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Appeared on: Wednesday, December 3, 2003
GEAR PRO v6.05 CD DVD Mastering edition


1. Intoduction

GEAR PRO CD/DVD Mastering software - Page 01

INTRODUCTION

GEAR Software, Inc. the last 10 years is developing CD/DVD recording software products and software development tools. Their products support all the usual platforms such as UNIX and Windows/NT/2000/XP and the most of CD/DVD recorders.

The last version of Gear software, the v6.05 Mastering edition, is a complete software for anything has to do with CD/DVD recording. All kind of users, professionals and amateurs, will find a powerful program for creating almost everything they want to do.

Gear PRO 6.0.5 Mastering Edition features :

- Write CD-R(W)
- Erase CD-RW
- CD-ROM support, ISO/Joliet
- CD-Audio support
- Convert MP3, WMA, OGG to CD Audio
- CD-ROM XA support
- Video CD creation
- Copy CDs
- Disc-at-once, track-at-once Writing
- Format CD-RW, DVD-RW and DVD+RW
- Burn-Proof, Just Link, Safe Burn, Write Proof, Seamless Link, Overburning
- Verify-after-write
- Copy DVD's
- ISO/UDF support
- Write DVD-R(W)
- Write DVD+RW
- Write DVD+R
- Write DVD-RAM
- DVD-ROM support
- DVD-Video support
- Generate, Save Log files, run Batch files
- Run GEAR Commands from GEAR CLI
- Detect / show CD-A uncorrectable errors
- Import / Write DVD-Audio titles
- Write Master Tape (CD mastering)
- Jukebox control
- Disc Description Protocol (DDP) Output
- Rock Ridge support
- Incremental Packet Writing (VPW, FPW)
- Write Master Tape (DVD mastering)
- Convert CD/DVD to Master Tape or DDP
- Write DDP image to hard drive
- Transfer CDs and DVD's via FTP
- Generate and Verify CRC Integrity-Checksums for all files in a DDP Image


Supported standards & formats:
• DVD-ROM
• DVD-Video
• UDF (Universal Disc Format)
• CD-ROM, ISO 9660
• Joliet
• CD-ROM Mixed Mode
• CD-ROM XA
• CD Digital Audio
• Video CD
• ISO 9660 with Rockridge extension (Unix version)
• Multi-session (Orangebook)
• MP3 Audio


GEAR also supports recording of the following authored file formats:
• CD-Extra (Enhanced Music CD)
• Photo CD
• CD-I (Compact Disc Interactive)
• Commodore CDTV
• EB (Electronic Book)
• Proprietary video game authoring formats
• Compressed and encrypted file formats
• Custom-generated images

In the following pages we try to make several things with Gear v6.05 which approved to be a very helpful software.


2. DVD-Video

GEAR PRO CD/DVD Mastering software - Page 02

DVD - Video

As soon as we run Gear we see a message which inform as that the software is detecting our system's devices.

Below is the main screen of the program.

First thing we have to do is to choose from the drop down menu the project type. We will try first to make a DVD-Video disc. After choosing the appropriate project we press the button"Create...".

This is the next thing that we will see. We check again the DVD-VIDEO (ISO/UDF), we select the destination folder and after giving a name to our project and selecting the size of our DVD disc ( default to 4.7Gb) we press "Create".

This is the window that we will see.

Inside this we will see another one which is asking us to define the folder that contains the VIDEO_TS files that we want to write.

As soon as we define the source folder, the Video_TS files are automatically imported into our project's VIDEO_TS folder. What is really convenient is that Gear will prompt user in case the selected Video files are not valid for the DVD-Video compilation.

The DVD-Video compilation is ready, as you can see below:

We can write are project by pressing the "Write" button (or testing it by pressing the "Test" button). We will be asked to confirm our decision. We press "Yes"

The software indicates the wriitng progress as well as the current writing speed. Here, we would prefer a more detailed interface showing information about the elapsed time as well as a real-time indication of the burning speed. In the current version, the DVD recording speed is preselected and set to 2x for DVD rewritable and 4x for DVD recordable. User is not able to adjust the speed to any other, and the recording speed displayed is not the actual. No matter the drive's capabilities or the DVD media inserted, Gear illustrates the preselected 2 or 4x speeds.

