I do alot of video editing and stuff for the school band and I often have to make multiple copies of DVDs. I had to make 100 DVDs last time and basically I sat infront of my computer twice for 12 hours straight switching the dvds as they were finished. I was looking around at tigerdirect and saw these machines more specificaly something like this one but as you can see they have a high price tag. I was wondering is there a way I can hook up 4 dvd burners in my pc or even just 3... and do the same thing but just getting software... and also would I be able just to make an image of the master disk and mount it into a virtual drive instead of having to use a drive just for that and be able to burn with the 4 drives. I heard that this takes up alot of processing power. I wouldn't be using the computer for anything else while it is burning...

My System Specs are :

Windows XP SP2
Pentium 4 3.00Ghz /w HT
1024 Mb RAM
80 IDE Hardrive (I think this may cause a problem since I think I need the two channels on the motherboard but if I had a Sata drive would that make it possible or get a pci IDE controler?)
ATI Radeon 9600 Pro

If this is possible probably going to get 4 dvd burners something like this

And last thing could I hook up some external burners and get even more drives hooked up??

I do not have specific knowledge or experience on what you ask, except to say that a machine that was specifically built to burn will be different than the average PC. A PC must be kept quite while burning or risk the burn failing. I would think at first blush that trying to do 4 burns at once would keep the computer quite busy and would be a tricky proposition for the average home computer.

Just my 2 cents, but I could be wrong.

i like the topic name...

Does anyone have any more information...

Some people run into trouble burning a single DVD when they are using the computer at the same time. So burning many would probably require more in the way of computer resources. How much I don't know. But the biggest problem I can see is software. I can easily imagine the burning software getting in the way of itself. You would most likely need something that supports burning to multiple burners at once.

You should ask the school to buy one of the duplicators.

On the practical side of this experiment: I have burned 2 cds at the same time before. I have a CD-RW and DVD-RW drive. WHen I first installed the DVD one I tested this out and burned two discs at once from images on my computer. I used 2 different programs at the same time (probably b/c the images were in different formats, I dont remember why) and set them up and hit GO at the same time. There were no problems, but DVDs use higher speeds so that may be different.

As far as the theoretically using 4 burners at the same time to burn the same DVD I believe it is very possible. Nero 7 has the option built into the BURN tab as a checkbox (use multiple recorders) and I believe this exists in the older Nero versions (I just never used/noticed it).

Lastly that stand alone machine you linked as "this one" is actually a CD-RW unit w/ no DVD capability so watch out. It seems that a 1 to 1 machine is $250 and anything larger is at least $500 more than that. DVD burners run $50 (I love my NEC 3550A) so souping up your machine might be more economical.

Nero also offers Data Verification which would be important if you are burning multiple disks at one time as they will be prone to defects.

I had never seen that option in Nero 7. I used the demo for a while and am really pleased with the DVD authoring program and all the rest that comes with. A very pleasent experience. I will be buying the full version when my paycheck comes in

So if I understand right I should switch to a SATA hardrive... Hook up two DVD Burners to the first IDE Channel and two more to the Second IDE Channel and then in Nero 7 I should be able to check "Use multiple Burners" and select the four burners and burn 4 copies

Could someone check in Nero 7 to see exactely how many burners I can use at one time... My demo ran out and I don't have another computer to check it on...

Also how much power is this going to take... I don't think I got enough molex connectors can I use splitters? Will there be enough power? My power supply is 300 Watts

Modern DVD burners tend to eat around 1.5 A of both the 12 V and the 5 V rail.

The fact that your power supply is rated at 300 W doesn't really say anything. I would need more details than that to be able say if it is powerful enough.

If you are buying a new burner you might be able to get one packaged with a Nero license and save a little.

As far as multiple burners, it doesnt appear to have a hard limit. It just opens a window with all the available burners and you {shift} click or {control} click the devices you want to select (like selecting multiple files in explorer). I only have the DVD drive and the image recorder right now so I can't really test it out.
I assume you have a SATA controller (either onboard or card) since you bring it up. If not that is a cost to factor in. Since you already have a ATAPI HD you might want to get a SATA burner, but I jsut checked and those are $100 so maybe not! Thats the same price for a 320 GB SATA 3.0 HD to put it in perspective!

Maybe you should try out 2 or 3 burners at once and see how that grabs you to start out. You would be able to have the Primary master channell for your HD still and also be able to burn all those disks in 4 hours instead of 12. Also, if your PSU runs out of molex plugs for your drives you might be needing something more powerful. If it only has 4 plugs I would think that the designer did that for a reason

Another question... If I have the hardrive set on the master on one IDE cable can I set a burner to slave on that same channel?

It is usually not a good idea to mix hard drives on the same IDE channel as optical drives. Even if it works, it will slow down your computer immensely.

You can get a pci-ide card or two which will give you two more IDE channels each if your computer can handle it.

Ok could I also get external DVD Burners?

I am guessing I would probably be better with firewire since it is faster than usb... I would have to install a firewire card...

When you say that if your computer can handle it do you mean in the sense if I have a free PCI slot if so I do.

Also do any of you have any suggestions for a decently priced (preferable around 50$CAD) burner and from a decent compagny. And if you have any experience with it could you tell me if it is reliable. I prefer tigerdirect.ca for online shopping (because it accepts paypal) but can also use other sites such as ncix.com.

Thanks
Klink

The NEC ND-3550A is a good burner. I bought it because it had good feed back and features. The newer drives have lightscribe but are a little more $ so weigh that in. The 3550A has pretty much the same burn speeds as the other drives except for dual layer speeds. Another good brand is BenQ they have a burner with Lightscribe if you want to compare to NEC.

I'm talking about the capacity of your computer in general - the processor, the mobo, etc and of course the power supply.

You can get external drives - most I've seen are USB. Lightscribe burns a label instead of pasting one on and looks professional, but the blank media is a lot more expensive.

Well I am running a P4 /w HT and 1024 Mb of Ram it's an intel mobo... going to get the model number when I am back from work. The power supply is kind of small but should I just put a second one beside my computer and leave my case open and just wire them tempoarily like that or is there a ground that has to be made with the case or something?