DVD burning and Power in India/SE Asia

[ari_halberstadt1]

This is a common thread, but there is still no ideal solution.

 

I am planning an extended trip in India and Asia later this year (6+ months,

probably Northern India, Nepal, maybe Mongolia, various Southeast Asian

countries). Some trekking. Everything in a backpack. I will be using a D200. How

realistic is a plan to use local Internet cafés or service centers to burn DVDs

in these countries? I also wanted to get feedback on my power supply ideas.

 

Storage:

 

The longest stay, over a month, is going to be India, the others will likely be

2-4 weeks. For storage, I'm thinking of taking 64 GB of CF cards (currently

~$1100 for Sandisk 4GB Ultra II CompactFlash Card). I estimate I will shoot an

average of 150 pictures per day, and will store most of them as compressed raw

at 10 MB a shot, so that I can go 6-7 weeks before recycling cards. For

temporary backup I will be carrying 2 Hyperdrive SPACE drives each with Seagate

Momentus 5400.3 120 Gb 2.5" 5400rpm. Files will be copied from the CF cards to

the discs. When I am back in a city my plan is to transfer the data from the CF

cards to DVDs and mail the DVDs home. I can then wipe the CF cards. When the

disk drives fill up I can buy additional drives (or bring larger ones). When the

DVDs are safely home and duplicated I can wipe one of the copies on the hard

drives. The manufacturer of the Hyperdrive SPACE claims it can copy 100 GB on a

single charge and I also plan to carry the AA adapter.

 

I could probably go with less CF cards, but having 64 GB gives me plenty of flex

time. If I cannot burn DVDs on site another option is to carry an Ezpnp

EzDigimagic DM220-D08 DVD burner. Reports of other portable DVD burners mention

some problems burning and how finicky the DVD burners can be. Also, this adds

extra weight (~600g) plus a supply of compatible DVDs; I would still carry at

least one Hyperdrive SPACE in case the DVD burner fails. I'm really trying to

keep the weight down as much as I can, yet I'm already up to about 7 kg / 15 lbs

for my camera gear.

 

Power:

 

For the D200, I was planning to bring the MB-D200 grip and AA adapter, plus 3

ENEl3e batteries and charger. Then I can power the camera with the convenient

rechargeables (three batteries would give about 900 shots, or about a week of

typical shooting) or with lithium (lightweight) AA batteries as backup (another

1400 shots with 12 lithium batteries). AA alkaline batteries should be common,

but are lithium batteries available as well? Is there any environmental way to

dispose of lithium batteries? The Hyperdrive Space, EzDigimagic, and SB800 flash

unit can all run on AA batteries. One option is to also bring rechargeable 2700

mAh NiMH batteries, but this means carrying a charger as well, and a few of the

ones in stores are really heavy. The lightest I could find was an Energizer or

Duracell unit that plugs into the USB port of a computer. I could then bring a

small universal power adapter with a USB outlet into which I can plug this* (and

if I bring an MP3/radio player this could also charge it). Finally, I could also

bring a power inverter, such as the 75 Watt Portable Power Inverter from

Kensington which weighs 136g and could let me take longer trips away from

regular power sources (the dual charger made by Nikon, which I think has a car

adapter, is expensive). The mains quality in some remote areas is said to be not

so great, would I also need a surge protector (I'd mainly be charging batteries,

no laptop)?

 

* There is a travel power adapter up for sale on ebay and another by National

Geographic

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/Universal-Travel-AC-Power-Adapter-Outlet-w-USB-Charger_W0QQitemZ230107225880QQcategoryZ88759QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

http://shop.nationalgeographic.com/product/193/3330/126.html

[nevilleb]

Let me answer your queries about burning DVDs in India<p>

 

Most 'cyber cafes' in the interiors and towns will definetely have facilities to burn CDs. DVDs? Don't bank on it.<p>

 

Another word of caution... ensure you permantely delete the temperorary forlder you create on the hard disk wherever it is you burn 'em cds. The establishment owners think nothing of making postcards of the better shots and selling them. I don't think you'd want to see your photos selling for a few rupees... <eeks><p>

[mihir_shah]

Ari,

thats a longtrip..i am sure you will have a blast and get excellent pictures. well here are

few answers i can be helpful with:

 

"How realistic is a plan to use local Internet cafés or service centers to burn DVDs in these

countries?"

