Making a DVD is easy. First, the Sony Drive comes with a lot of programs...but most notably is Sonic MyDVD 4. With that in mind...here is how I have made DVD's.
I use the AIW 9700 Pro to do an mp2 import. 720 x 480 8000kb. At this bitrate...I can fit about 70 minutes of movie on the DVD. The more you cut down the bitrate...the more movie you will fit.
I import using Multimedia Center 8.0 that comes with the AIW. No further encoding is necessary. Once done...I open MyDVD 4 and open the movie file I just created. If it is small enough to fit on the DVD without editing...you will see the BURN button. Click on it and MyDVD takes over. About 15 minutes later (depending on the speed of the blank DVD you use) you have a viewable DVD. I use DVD-R or DVD + R and my JVC DVD player will recognize both. MyDVD really makes it easy.
Other ways to do this...encode in .avi and then the accompanying program that comes with the drive kicks in and will encode for you (This process is very long). So I choose the former.
I had the chance to pick up the HP drive on sale one day and opted to wait until I could get the Sony. As I stated earlier...I have yet to burn a coaster. I am pleased and really like the idea of the drive burning DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, CD-RW and CD-R. As stated...DVD-R and DVD+R at 4X (about 24X CD speed) and DVD-RW at 2.4 and DVD+RW at 2X. The CD Burning speed is 24x10x32. The HP drive only burns regular CD's at 16X.
Hope this is helpful. Hey, noticed that you are getting your Hitachi CML174 on Friday. I hope you like it as much as I do mine. Very fast...Extremely bright. The backpanel is SOOOO bright it appears silver.
Bob