CD/DVD burning software

My computer came with Sonic RecordNow. I hate the interface and the bugs (like, if I burn a disk and reinsert it with Sonic still open, it won't show up in Windows Explorer), but I've been putting up with it for half a year. But, after it coasterized yet another Verbatim CD this weekend, I said, enough is enough. So, I decided to get Nero since it seems to be the market leader and all. Installed Nero Ultimate Edition trial (7.2.0.3b) tonight. AAaagh it's taking over my computer!

First, it tried to register itself for every single file type under the sun (like, leave PSD to Photoshop, WTF). Ok well I guess can't blame them for trying, as long as I have the option to choose otherwise. BUT. There's a Nero Scout toolbar by my clock now even though I disabled Scout in the registry, and it took over some file types that it didn't ask if it could take over (like ISO), and if I go to folder options, it says that ISO is still registered to Virtual CloneDrive (free from SlySoft, I like very much) - so I can't even change it! I don't like hostile takeovers. This doesn't sound like it's going to be very pleasant.

I uninstall it through add/remove programs, but the Nero Scout toolbar is still there!! I don't wanna do System Restore since I thought of creating a restore point only when the installation was almost done, and there might be some things I've changed in the last two days since the automatic restore point. So I figure the registry cleaner on Nero's website (that you have to use every time you want to upgrade!!!) will take care of it. I run it, and in the end, it says - there's a program with the registry, restart to fix it. I restart. But AnyDVD now thinks I don't have an optical drive! Not the real one, not the virtual one - it thinks it just ain't there! I panic. But I quickly discover that the drive is still there in Windows Explorer. Whew. Sure I could try uninstalling & reinstalling AnyDVD, but I just went with System Restore. I think the beast is done. Even the installer that was still on my desktop is now gone. Deep breath...

So I'm not going with Nero from Hell, but I still need an alternative to Sonic. Is there a good software to do very basic things that won't turn my GOOD media into coasters? I want to:

* write files to ISO
* burn ISO
* burn files
* CD, DVD, and DL support

I use CloneDVD to copy movies, and I plan to continue doing so, but to do DL movies I have to write to ISO, and then use Sonic (or whatever) to burn that ISO, otherwise the process fails - probably because of Norton, which at least for now I'm keeping. I also sometimes write files to ISO (using Sonic) just to see what the CD will look like after I burn it using Virtual CloneDrive - like, if it shows the right icon in Windows Explorer and stuff. And then burn the ISO. And sometimes, I don't bother with getting the icons straight and just burn files without preview. So those are the three things I want, and I want them to work on CD, DVD, and DVD DL. That's it. And no coasters, esp. not on $2.20 DL disks. I know I have a Mat****a drive, but that's no excuse.

I know there's a ton of software out there, but I really don't want to post on CDFreaks because too much information... Anyone? Anyone? Thanks for input.

Malia

 

Nero 7 is no good.
Get Nero 6. It's very good.

 

Not sure about nero 7 but nero 6 is great. Before nero I used roxio which isn't to bad either but I haven't used it since version 5 I believe it was.

 

I think Nero7 tries to do way to much. When I install Nero I usually just select "Nero Burning Rom" and don't install anything else.

 

I agreed, Nero 7 is kinda bad, however, Nero 6 is great and I loved it.

JC

 

OEM copy of Nero 6 >$10 on eBay.

 

Do you mean Mat****a cause I have one of these in my zv6000. What is you DVD burning speed, I mean can you go above 2.4(?!?)?

 

Why nero 7 isn't good? is it not stable? I wanna try nero 7, but after reading some comments about it, I think again install nero7

 

Bollocks to Nero 7, it truly is bloatware.
Nero 6 is brilliant, and arguably the best burning software ever made. Unfortunately Nero felt they had to move forward and improve what was not broken. Such is the nature of business.
I also use NTI burning software that came with my Acer laptop, and I have to say it is also very good - zero coasters after many burns and low resource use, worth checking out.

 

Vassil, yes I mean Mat$hita. No, 2.4x is top speed. Takes 45 min to rip + another 45 to burn a DL DVD, gosh. Compare that to Blu-ray burning speeds, and it's like, what??

Nero trying to do too much - fo sho'. When the Nero folder has more subfolders than my entire Start Menu, you know there's a problem.

