Q: Is there a software that I can buy so I can watch DVD-RAM disks on my computer?

[Chris Tsao]

Do you know if there is a software that I can buy so I can watch
DVD-RAM disks on my computer which I recorded on my DVD recorder? If
there is, do you know the name(s) of this software and where the
software can be purchased?

Also, how much approximately does the software cost?

I have a DVD recorder that pretty much only uses DVD-RAMs, so I cannot
handle the stress that perhaps someday, if my DVD recorder breaks, that
I won't be able to watch any of the DVDs that I recorded; unless I
spend and arm and a leg to buy a DVD recorder/VCR that can record with
lots of other types of DVDs, or a portable DVD player that takes
DVD-RAMs.

Thank you in advance,

Chris

 

[Robert Heiling]

Do you know if there is a software that I can buy so I can watch
DVD-RAM disks on my computer which I recorded on my DVD recorder? If
there is, do you know the name(s) of this software and where the
software can be purchased?

Also, how much approximately does the software cost?

I have a DVD recorder that pretty much only uses DVD-RAMs, so I cannot
handle the stress that perhaps someday, if my DVD recorder breaks, that
I won't be able to watch any of the DVDs that I recorded; unless I
spend and arm and a leg to buy a DVD recorder/VCR that can record with
lots of other types of DVDs, or a portable DVD player that takes
DVD-RAMs.

Thank you in advance,

Chris

DVDXPlayer Professional 3.0 I been trying this out and it claims to
play DVD-RAM. It's no cost to try it out and you can just Google for the
place to download it. There are probahbly a number of others if you
check with Google.

HTH
Bob

 

[Chris Tsao]

DVDXPlayer Professional 3.0 I been trying this out and it claims to
play DVD-RAM. It's no cost to try it out and you can just Google for the
place to download it. There are probahbly a number of others if you
check with Google.

HTH
Bob

Whew, thank you.

 

[Chris Tsao]

Can somebody out there please tell me if this external hard drive in
the link below is what I need? If it is, I have a laptop, so I gotta
then ask if it'll work with a laptop.


http://www.computerhelps.com/product_details.asp?dept_id=271&pf_id=KA18CTR0046

 

[Paul]

Whew, thank you.

Can somebody out there please tell me if this external hard drive in
the link below is what I need? If it is, I have a laptop, so I gotta
then ask if it'll work with a laptop.

http://www.computerhelps.com/product_details.asp?dept_id=271&pf_id=KA18CTR0046

This DVD recorder thing, is a separate box ? Are you asking whether
you can put the recorder you've got into that enclosure, or are
you asking whether some other kind of DVD drive can be placed in
the enclosure.

This site has reviews of CD and DVD drives.

http://www.cdfreaks.com/article/search/B/

Picking a review at random, like this NEC drive:

http://www.cdfreaks.com/article/214

you'll notice that the Nero Infotool shows that drive can neither
read nor write a DVD-RAM. If your existing DVD recorder device
dies, you will need a backup device with at least the ability
to read a DVD-RAM disk.

http://gfx.cdfreaks.com/reviews/nec_nd-3540a/image020.png

This drive, on the other hand, supports both the reading
and writing of DVD-RAM, according to Nero Infotool.
Have a look at the review, as they test both reading
and writing a DVD-RAM disk.

"LG GSA-4167B Super Multi DVD-Writer"
http://www.cdfreaks.com/article/242/1

You should be able to place a DVD device in your enclosure,
but consider a couple of things. The 30W power supply in
the enclosure, could be 12V@2A and 5V@1A, which fits with a
hard drive (the 2 amps is only needed during spinup). It is
hard to get any optical drive manufacturer, to give a power
rating to their products. I've seen a pseudo-spec value
of [email protected] and [email protected], but it is hard to say whether that
spec is meaningful or accurate, as they seem to pull those
numbers from the air (I mean, all the drives use the same
spec, and the circuitry is not the same). So adequate power
would be a minor concern, and might affect your burn
quality. Since you likely won't be able to get any data
on the enclosure power supply, or a real spec for the
DVD drive, you'll just have to take your chances like the
rest of us

The second issue with sticking optical drives in enclosures,
if they are burners at least, is not all burning software
supports an ODD in an enclosure. I tested Nero and found that
it worked OK with a drive in an enclosure, but the Liteon
drive I was testing came with its own burning software, and
that burning software would not work if the drive was in an
enclosure. It did work when the Liteon was connected to a
"normal" IDE cable inside the computer. So not all burning
software has drivers to deal with optical drives in
Firewire/usb enclosures.

