[mythtv-users] What Is a very Friendly Linux DVD Burner?

[Brian Wood]

On Mar 18, 2006, at 4:33 PM, Brian Sutcliff wrote:

> Can anyone suggest an easy to install DVD burner for Fedor Core 4?
>
> What is the best burning software.
>
> Thanks,
>

The days of proprietary interfaces are about gone, one drive is going  
to work as well as the next "with Linux". The internal SATA types  
might be a trifle more difficult to set up, but any IDE, USB or  
Firewire drive should be OK. One thing is that few drives support DVD- 
RAM, if you want that capability you'll have to look a little bit  
harder.

SCSI drives work fine but I don't see too many of them for sale in  
the normal channels these days.

The main thing you need to decide is if you want an internal or  
external unit, and if the latter USB or Firewire. The answer depends  
on your individual situation. You can also buy a standard IDE drive  
and put in in your own USB or F/W case quite easily.

As for software, it pretty much depends on what you want to do.  
"Burning software" is one thing but what you might mean is "DVD  
authoring software".

For the former K3b works, XCDRoast works but I think the recent  
versions need you to be root (I think SUID doesn't work anymore).  
It's a little bit of a hassle to get the (free) license loaded to get  
the DVD features of Roast working, but not too hard if you read the  
docs.

The command line tools growisofs and its brethren work well if you  
want that sort of software.

As for DVD authoring, qdvdauthor and dvdstyler are the main Linux GUI  
options. They both have some problems but can work well.

Since you are on the MythTV list, MythBurn may well be of interest to  
you, it has worked quite well for me.

So, for hardware if it works with Windows it will work with Linux,  
for software, there are working options easily available.

Buy what you can get a deal on, the well-known makers will have  
better support should you have a problem as with anything else.