An external DVD burner is a portable burner that is able to read, write as well as rewrite CDs as well as DVDs in order to store or share information. They are different to internal DVD burners in that they can be taken from place to place and, be used on different computers as well as uses an external power source.
The external DVD burner can perform different functions depending on the accompanying software and, some of the salient features that they have include making photo discs, making read-only music or audio CDs, burning home movies, creating back-up copies of media library and, playing DVD movies or CDS, to name but a few uses of the DVD burner.
Consider The Ports
Before one selects an external DVD burner, one needs to consider the ports to which they are to be attached and, check whether the computer has a USB 2.0 or 1.1 or FireWire port and, then choose the DVD burner to suit the port. USB 1.1 is very slow and, one can add ports for a reasonable cost. To gauge how good or bad the external DVD burner is, one would need to check its ability to copy to dual layer discs and, ascertain whether they are compatible with popular DVD copying software.
The external DVD burner should have burning speeds that should be good enough to support normal usage and, the speed may also depend on the type of blank media that is used for reading/writing and rewriting information. One should also consider the external DVD burner s ranking, which would depend on how fast product manufacturers respond to enquiries about their product and, should also take into account help/support methods available.
Of course, there are many manufacturers of the external DVD burner and Sony has a good external DVD burner that is especially useful for converting old VHS tapes onto a DVD. With a two-inch LCD, one can see what is being recorded and, also has the ability to let users make rough stop-and-start edits and, one can also record from a VCR. For approximately US$260, it is not a bad buy.
Plextor has an external DVD burner that it claims is the most diminutive of its kind and which targets ultraportable laptop owners that otherwise tend to feature bulky external drives. In addition, it consumes very little power when burning DVDs and thus saves on battery power usage.