DVD recorders(Ext/Internal) & Questions!

[xrc]

I need to buy an external (unless an internal DVD recorder is a good option such as a SuperDrive) to put some movies, videos, software on because my 3 Hard Drives are getting FULL. I was thinking also about buying a DVD/HDD (Hard Disk Recorder) so, I'm wondering if a DVD disk made with an external recorder connected to my MacG4 will be able to be played on a DVD/HDD recorder/player?

1) What do I need to look for in buying one?
2) What do the DVD/RW (+/-) signs mean? Some are (+) some are (-).
3) Is double sided recording better either in speed or quality?
4) Most of the ones I've looked at on the net don't specify which computer they can be used with. Is anything with a USB/Firewire O.K. to buy?
5) Will I be able to use the software on my Mac such as iMovie? iDVD? Final Cut Pro? After Effects? etc. I assume they will be able to record directly onto the DVD.

Any points or tips that you might suggest would be very much appreciated. Thanks
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[Zammy-Sam]

Hi xrc and welcome to the forum.
Yes, you can play the DVD disk that was burned with your external or internal drive on your DVD player. You should only use the suitable software for this.
1) make a search in this forum to see which DVD burners worked fine on macs. I would suggest you Pioneer firewire devices.
2) DVD +/- R indicates the supported formats: "+" and "-". They are actually incompatible toward eachother (in burning; they can be read on any player) since the media is different. In the beginning there were only DVD-R drives and DVD+R ones. Nowadays most of the DVD burner support both formats.
3) by double sided recording, do you mean Dual-Layer or DVD-Rs with two sides that you will need to turn manually? Dual-Layer DVD media consists of two burnable layers. The capacity is doubled. Of course it will take more time to burn the double amount of data. I don't know how to comment your question about quality. Are you pointing to the media quality and storage reliability?
4) I would always rather pick a firewire device instead of a USB one. But I am not sure if you can pick any of them. Check out search to see which ones worked fine for macs.
5) I read about some external DVD burner which were not recognized by certain apps. But I am not really sure. I can only suggest you to search for these threads in our forum.
Lacie devices work fine with macs. Check out their site.

 

[xrc]

Thanks for the quick reply. Wow I'm really surprised that I can't just connect an external DVD recorder and it can't be seen by my Mac, in the same way as a Hard Drive would.
I've checked the Lacie DVD recorders and they are compatible with Mac. But, they come with Roxio software. and I have Titanium 6, but it doesn't crip SVCD's (I've had problems) and since I have iMovieHD, iDVD5, Final Cut ProHD, After Effects 6.5...
By the way, I live in Japan and much of the computer hd's, DVD-HDD recorders seem to be much larger and somewhat cheaper than in America, but i know your in Germany and my German friend German is quite expensive.

What I was talking about (in the end of my first paragraph)..for example we have DVD/HDD recorders (Pioneer is one as well as Sony, Toshiba, Sharp, etc.) These are connected to digital TV Cable. Can record to the DVD directly or to the HardDiskDrive directly then able to edit using the built in timeline. These are not just DVD players.
Pioneer's (USA) biggest HD is 80Gigs, while here in Japan we have 600 Gigs. I'd stay in the 250 Gig area. The same with Hard drives, 100 Gigs here is about $80.00. 250 Gigs is about $170.00...

I'm still surprised that I can't plug any DVD recorder into my Mac...

Firewire vs. USB...I don't understand...I mean, my hub is USB, but I have a Firewire in my Mac, don't they work together? Can you give me the basics in easy terms? thank you

 

[btoneill]

I think you're really confused about some things.

Firewire and USB are two completely different technologies. Altho they are both used for transfering data, thats about the only thing they have in common. You question about them working togeather is about the same as saying "my computer has ethernet and a keyboard, can't they work togeather?". My choice on USB or Firewire for a burner would be Firewire every time as it's a superior technology.

As for using iMovie/iDVD with an external DVD burner, it may or may not work. Apple has specifically set iMovie/iDVD/iTunes/etc to not work with external drives, but there are some hacks that allow it.

As for if your DVD player will play a movie burned from your mac, it all depends. Some DVD players support DVD-R, others DVD+R, some -R and +R. Others will also support -RW or +RW. Some will support DL +R discs. Some DVD players will play movies burned on only specific brands of DVD blank media, while other will play on just about anything. See the website http://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers.php for searching on your model DVD player and you can see reports from people on what worked and didn't work on your player. The brand of burner has no effect on this, it all comes down to the media format and media brand.

Brian