Please, let's not turn this into an argumentative thread. Why not take it easy guys?

Welcome gudac to the forums, it's always good to have more people joining and sharing the experiences available here.

You may want to take a look here, and also check out the links that slayerking posted.

To touch on a subject of which drive is 'best', to put it simply, there is none. Everyone has their own opinion, so your best bet is to browse to the second link posted by slayerking and check out some of the topics in that forum and the various sub forums there. It may seem daunting at first, there's a lot of people willing to help though.

To backup your dvd's check out the transcoding link here or to create your own video dvds i'd recommend Nero by Ahead software. To minimise your cost though, check out the software package that may come with your burner when you decide to purchase one.