As soon as the writing process is finished we will receive the following message:

or, if we have chosen Test:


3. Erase RW

GEAR PRO CD/DVD Mastering software - Page 03

Erase RW

From the main bar of the program we select the icon. Immediately the following message will appear:

We press "Total erase" for erase completely the disc contents or "Quick erase" for erasing only the table of contents. We prefer the quick way and we press the "OK" button.

Once again we will be asked to confirm our selection. We select "Yes" and the erasing process is begin. Below is a screen shot with the process as an example.

When the procedure completes we will receive the following message:


4. Audio CD

GEAR PRO CD/DVD Mastering software - Page 04

AudioCD

If we want to playback our favorite MP3 songs into our hi-fi system, which is not compatible with MP3 format, Gear can convert this format into another ( WAV) which is supported from most of the CD players. The basic difference between the converted song and the MP3 one is that the WAV is several times bigger than the MP3. So we can write approximately 12~18 ( depending of course on the songs size) Wav songs into a usual 700MB media.

First we have to choose the CD-Audio option from the drop-down menu in the main bar of GEAR, as in the screen shot below.

As soon as we press the "Create..." button we will see the following photo, where we must select again the CD-Audio option. Here we can also give a name to our CD project and define the disc size.

After we have adjusted those settings we press "Create". The next picture will be appear. Right after we should open the folder that contains the MP3 files we want to write. That is very easy, just use the explorer in the left

As soon as we find the MP3 files that we were looking for, with the drag'n'drop method we put them in the space as the arrow in the following picture.

Gear automatically converts the .wav files to MP3. During this procedure we see the screen shot below.

The last thing we should do is to press the "Write" button for burning our disc. Otherwise we can make a virtual write by pressing the "Test" button. The next steps are the same as in Page 02.


5. Video CD

GEAR PRO CD/DVD Mastering software - Page 05

VideoCD

With this option we can make a disc with our MPEG-1 video files which would be playable in our "stand alone" DVD player. As in the previous projects again we define that it is about a VCD project, by selecting the "New VideoCD" in the drop down menu and we press "Create..."

Once again we have to adjust the disc size (default 703MB), give a name and of course select the VideoCD image. After we press the "Create" button.

With the same way we described in the previous project we put the MPEG files in the space as the arrow in the next photo. Here we have the opportunity to watch a preview of the video files. Just select one and press the Play button on the left.

We press the "Write" or "Test" button and the rest of the procedure is the same as in the previous pages.


6. Other

GEAR PRO CD/DVD Mastering software - Page 06

Other

If we had to describe all the sessions of Gear software we would need pages and pages. The method is almost the same for other project such as CD-ROM(ISO), DVD_ROM(ISO), add new sessions to CD etc. If you have difficulties or questions, Gear provides you with very helpful and analytical guide of 215 pages(!), where everything is describing in simple words. Don't hesitate to consult it.

However we detect some things that we would like to be fixed. While the writing procedure with several DVD media, there is a current writing speed which always is 4x for DVD+R and DVD-R and 2x with their RW respectively, no matter what speed is supported by the disc*. Of course the disc is burning under its supported speed. Although you can adjust the CDR speed you cannot do the same with the DVDR one.

Another important issue is that you should increase the buffer size for writing in case you want to run in the same time other applications, otherwise you 'll have problem. By increasing the buffer size things will became better.

As we can see from the manufacturers specifications about the program, we must say again that it is an complete program which does almost everything. We personally recommend it. The program is available in Gear's online store at the price of $749.00.

*Last Update 19/03/2004

According to Gear the issue about the speed while recording has fixed. Now the speed indicator is working properly.



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