Buying a new computer - question

[WVBill]

I am about to buy a new computer and have a question about CD's and DVD's.

I want to be able to take the digital still pictures that I take with my digital camera and make a disk that I can give to someone who has a DVD player hooked up to their TV and let them see (either automatically or manually) a "slide show" of pictures - without them needing a computer.

Will I need to have a DVD-R drive or can I make such a disk with a CD-R or CD-RW drive?

Thanks

 

[MikePA]

Bill, you can create such a disk with a CD-RW drive and software like Slide Show To Go.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I can answer part of the question for you. You can burn the pictures onto a regular CD-R or CD-RQ if the person on the other end has a DVD that can read them. When I went to Circuit City to buy my DVD for the TV, I was alerted to this by a kid about 13 years old who, with his Mom, was bringing back their expensive DVD and trading it for an Apex (at a much lower cost) because, as he was explaining to his Mom, "See? It says right here that the Apex can read all these other kids of discs, and the expensive one can't." I was planning on buying the Apex anyway because I'm such a miser, but I walked away with a smug little smile on my face. Everyone knows that the kids know more about this stuff than we do...

I don't know anything about DVD-R drives, but I suppose if you want to burn discs with pictures that anyone can show, you'll have to use that.

All that said, I still haven't used my CD-RW or my DVD to show pictures. We have more computers than TVs, and my web server has so much space, I just FTP everything up there and anyone who has the URL can see them.

 

[GaryM]

A friend has made some slide shows on video CDs, not DVDs. My DVD player is supposed to be able to play them. But I've not had any success. They will play on my PC though.

If the price difference isn't too great I'd go with the DVD burner. Can a DVD burner also burn CDs? Otherwise you might need both units.

 

[MikePA]

Bill, not to be too nit-picky, but when referring to drives a CD-R drive can only Read CDs. A CD-RW can Read and Write CDs.

It can get confusing when you look at the CDs available to use in these drives because CD-R discs can be written to only once, whereas CD-RW discs can be written to multiple times.

 

[Wingnut]

As Mike stated, video CD's are quite easy to do ... and as Don pointed out ... you have to make sure that the CD-R format is readable on the DVD player.

DVD recorders are available ... but the standards war is still going ... and the DVD disks are still pretty pricy.

The best way to go (IMO) is to use the CD-R format (CD recorable) rather than CD-RW (CD rewriteable) since most players seem to be able to handle the write-once format better. Many will not read a CD-RW at all ... while even those that list CD's but not CD-R's seem to be ok with that format.
Also ... CD-R discs are cheaper than borsht ... while CD-RW are more expensive and DVD-r or DVD+R are still pretty dear.
The standard CD-R discs available now are nearly all hi speed and hi-density ... and 700mb is a lot of pictures! (I sure wouldn't want to sit through someone's "slide show" on a DVD!)

Have fun! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

pete

 

[MossRoad]

<font color="blue"> (I sure wouldn't want to sit through someone's "slide show" on a DVD!) </font>

Wanna see my vacation pictures... from the last 30 years! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Ha ha ha1 /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[19th_VA]

I'd go with the DVD burner, given what you want to do and given that CDs days are numbered (probably more like years but you get the point). You can also do cool things with a DVD burner like put old VHS tapes onto DVDs to prevent from losing the content.

 

[WVBill]

Thanks, everyone.

I think I'll go with the CD-RW for now.

My immediate issue is that my wife and I have a digital still camera. She takes wonderful pictures with it (see attachment) but the technology involved in hooking the camera up to the computer to see the pictures is beyond her. So she always complains that she never gets to see the pictures we take on the digital until I get around to printing them out. I think, though, that I can show her how to pop a disk into the DVD so that she can see the pictures on the TV.

I know my DVD will read CD-R disks because my son-in-law gave me one of our granddaughter's dance recital and it worked fine. Now, this was a moving picture that he took with his camcorder. I don't know if he has a digital or analog camcorder or how/what format is on the CD-R but I do know it is a CD-R not a DVD.

 

[GaryM]

Nice photo, I wish I had a barn like that.

You might consider buying a USB connected memory card reader. They cost anywhere from $20 to $40. Once it's installed, all you have to do is remove the memory card from the camera and slip it into the reader. The files then appear like any others and can be opened and viewed with a click or two.

Even though my camera can hook to the PC, I always use a card reader.