TiVo Community Forums Archives - DVD-R (from our Mac) question

Warning: include() [function.include]: URL file-access is disabled in the server configuration in /home/avsforum/archive.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/history/archive_functions.php on line 31

Warning: include(http://archive.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/history/header.php) [function.include]: failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found in /home/avsforum/archive.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/history/archive_functions.php on line 31

Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening 'http://archive.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/history/header.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/avsforum/archive.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/history/archive_functions.php on line 31
Pages:1

DVD-R (from our Mac) question
(Click here to view the original thread with full colors/images)

Posted by: doom1701

I've got a backup of my boss' MP3 player on my laptop hard drive (long story, some of which I've shared here). I want to get it off my hard drive, but it's over 6GB, so putting it to CDs would take a good chunk of a week.

My wife's Mac has a Superdrive, and I've connected to Windows shares from the Mac before without trouble. Would I be able to use the Mac to copy this entire MP3 library to a couple of DVDs? If I did, would it still be readable on my boss' DVD-ROM on his PC, so he could copy them back to the MP3 player if the need ever arose?

We haven't done any data DVDs yet on the Mac--I'm guessing it's as simple as put the DVD into the drive, and then drag the files to the DVD icon that appears on the desktop?

Posted by: Avian

Yes, just make sure when you're using OSX to burn to set it to the ISO standard and not the crappy HFS+ or whatever. :)

Posted by: Satchel

Yes, put in a blank DVD-R and you'll get a dialog box asking you to name the disk and choose a format. When you click ok in that box, after a second or two, an icon of the disk should appear on your desktop. Just drag the files to it and then right-click or hold down the control key and click on the disk to get the pop up menu...choose burn and you should be good to go...a disk is just 4.7 GB...is this backup one big file or just a bunch of MP3s...

Posted by: doom1701

Satchel, it's a bunch of WMA files, actually. Over 1100 of them. I re-encoded some of his spoken word files to 64kbs, and everything else I re-encoded to a consistent 128kbs, and I'm down to 4.2GB. So I should be able to get it all on one DVD.

Posted by: jsmeeker

out of curiosity, why aren't the Apple SuperDrives DVD-RW?? Why are they just "-R"

Posted by: doom1701

I had thought they were -RW; that's a real bummer if they're not...

I've just never used -RW media for DVD or CD; it's been cheaper so far to just burn and toss.

Posted by: jsmeeker

quote:
Originally posted by doom1701
I had thought they were -RW; that's a real bummer if they're not...

I've just never used -RW media for DVD or CD; it's been cheaper so far to just burn and toss.

Agreed on cheap CD-R media. that's why I really never use CD-RW, eventhough I have a few discs. But DVD-R media is a lot more expensive, for now.. I would think that buring a video DVD to -RW first, then testing it out on a real player, would be smart. Then, go burn it to -R

Posted by: lwong

The SuperDrive can use DVD-RW discs but you need Toast or Discribe to write to them. Mac OS X will natively write to DVD-R discs.

Posted by: jsmeeker

quote:
Originally posted by lwong
The SuperDrive can use DVD-RW discs but you need Toast or Discribe to write to them. Mac OS X will natively write to DVD-R discs.

really?? When I was checking the Apple website, it always listed the drive as DVD-R Never DVD-RW.. I thought it was a hardware limitaition.. If it's a DVD-RW drive, why don't they say it is??

From Apple's website....

What the SuperDrive is up to
An industry-standard drive that reads dozens of standard CD and DVD formats, the SuperDrive writes DVD-R discs at up to 4x speed, reads DVDs at up to 8x speed, writes CD-R discs at up to 16x speed, writes CD-RW discs at up to 8x speed and reads CDs at up to 32x speed. It’s hands down the easiest way to author CDs and DVDs that are compatible with most professional and consumer players, and that you can share with PC users as well. The SuperDrive supports DVD-Video, DVD-ROM and DVD-R, as well as CD-ROM, CD-Audio, CD-R, CD-RW, CDI, CD Bridge, CD Extended, CD Mixed Mode and Photo CD media.

After reading this, how am I supposed to know it (the SuperDrive) does DVD-RW????

Posted by: Avian

Uhh, people, Apple didn't make the super drive, it started out as a Pioneer A-04, and now its some other brand drive. Its not a "superdrive" its an OEM DVD-RW, plain and simple

Posted by: jsmeeker

quote:
Originally posted by Avian
Uhh, people, Apple didn't make the super drive, it started out as a Pioneer A-04, and now its some other brand drive. Its not a "superdrive" its an OEM DVD-RW, plain and simple

understood... But why does Apple not tout the DVD-RW capability??

Posted by: Avian

Because it isn't built into the OS... You have to use Toast or some other burning product to burn/erase a dvd-rw.

Posted by: lwong

From the Apple TIL:
SuperDrive: About Rewriteable DVD Discs

quote:
The SuperDrive in the Power Mac G4 and various other Macintosh computers can use DVD-RW discs but cannot use DVD+RW or DVD-RAM discs.

The SuperDrive can use DVD-RW discs. Mac OS X can write to DVD-R General Media discs, which are not rewriteable. Roxio's Toast 5 Titanium and Charismac's Discribe 5 can write to DVD-RW discs. Contact Roxio and Charismac for additional information.

Apple does seem to avoid recommending the use of DVD-RW discs. My guess is that it's because not all players that read DVD-R discs will read DVD-RW discs. Apple's main purpose for the SuperDrive is for use with iMovie/iDVD and they want the easiest and most reliable method for the average consumer. If they can increase the success rate of someone making their own DVD movie and reduce support calls by only recommending DVD-R use, it makes sense for Apple. Plus, this maintains a third-party market for Roxio to sell Toast.

Posted by: jsmeeker

quote:
Originally posted by Avian
Because it isn't built into the OS... You have to use Toast or some other burning product to burn/erase a dvd-rw.

ok... weird...

Posted by: tivospav

Also...look into this little program. I've been using it for a while, it will also do the erasing and whatnot. And the best part is that it's only 19 bux compared to the overpriced toast.

http://www.radicalbreeze.com/blaze/

Posted by: Evicted

And to further muddy the waters, I've read that the newer Superdrive models support both the -R and +R formats (in the hardware), but Apple will not enable +R for whatever reasons.

So maybe there's hope for broader support someday with today's hardware... would be nice to be able to share DVD media with my PC's burner.

Posted by: doom1701

Monday night I tried this out, but I couldn't find anywhere to change the disk format to ISO. I popped the disc in, it came up and asked what I wanted to do with it, but there were no format choices--only an option to name the disk.

Posted by: HTH

quote:
Originally posted by Satchel
...a [DVD-R] disk is just 4.7 GB...

Which is 4.7 billion bytes, or 4.377 GiB. If you're filling a folder and looking at the size of the folder to see if it will fit, keep in mind that the Finder reports usage in the binary measure (but not using the binary units abbreviation).

Posted by: HTH

And I believe Disk Copy can indeed burn DVD-R and -RW, and I suspect erase as well. It just isn't as full featured as Toast.

I know it can burn CDs.

Warning: include() [function.include]: URL file-access is disabled in the server configuration in /home/avsforum/archive.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/history/archive_functions.php on line 37

Warning: include(http://archive.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/history/footer.php) [function.include]: failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found in /home/avsforum/archive.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/history/archive_functions.php on line 37

Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening 'http://archive.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/history/footer.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/avsforum/archive.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/history/archive_functions.php on line 37