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October 2003
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Tim Hoke is the Sr. Pastor at Faith Presbyterian Church, a long-time member of Alamo PC and an avid computer user who loves to try out new programs, especially shareware and freeware. He gets excited about a good deal. More than that, he enjoys sharing good deals with others. Why not send him a note about your favorite shareware or freeware programs. |
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Just the other day I bought a Hewlett Packard 210i DVD +R + RW. I
know it is older technology, but with the rebate it was only $100 and I
just could not pass it up. I’m still not sure exactly what I’m going
to do with this new toy, but a bargain is a bargain! All this is
to say that I find myself in immediate need of software to use with my
new DVD writer. Below, I am suggesting some programs for your consideration.
First up is Nero, which is not exactly shareware, but can be downloaded and tried before buying. It bears the distinction as a program highly touted by our very own Dale Swafford, afficionado of the CD and DVD world. The Nero 6 Ultra Edition is a logical extension of Nero Burning ROM 5.5. Whether you want to burn audio, video, data, or backup copies, Nero 6 easily meets all of your CD or DVD burning needs. Nero 6.0 Ultra Edition Package One includes: Nero Burning ROM 6 for CD/DVD writing; Nero BackItUp, with full, incremental, update and differential control of your data, and disc spanning; Wave Editor 2.0; Nero Soundtrax, for multitrack audio editing and mixing, and MPEG-4 video and audio (high-efficiency AAC), using Nero Digital, the new standard in audio/video compression; and Nero Cover Designer, for creating packaging for finished products. The Nero Toolkit featuring CD/DVD speed — the de facto industry standard used by drive manufacturers worldwide for critical media and drive analysis — is also a major part of the program. Nero 6 offers the choice of using an expert or standard mode within the application, so that every consumer level is supported. I did a Google search on this package and found an OEM version for only $9 plus $10 shipping. The only difference I am told is that the OEM version is not upgradable. But since it costs $50 to upgrade from a previous version that’s OK with me. See the OEM version. Of course, before you belly up to the bar with any payment, you might want to try a free program. DVD Rip N’ Burn 3.0 is just that! In keeping with its name, you can rip and burn DVDs, copy DVD to AVI, DIVX, MPEG, VCD, SVCD, and more. Powerful and FREE DVD Ripper and Burner with multi-language support is an affordable way to backup your DVD movie library. You can rip your library to AVI compressed pick DivX or another codec to encode to. You can rip to VCD for burning a VCD to play in your home DVD player. You can also rip to SVCD for burning to play in your home DVD player. You can copy DVD movie into several video types, including VCD (MPEG-1 format), SVCD (MPEG-2 format), DivX AVI and other AVI (compressed by the selected codec, DivX codec perfered). Features: Copy DVD to VCD. Encoding to MPEG1 support Copy DVD to SVCD. MPEG2 encoding & decoding support. Copy DVD to AVI - DivX and other standard AVI compression codec support Convert DVD movies to DIVX format. Backup DVD copy Powerful wizard will help you to complete conversion setting in several steps. Another rip and burn program that might interest you is RecordNow Max 4.5. This CD and DVD burning software will write to traditional CD-RW drives as well as combination DVD+R, DVD+RW, and DVD-RAM drives. Standard features include CD and DVD copies, creation of audio, data, mixed mode, CD Extra, Video CD, and bootable CDs, as well as DVD Video and DVD-ROM discs. Enhanced features include unlimited MP3 encoding (ripping) at up to 320KB/sec, simultaneous recording on up to 64 drives, and direct-to-disc recording of music from a PC's sound card. RecordNow MAX is Section 508 compliant. Version 4.5 offers enhanced support for new 'super combo' DVD/CD burners, as well as a new 'audio normalize' feature that will make the volume level of audio CDs created from MP3, WAV, and CD Tracks consistent. DLA (Drive Letter Access packet writing software) has also been improved. Fast format (background formatting) for all DVD formats (including DVD-RW) has now been implemented and DLA is now Mt. Rainier compliant. The RecordNow wizard and the full application’s interface have also been improved so it’s easier than ever to use! ImTOO DVD Ripper 1.0.7 is a DVD ripping tool easy to use with high ripping speed. It can back up DVDs into almost all popular video formats such as VCD, SVCD, DivX, MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, AVI etc. ImTOO DVD Ripper has more settings and it is easier than ever. You can select subtitle language or movie size, PAL/NTSC, audio volume, bitrate, frequency, or whether enable Dolby Surround etc. Or use default settings and rip DVDs in a few clicks. Check your CPU type automatically and ensure you can rip your DVDs with the best ripping speed and quality. Supports preview. You can view progress on screen when ripping. And using ImTOO DVD Ripper, you will get the movie formats you want with excellent image and sound quality. This new version adds the function of ripping by chapter(s). Download it at the ImTOO Software site <> And give it a try. DVD X Copy Xpress is yet another possibility, but it’s pretty pricey at $70 for those who want to keep it after a trial period. With it, you can back up your favorite DVD movies with nothing more than a DVD burner and your home computer. DVD X Copy Xpress lets you make high-quality backup copies of all your DVD movies using a standard DVD-R burner. Your copies will play on your home DVD player just like regular DVDs. DVD X Copy Xpress can fit your DVD movie onto just one blank disc. You no longer have to split DVD movies across two discs.
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Alamo PC Organization, Inc.
San Antonio, TX USA