 

Not a bad idea. Burning DVD's would not be a problem at any cybercafe's...but do

remember to delete the files from the computer you are burning it on. If you still donot

trust the local cybercafe's and since you are in India for a long time then why not just buy

a cheap local external DVD writer? you should get one for less then $80.

 

"plus a supply of compatible DVDs"

 

DVD's (Moser Boeur) are freely available..so i dont think you should burden yourself with

supplies.

 

"AA alkaline batteries should be common, but are lithium batteries available as well? Is

there any environmental way to dispose of lithium batteries?"

 

Ari..i guess you will be in shock when you find lithium batteries and chargers available in

nearly every general store. No..i dont think there is any official environmental way of

disposing them.

 

"The mains quality in some remote areas is said to be not so great, would I also need a

surge protector (I'd mainly be charging batteries, no laptop)?"

 

Yes power surges can be a problem. Again i suggest to buy a local power surge protecter.

Check your chargers if they can handle power outputs up to 240V..if they can then you

should not have any problems except buying a local pin convertor(US square to round) for

each one of them (travel adapter will do).

 

have fun.

Mihir.

[fourfa]

sounds like a good plan, you are wise to watch every gram. my experience in SA Asia in early 2004 was CD burners yes, DVD burners no. Have things changed, don't know. If DVDs are central to your plan, consider an external USB-connected burner to use in the cybercafe, not necessarily a finicky battery-powered one.

 

Personally I would bring spare drives for the Hyperdrives. Back up to both in parallel - when you fill the drives, send one home in the mail, carry the other in a few waterproof ziplocs, swap fresh drives into the devices. Shouldn't be a problem to buy these in India or Bangkok if you want to save carrying weight. I might trust these even more than DVDRs, which in my experience are notorious for read/write errors when burning on one machine and reading on another (better when reading and writing on the same machine though). Do the math - for the quantity you're talking about, hard drives may be lighter than DVDs.

 

I found power available everywhere except the most remote villages in the jungle.

[ari_halberstadt1]

<p>Thank you for the feedback and suggestions. I hadn't thought of carrying an external DVD burner. Some research turned up the <a href="http://www.plextor.be/products/px-608cu.asp?choice=PX-608CU">Plextor PX-608CU</a> external DVD burner, which can run off of USB bus power, weighs 250g and sells for around $140. The diagram on Plextor's website shows it running off of two USB ports, which makes sense since it uses 4.8W and each USB port can only provide 2.5W (5V/0.5A). This would work if I can find Internet cafés with a free USB 2.0 port--a USB 1.1 port would be too slow at 1MB/s. Next came the question of what software would write to this, which led me to <a href="http://www.silentnight2004.com/Micro.html">SilentNight Micro Burner</a>, a stand-alone DVD burning program that doesn't require installation and can run off of a USB flash drive; maybe I'd bring a flash drive or a CD with the software. I also came across this cool plug adapter, <a href="http://www.mobihand.com/productAccessories.asp?id=8338">Mobi Products World USB Charger + Plug Adapter</a>, a Universal plug adapter including a USB power port, fuse, and surge and spike protection for $25. I would carry a spare 6A/250V fuse in my repair kit just in case. I can use this to charge the Hyperdrive Space via the USB port, avoiding the need to carry at least one charger. It might also be possible to use this to power the external DVD drive if there are not enough USB ports available. An external DVD burner is lighter and cheaper, at 250g/$140 vs. 720g/$372, versus the stand-alone EzPNP burner with batteries.</p>

 

<p>According to Energizer, lithium batteries can be thrown away in household trash, so at least in the US they are not considered any more hazardous than other batteries.</P>

[kevin_goggin]

Getting the external burner is a great idea, but be sure to bring a disk with the drivers for the DVD burner, it may be possible to download them, but you're better off having them with you just incase.