If you are concerned about the your DVD recorder device, you
could always copy the DVD-RAM contents to another format of
disk, by using a drive like the GSA4167B. Read the entire
review on cdfreaks.com, to see how well the drive works with
a variety of media.

As for the format of the data on the DVD-RAM disk, maybe
you can contact someone here and ask them ? I thought
DVD-RAM was more like a random access file system, so
at least getting to the data should be easy (I could be
wrong though).

http://www.dvd-x-player.com/download.html

More info on DVD-RAM can be found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD-RAM

Have fun,
Paul

 

[old jon]

Can somebody out there please tell me if this external hard drive in
the link below is what I need? If it is, I have a laptop, so I gotta
then ask if it'll work with a laptop.


http://www.computerhelps.com/product_details.asp?dept_id=271&pf_id=KA18CTR0046

That`s just an external case into which you can put a standard 3.5 harddrive
of your choice. having USB and firewire is good. Don`t forget to add the
cost of the hdrive tho`.
bw..OJ

 

[Chris Tsao]

That`s just an external case into which you can put a standard 3.5 harddrive
of your choice. having USB and firewire is good. Don`t forget to add the
cost of the hdrive tho`.
bw..OJ

I was afraid of that. It looked like it was empty to me, but I'm no
techknowledgist, so to play it safe, I deluded myself that it was what
I need.

 

[Chris Tsao]

This DVD recorder thing, is a separate box ? Are you asking whether
you can put the recorder you've got into that enclosure, or are
you asking whether some other kind of DVD drive can be placed in
the enclosure.

This site has reviews of CD and DVD drives.

http://www.cdfreaks.com/article/search/B/

Picking a review at random, like this NEC drive:

http://www.cdfreaks.com/article/214

you'll notice that the Nero Infotool shows that drive can neither
read nor write a DVD-RAM. If your existing DVD recorder device
dies, you will need a backup device with at least the ability
to read a DVD-RAM disk.

http://gfx.cdfreaks.com/reviews/nec_nd-3540a/image020.png

This drive, on the other hand, supports both the reading
and writing of DVD-RAM, according to Nero Infotool.
Have a look at the review, as they test both reading
and writing a DVD-RAM disk.

"LG GSA-4167B Super Multi DVD-Writer"
http://www.cdfreaks.com/article/242/1

You should be able to place a DVD device in your enclosure,
but consider a couple of things. The 30W power supply in
the enclosure, could be 12V@2A and 5V@1A, which fits with a
hard drive (the 2 amps is only needed during spinup). It is
hard to get any optical drive manufacturer, to give a power
rating to their products. I've seen a pseudo-spec value
of [email protected] and [email protected], but it is hard to say whether that
spec is meaningful or accurate, as they seem to pull those
numbers from the air (I mean, all the drives use the same
spec, and the circuitry is not the same). So adequate power
would be a minor concern, and might affect your burn
quality. Since you likely won't be able to get any data
on the enclosure power supply, or a real spec for the
DVD drive, you'll just have to take your chances like the
rest of us

The second issue with sticking optical drives in enclosures,
if they are burners at least, is not all burning software
supports an ODD in an enclosure. I tested Nero and found that
it worked OK with a drive in an enclosure, but the Liteon
drive I was testing came with its own burning software, and
that burning software would not work if the drive was in an
enclosure. It did work when the Liteon was connected to a
"normal" IDE cable inside the computer. So not all burning
software has drivers to deal with optical drives in
Firewire/usb enclosures.

If you are concerned about the your DVD recorder device, you
could always copy the DVD-RAM contents to another format of
disk, by using a drive like the GSA4167B. Read the entire
review on cdfreaks.com, to see how well the drive works with
a variety of media.

As for the format of the data on the DVD-RAM disk, maybe
you can contact someone here and ask them ? I thought
DVD-RAM was more like a random access file system, so
at least getting to the data should be easy (I could be
wrong though).

http://www.dvd-x-player.com/download.html

More info on DVD-RAM can be found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD-RAM

Have fun,
Paul

Thank you. I will now investigate these links.