I'm quite hesitatnt to give Nero another shot... It clearly does something crazy out there... Like make a completely separate program think that I don't have a drive installed and all.

 

Maybe, I can help you with this one. The drive is supposed to be able to burn dvds at 8x, right. At least mine is. Here's what I did:

I know quite a few people have such drives and consequently experience problems. I don't know if this problem has been solved but until recently I could not burn DVDs at anything greater than 2.4( !?)! I've searched for a firmware update but found none for HP zv6000 and quite franky I was afraid to use one that was not specifically for my drive. In short, this drove me crazy.
So just to share my experience with the following strange phenomenon. Whenever I put a blank DVD in the drive, Nero6 (and Sonic) would only allow me to burn at 2 or 2.4. If I run Nero InfoTool, it detects the drive with this same maximum writing speed.
Now. Once I happened to forget the drive open and then for some reason I ran NeroInfoTool. This time it detected the burner as 24x for both CDs and DVDs, which I immediately realized was not correct. I closed the tray, re-ran the InfoTool and this time the burner was 2x for DVDs and 24x for CDs. I repeated it several times and each time the tray was open, the burner was detected as 24x.
Then: I put a blank DVD, closed the drive, ran InfoTool - (only 2x), ran Nero BurningRom - the speed was 2x and nothing more.
Next, I opened the tray with the blank disk, reran InfoTool (this time 24x), closed the drive, reran Nero - and voila! it allowed me to burn at 8x!! I tested it with more than 10 DVDs and burned all of them flawlessly at 8x or 4x depending on the media.


Can anyone explain this? What has the drive door to do with the speed of the burner and the way Nero detects it? Thanks

I'm sorry if this repeats a past post but I couldn't find much about the dung drive here.

The Notebookanalysis forum turns the matsh$ta word do Dung. I still can't understand why Panasonic had to make such a sub-brand. I hope this can help you. It's really strange... to me at least

As for Nero, I think that at as long as you don't mess with its ****py virutal drive thing, then it does the job right. Once it messed up my laptop so badly I was afraid I'd lost my CD/DVD drive. Fortunately the OS reinstall fixed it.

 

I'm not sure what you did to make it work at 8x, just keep opening and closing and opening and closing??

I'm actually not sure what speed it burns SL disks, I think it's probably faster than 2.4x - seems faster, anyway. But the DL disks themselves (Verbatim) are only 2.4x, which is why it takes so long. So that's not the drive's fault, exactly.

Mat$hita (aka Matsu$hita) is not a sub-brand of Panasonic. It's a Japanese company that uses several brand names, including Panasonic in the U.S. market. Most people don't know the brand of their computer internals, which is why they are not renamed to something Americans are more familiar with.

You will not find a firmware upgrade for this drive because it doesn't exist. Mat$hita is unlike all other brands. When other brands make a firmware upgrade, they make it available for download for everyone, Mat$hita doesn't. So, while the latest firmware for this particular drive is 1.50 (I believe), I'll always have 1.00.

You would say, why NOT make firmware available for download? Well, if it's easily available, it can be hacked - to have more functions, including RPC1 (ahhhh.....). If you have nothing to hack, it won't be hacked, no RPC1 for anyone. Why that makes business sense for Mat$hita, beats me - but then again, computer manufacturers don't care, because buyers are not knowledgeable enough or don't care enough to choose, or both. That, and it's cheap.

Firmwares for SOME Mat$hita drives have found their way out (for this one, only for Sony OEM version), but really, don't hope for RPC1 anytime soon - or ever, really, cause nobody cares enough to work on Mat$hita firmware. Anyone really serious about burning will just use something else.

Re Nero - no simple program like disk burning software should require a Windows reinstall... And if it doesn't want its virtual drive messed with, I won't, I'll just use something else. I like Virtual CloneDrive, dammit.

Malia

 

I basically make Nero detect the drive whilte it's open. Once Nero detects it as 24x drive, I close the drive with the blank disk, run NeroBurning Rom and it detects it as 8x capable.

If you want a simple program, take a look at the sticky in the Software forum or simply go here http://www.ramsinks.com/software.asp. There are a few, I believe DeepBurner is very good.

 

My first choice would be Nero but roxio is also in the same league.