03-26-2006, 01:16 PM

i couldnt find a spot for an "intro" so here goes.

been using macs since '98 but i am really a novice user.
have a G3 tower(one of the first - old) and a G3 ibook that is about 3.5yrs old.

Now, on to the ????'s

i need to backup some of my kid's videos and movies since they get scratched all the time...
i bought a Lacie external HD and DVD burner for my ibook... i like the HD but the DVD burning is killing me!

it has taken up to 3hrs45min to rip a single (large) DVD using MTR to my HD.
and the first 1hr video i burned took about 5hrs to burn.

do you rekon (texas word) my ibook is just too old (being a G3) or am i doing something wrong??? probably a combo...

i am NOW considering a mini to replace the G3 tower and use it to burn with and do pictures... can anybody tell me how long it takes a mini to burn a video DVD? (ive searched but i cant seem to find)

my friends that have PC's swear they can rip a whole movie in no more than an hour.... i WAS expecting MORE (qiucker) from my sexy mac...

thanks in advance...

03-26-2006, 01:43 PM

mtr on my powermac takes about 15-20 minutes, compression 25, burning 3

it is possible your computer might be too old and slow by now to do these things very quickly. a mini would be pretty efficient at doing this, but that is just a guess, we need some mini users to chime in here who have done this
-chris

03-26-2006, 01:58 PM

I believe you will need at least a G4 computer to get faster results. Also a firewire and/or USB 2 connection is needed between your DVD burner and computer.
It takes me no more than 20mins using MTR with my 1.5Ghz PowerBook G4.

03-26-2006, 04:07 PM

what is MTR?

03-26-2006, 11:34 PM

thanks all for the responses!
you are givin me hope!

info i forgot to mention: HD is firewire and DVD is USB2.0...
should i switch them?

yes, i would like to hear from some mini users as well...
how fast can you go? ;-)

MTR= Mac The Ripper = SWEEET!

03-27-2006, 08:18 AM

have you ever heard of handbrake? just another program like MTR

http://handbrake.m0k.org/

03-27-2006, 02:28 PM

ah-ha!!!
i would STILL like to know how fast a MINI can do it but,


i found THIS on LaCie's site: (after the fact of course)
and this still seem sslow by PC comparison...

"The software bundled with your DVD recorders says it will work on a G3 or newer. But your specs state that it needs a G4 or newer. Why?
While we do not test our products on computers older than the G4, the DVD recorder should work on a Blue & White G3.
The bundled recording software does state that it will work on a G3, but we have found the G3 processor to be very slow if compiling video and not workable for most customers.

An example of compiling speeds:


A G4/1.0 GHz takes about 7 minutes to compile each minute of video.

A G4 /500 GHz takes about 17 minutes per one minute of video.

A G3 processor will take a much longer time to process, possibly a day or longer depending on the length of video.
If you are using Toast Titanium or CaptyDVD, a possible solution may be the LaCie FastCoder. This will convert DV NTSC to MPEG-1 and/or MPEG-2 files using a FireWire bus in real-time. Information on the FastCoder and what files it supports is available here.

Note:
Video playback may not be smooth if the clock frequency of the Mac is slow. For example: a Blue & White G3/350 MHz playback may be choppy compared to a PowerMac G4/733 MHz. (FastCoder would not solve this)."

03-27-2006, 03:00 PM

Originally Posted by LDGn63

A G4 /500 GHz takes about 17 minutes per one minute of video.

"

Lol you mean 500Mhz?

03-27-2006, 03:44 PM

Originally Posted by macmini3399

Lol you mean 500Mhz?

it was a direct quote from LaCie's site... i assume they mean Mhz....
but then again, what do i know??? :p

03-27-2006, 07:40 PM

for better times.. you may need to get the internal dvd burner for the tower..
this will work on that

http://www.macmall.com/macmall/shop/...pno~518979.asp

i sell nothing but lacie drives.. but for that tower you need the internal burner

to answer the question about the mini.. i have the 1.42 version.. rev. a.. depending on the size of the dvd itself.. it can be anywhere from 10-15 minutes to about 1 hour.. and i do have 1gb ram in there. i normally dont compress.. i use dvd2onex to strip out the movie only.. that only takes about 5 mins.. the burn on verbatim dvd+r 8x at 8x.. another 6 minutes

03-28-2006, 11:12 AM

i was unclear.. i am using the ibook to burn. (sorry)
i also figured out (you are gonna love this) that my USB's are 1.1 and NOT 2.0 like i thought!.... since my HD was hooked up to the FireWire... I was using the USB for the DVD burn.... duh....
i'm gonna try to daisy chain the HD and DVD and see how that works!

Thanks for the info about the mini... it really helps!