.
Here’s the deal: Nero makes nice software, but it’s the light version that comes behind door #1 (er, I mean package #1). Great for beginners, but your son will hate it. Behind Door #2, we have the RecordNow and Ulead software which are also light versions, but are more capable. And upgrading to RecordNow MAX is cheap. Several years ago I even wrote a how-to article on RecordNow MAX (http://www.highvid.com/DVD/recmax1/rec01.shtml) but the article is almost 2 years old, and you know how ancient that makes it in the computer industry.
So stick with your intuition, and pick the package best suited for your son. And if he needs to upgrade the DVD creation software, Ulead makes a very strong low-priced product, and Adobe certainly makes the best mid-range product on the Windows side. (But nothing on the Windows side has the sophistication of iDVD or the power of DVD Studio Pro.)
Package #1 : Nero is well liked amongst kids because is has the ability to create ISO images of disks to easily exchange stuff (read between the lines here).
Package #2 : RecordNow is very basic (and I do mean B-A-S-I-C). It allows to copy disks (not DVD movies copy protected), create audio or data disk, with very limited options. That’s what came with my DVD burner. Since I only do backups of my pictures, it serves me well though. Win DVD isn’t the best around, but it’s not the worst neither. PowerDVD is better, but cost something. Ulead products are all fine, but I don’t know much about their SE editions. I have DVD PictureShow 2 which I like much, but has one annoying feature as you can’t easily add multiple tracks of music because it doesn’t show the end of a track, it repeats it forever. You have to know the duration and then count the number of slides (3 slides at 5 seconds each = 15 seconds, for example), to know where the track ends.
If the 19$ are not a concern for you, I’d go for package #2. If he doesn’t like the RecordNow software, you can always buy Nero later, or upgrade to Record Now Max or Platinum, which gives almost every imaginable control over CD/DVD creation.
Roxio, btw, is known to cause various problems with other softwares. PSA for example. Because it loads a module to access a CD or DVD as a hard drive. This module conflicts with several softwares that have disc burning facilities. So, it’s Roxio or something else, not both. Roxio doesn’t have the ISO image (can read them, can’t create them, at least, up to version 5.x)
Thanks Joe, Jim, Lou, and Ray! (And of course others!) I went with "door #2" as a starter package. He’ll have everything he needs to go home Christmas night and play, and then he can choose his upgrades.
I think his computer is OK; the processor is somewhere between 1.5 and 2Ghz. Another stick of RAM might find its way into his stocking, and he’s getting ready to inherit an 80 gig HD when I replace my computer. He’s not going to be able to produce feature films, but at least maybe we can finally see the kitten movies! 🙂
I think he’s got at least a 60 in there now, and there’s another 80 external floating around somewhere. He doesn’t store much on that computer, nor does he have too much in the way of video yet, so he’ll probably be OK for a while. Hey, we’ve gotta make sure there’s something left for birthdays, you know! 🙂
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