Gang Burning

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Gang Burning

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Klinkaroo View Member Profile	Jul 25 2006, 07:42 PM Post #1
Forum Addict Group: Members Posts: 1,137 Joined: 20-February 05 From: Quebec, Canada Member No.: 12,556	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?? -------------------- "A kiss is just a kiss until you find the one you love. A hug is just a hug until you find the one your always thinking of. A dream is just a dream until it comes true. Love is just a word until its proven to you."

Albert Frankenst... Albert Frankenstein View Member Profile	Jul 26 2006, 08:07 AM Post #2
Forum Addict Group: BC Advisor Posts: 2,651 Joined: 23-September 05 Member No.: 34,941	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. -------------------- ALBERT FRANKENSTEIN I'M SO SMART IT'S SCARY! There's 3 types of people in this world - those who are good at math, and those who are not. DID I HELP? PLEASE CONSIDER A SMALL DONATION VIA PAYPAL. THANK YOU.

Rabbuk View Member Profile	Jul 27 2006, 12:33 PM Post #3
Forum Regular Group: Members Posts: 196 Joined: 31-October 05 Member No.: 39,190	i like the topic name... -------------------- Rabbuk [size=7]GO BEARS!

Klinkaroo View Member Profile	Jul 28 2006, 03:50 PM Post #4
Forum Addict Group: Members Posts: 1,137 Joined: 20-February 05 From: Quebec, Canada Member No.: 12,556	Does anyone have any more information... -------------------- "A kiss is just a kiss until you find the one you love. A hug is just a hug until you find the one your always thinking of. A dream is just a dream until it comes true. Love is just a word until its proven to you."

Mr Alpha View Member Profile	Jul 28 2006, 04:07 PM Post #5
Forum Addict Group: BC Advisor Posts: 1,875 Joined: 25-November 04 From: Finland Member No.: 5,870	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. -------------------- "Anyone who cannot form a community with others, or who does not need to because he is self-sufficient [...] is either a beast or a god." Aristotle AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ \| ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe \| 2GB Corsair TWINX2048-3500LLPRO \| Gigabyte GeForce 8800GTX \| Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS \| ASUS PhysX P1 \| Logitech G15 \| Logitech MX Revolution \| LG Flatron L2000C \| Logitech Z-5500 Digital Stubborn attempts to think clearly

Enthusiast View Member Profile	Jul 28 2006, 06:14 PM Post #6
Forum Addict Group: Members Posts: 5,898 Joined: 10-March 05 From: Florida, USA Member No.: 14,085	You should ask the school to buy one of the duplicators.

Gothmog View Member Profile	Jul 29 2006, 01:23 AM Post #7
Forum Regular Group: Members Posts: 172 Joined: 14-November 04 Member No.: 5,088	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.

Albert Frankenst... Albert Frankenstein View Member Profile	Jul 29 2006, 07:32 AM Post #8
Forum Addict Group: BC Advisor Posts: 2,651 Joined: 23-September 05 Member No.: 34,941	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. -------------------- ALBERT FRANKENSTEIN I'M SO SMART IT'S SCARY! There's 3 types of people in this world - those who are good at math, and those who are not. DID I HELP? PLEASE CONSIDER A SMALL DONATION VIA PAYPAL. THANK YOU.

Klinkaroo View Member Profile	Jul 29 2006, 09:31 AM Post #9
Forum Addict Group: Members Posts: 1,137 Joined: 20-February 05 From: Quebec, Canada Member No.: 12,556	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 This post has been edited by Klinkaroo: Jul 29 2006, 09:59 AM -------------------- "A kiss is just a kiss until you find the one you love. A hug is just a hug until you find the one your always thinking of. A dream is just a dream until it comes true. Love is just a word until its proven to you."

Mr Alpha View Member Profile	Jul 29 2006, 11:30 AM Post #10
Forum Addict Group: BC Advisor Posts: 1,875 Joined: 25-November 04 From: Finland Member No.: 5,870	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. -------------------- "Anyone who cannot form a community with others, or who does not need to because he is self-sufficient [...] is either a beast or a god." Aristotle AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ \| ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe \| 2GB Corsair TWINX2048-3500LLPRO \| Gigabyte GeForce 8800GTX \| Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS \| ASUS PhysX P1 \| Logitech G15 \| Logitech MX Revolution \| LG Flatron L2000C \| Logitech Z-5500 Digital Stubborn attempts to think clearly

Gothmog View Member Profile	Jul 30 2006, 05:41 AM Post #11
Forum Regular Group: Members Posts: 172 Joined: 14-November 04 Member No.: 5,088	QUOTE 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 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. QUOTE 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 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

Klinkaroo View Member Profile	Jul 30 2006, 12:28 PM Post #12
Forum Addict Group: Members Posts: 1,137 Joined: 20-February 05 From: Quebec, Canada Member No.: 12,556	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? -------------------- "A kiss is just a kiss until you find the one you love. A hug is just a hug until you find the one your always thinking of. A dream is just a dream until it comes true. Love is just a word until its proven to you."

Enthusiast View Member Profile	Jul 30 2006, 01:31 PM Post #13
Forum Addict Group: Members Posts: 5,898 Joined: 10-March 05 From: Florida, USA Member No.: 14,085	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.

Klinkaroo View Member Profile	Jul 30 2006, 04:07 PM Post #14
Forum Addict Group: Members Posts: 1,137 Joined: 20-February 05 From: Quebec, Canada Member No.: 12,556	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 This post has been edited by Klinkaroo: Jul 30 2006, 04:11 PM -------------------- "A kiss is just a kiss until you find the one you love. A hug is just a hug until you find the one your always thinking of. A dream is just a dream until it comes true. Love is just a word until its proven to you."

Gothmog View Member Profile	Jul 30 2006, 06:23 PM Post #15
Forum Regular Group: Members Posts: 172 Joined: 14-November 04 Member No.: 5,088	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.

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