ShareThisBy MIKE BERMAN
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Have you been bitten by the DVD burning bug? It seems a bevy of companies that manufacture DVD burning software are convinced everyone who owns a PC has come down with the disease, introducing new products at the drop of a blank disk.
After playing with the latest crop of these programs, I've discovered that the burning bug can have many side effects, which has led several of these companies to specialize.
Aside from two programs that have become the Swiss Army knives of the industry, giving us all the tools we need to produce CDs and DVDs in a multitude of formats, there are several that are geared to specific needs.
The two products that everyone associates with CD and DVD burning are from Nero (Ahead Software) and Roxio (now owned by Sonic Solutions). Nero 7 Ultra Edition ($99.95 or $79.95 when ordered online) and the Roxio Easy Media Creator 9 Suite ($99.99 or $79.99 for an upgrade) give you all the tools you need to burn data, audio, video, photos and more to your disks, with Roxio offering the additional capability of transferring these files to a handheld device such as a digital phone or Sony's Playstation Portable.
Although Nero has always had a slight edge in ease of use, Roxio has made a bevy of improvements to its software package, including drag-and-drop burning that really works with every DVD format, including dual layer.
Also, the folks at Nero and Roxio have thought ahead to provide the capability to create Blu-Ray and HD high definition DVDs and include software to display images in high def.
You really can't go wrong with either of these all-in-one suites, although I give a slight edge to Roxio due to the vast improvements they've made in making their package easier to use.
InterVideo has put together a nice package for those of you only wanting to copy data to DVDs. DVD Copy 4 ($49.95 for the Gold version and $79.95 for Platinum) gives you all the tools you need to copy video or other files directly to just about any DVD, including DVD-RAM and dual layer.
Among its key features are:
_ The ability to burn videos directly to disks from the Internet and automatically generate a navigation menu.
_ Copy video clips to Sony Memory Sticks and play them back on a Playstation Portable.
_ The ability to extract audio from DVD videos and copy them to audio CDs.
_ Home movies can be copied as a disc image and copied to a DVD at a later date.
_ It includes a WinDVD 7 multimedia player.
For those just wanting a more powerful way to watch and manipulate DVDs, there's PowerDVD 7 ($39.95 for the standard version and $59.95 for Max). This is a comprehensive package that includes:
_ Integrated support for High Def video.
_ Five interface modes including new skins and colors.
_ One-click dialogue looping, moveable subtitles and time stretching for when your notebook runs low on power.
_ Plug and play support and power saving settings for notebooks.
_ It's also available online in standard ($49.95) and Deluxe ($69.95) versions.
Honest Technology has two products worth noting. Fireman 2.0 ($39.99), which is a quick and easy solution for those just wanting to burn CDs and DVDs without all the added bells and whistles offered by the Nero and Roxio products, and VHS to DVD ($99.99), which includes an interface to link and capture images from your video tape player so they can be transferred to your PC.
More information on any of these products can be found at www.nero.com, www.roxio.com, www.intervideo.com, www.cyberlink.com and www.honestech.com.
Mike Berman can be reached at jocgeek(at)earthlink.net or through his Web site at www.jocgeek.com.
