Software Review – Fireman 3.0 – CD/DVD Burner From Honestech, Inc.

Honestech, a developer of digital video and IP software for multimedia content has released version 3.0 of its leading CD/DVD burner software. There are plenty of CD/DVD burner software packages out there, what's so special about Fireman 3.0? Its blazingly fast!

Using point and click technology Fireman 3.0, allows even the most novice user to quickly and easily burn CDs and DVDs. Simply drag and drop what you want to burn, whether it is files or folders, music or movies, into Fireman 3.0 and click the burn button and in half the time of most software your done.

One of Fireman 3.0 big selling points is that it really does burn your CDs and DVDs in half the time of their competitors. It supports dual-layer burning, video-CDs, super video-CDs, CD/DVD erasure, disk/writer information burning, as well as being able to print to LightScribe compatible DVD writers for direct laser labeling. Disclaimer: I was not able to test this feature, since I do not have a compatible DVD writer.

 Features in Fireman 3.0 include:

Creation of WMA disks is as simple as either using the add button to include the WMA file or using your Windows browser, dragging and dropping the file into the project. One thing to note is that other WMA formats are not compatible.

Creation of System Backup/Recovery disks will allow you to backup to CD, DVD or to a hard drive by selecting the source to back up and destination path and file name to save to. Once complete, you can then restore by selecting the backup file. You will then be able to select the file or files that you want to restore. If the file or files exist already, you will be prompted to select an option that most suits your needs.

You can use the DVD authoring studio to create movies from various files that you may have. You can also capture video from TV, VCR or Camcorder. By using ultra-long DVD technology you can archive up to 16 hours on a standard DVD and 32 hours on a duel layer DVD. You will be able to add menus and create a slide show as well.

There is a DVD player as well so that you can watch movies that you created as well as movies you rent or purchase.

Also included is a label maker that will allow you to create labels for your DVD/CD projects. You can use existing label maker files as well as creating your own customize label maker files. If you have the correct hardware you can even use LightScribe Disks and write directly to the DVD.

The downsides; to create a bootable CD/DVD, you must have your own bootable floppy disk and floppy drive. This will be a problem to many users who have one of the new computers which do not contain a floppy drive.

The upsides; it is simple to use, very fast and inexpensive. It gives you many of the capabilities of the more expensive alternatives at a fraction of the cost.

If you are looking for a fast, cost effective way to Author and burn CD/DVDs, create .ISO images, create videos, then Fireman 3.0 will work for you.