Chronophage's Weblog

Roxio v Nero: Chapter 3: Attack of the Cloned (DVDs)

MyNeroUserWithNicknameChronophage@nero.com (Chronophage) — 14 Aug 2008 02:31:12 GMT

So I'm back from my vacation to the sunny 10,000 lakes of Minnesota and I have a burned DVD of pictures and music my friend made for me. Well, I would really like to share those songs and pics with my Maryland friends and family and I need to make them a disc: it's time to make a backup...

Nero's going to be first this time and I head right into the software program and find "Backup" easy to find in the top right corner. I move right in for the kill and click "Copy Disc" in the second row. Nero Express opens up quite quickly and asks whether I'd like to copy a CD or a DVD, easy selection since I have a DVD+ disc. Just as a sidenote the disc is about 78% full at 4.0GB. After selecting the file where I want to store the file (I'm going with desktop for ease). Disc copy begins at 9:14pm... at 9:25 it's done and the file is ready to be burned. After clicking the NEXT button and finding my file, burning begins at 9:26. At 9:36 it's all over. I'd say that's a pretty darn smooth process and fast as well. Easy to maneuver and very intuitive. Only downside, it's nice when there is a 1-step process... maybe I just haven't found it here yet...

On to the Roxio version. First thing I find is that my Roxio program has a "Backup" function just like Nero, but the only option I have is to upgrade!!! Good grief, I haven't even started and already I'm getting a bit frustrated. Finally I find the Disc Copy function and figure this is my best bet, considering the whole backup idea went by the wayside. I begin the copy and it appears to be a one step process, which is cool. Copying starts at 9:39 and I notice that it tells me the sectors that have been burned so far... nice little feature as well. I get through the copy at 9:48, 9 minutes is pretty good. So far I'm giving the edge to Roxio, but the tide turns quickly. As soon as I put in a blank disc, the program kicks up the "Insert Disc" message again. The program doesn't recognize my blank disc, and believe me, it's brand new off the spindle. When I cannot burn the disc, I'm not using the program again...

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner.... This round goes to Nero for simply working smoothly!!!

Always love a highlight reel...

MyNeroUserWithNicknameChronophage@nero.com (Chronophage) — 05 Aug 2008 03:56:34 GMT

click here to watch the included content

Roxio v Nero: Ch.2- The Roxio Horror Picture Show

MyNeroUserWithNicknameChronophage@nero.com (Chronophage) — 17 Jul 2008 01:10:49 GMT

... just to put the Nero's photo editor to the test:

“First things first, I don’t get any errors when looking through the pics. I have no idea why this would have happened with Roxio, but I’m off to a better start already. Although it’s not immediately evident how to upload the photos from my camera, the photo editor seems a pretty cool feature. It gives me a ton of options including, black and white and red-eye eliminator. This feature was definitely not as easy to use on the Roxio side. With lots more icons, and given the fact I'm a visual learner, it's also good for even the most amateur photo editor to get something done. I’m giving Nero the edge on this one…”

Ok, so the photo functionality is nice, but it’s time to move on to bigger and better things: DVD creation from digital files. Once again, I’m going with Roxio My DVD 9 first…

“So I’m trying to add an AVI file to file list so I can begin burning my DVD, but, oh great, AVI files are not an option on the file list. Apparently Roxio cannot even handle this type of file and I wouldn’t say they’re particularly uncommon. The lack of this ability immediately puts the MyDVD behind Nero right off the bat"

“Well, it looks like the Nero version seems to have a much easier and straightforward considering ‘Add Video Files’ is as easy as it gets. When adding my file, the supported types don’t seem to even matter. I don’t have to mess around trying to figure out whether Nero will support an AVI file or not. It's simply easy and I can be assured with a higher degree of certainty that my file will burn correctly. It took just a bit over an hour to convert/burn the file to the DVD and the quality is extremely good. There's nothing worse in my mind than waiting an hour for the software to burn the disc and then get a failure message at the end for whatever reason... Nero didn't give me anything like that. I will definitely be using this more often whenever I have my AVI files that need to get to DVD" ...Next up: Disc Copying

Nero v Roxio: Episode 1-The Phantom Photos

MyNeroUserWithNicknameChronophage@nero.com (Chronophage) — 08 Jul 2008 00:26:20 GMT

Ok guys, so I could start our epic comparison from just about any angle. But, I'll keep it simple and begin with something almost every average photographer (like myself) could find helpful: Getting my hundreds of trapped photos onto my computer so my friends will stop nagging me to send them...

Don't worry, I'll get to the disc copying, music lineups, etc. very soon.

*** Just so we're all on the same page I have one quick note: Most of these will read as my thoughts... Imagine that I'm writing down my reactions while using the software. How many times have we thought: "Why doesn't it just......." I'm trying to make sense for your average Joe.

First up: Roxio's Photo Guide:

"Is it just me or does Roxio seem to freeze up all the time? All I tried to do is import photos from my camera, but suddenly I couldn’t get back to the window that showed the photos. Good lord, but I know there are pics in those spaces, but I’m getting the no smoking symbol covering the half of them.

Moving photos into folders is fairly important to me and so far, I’m not particularly impressed. I cannot even move these files that have the red bars on them… not good. If there are going to be a couple hundred of these pics, I'm sure not going to put up with this issue for too long. I'm going to see if Nero can do a better job of recognizing the photos on my Canon camera."

NERO VS. ROXIO ... Mano-A-Mano

MyNeroUserWithNicknameChronophage@nero.com (Chronophage) — 30 Jun 2008 01:25:01 GMT

Ok all, I'm a brand new Nero user and I'm putting them up to the ultimate test... versus the competition. I will be starting a periodic blog that will chronicle my experiences with the Nero 8 in relation with the only software I've used in the past: Roxio's Creator DE Version 9.0. This is not intended to be a hit against the makers of Nero, but rather an informative guide to my evolving into a Nero user. Let me make a couple of things very clear:

1. I am not plugging for either Roxio or Nero, these are completely independent observations.

2. Opinions will be extremely honest and on occasion, brutally so.

3. No prisoners; if it doesn't work or doesn't make sense, I won't hesitate to make it known, no matter which side I'm using.

Please provide me with any of your opinions or comments as you'd like. There will be plenty for me to learn as well...

Ok, let's make it happen.

Chapter 1 is coming up: Roxio: The Good, Bad, and Ugly

Former #1 internet video... mindless but hilarious

MyNeroUserWithNicknameChronophage@nero.com (Chronophage) — 26 Jun 2008 02:19:26 GMT

http://www.milkandcookies.com/link/6396/detail/

For all you baseball lovers... this is great!

MyNeroUserWithNicknameChronophage@nero.com (Chronophage) — 20 Jun 2008 22:15:10 GMT

http://www.redlasso.com/ClipPlayer.aspx?id=b348a107-8fcc-4de3-bf83-30d6d2bb0586

International Help a Moose Day

MyNeroUserWithNicknameChronophage@nero.com (Chronophage) — 19 Jun 2008 04:03:25 GMT

For all you who have the nickname Moose... get outta the D*** road! This is pretty funny:

http://www.videoclipsdump.com/media/1475/An_Awkward_Way_To_Deal_With_A_Moose_On_The_Road/