Your post was lacking a key detail.

You could add an USB 2.0 PC_CARD for not much and then either a DVD external or what I did was to put a 16X DVD recorder (single) and the USB 2.0 Case together for not much. The total bill came to about 130 from either Newegg.com or compgeeks.com

The ONE THING you want to be sure of is to get a software bundle with the DVD player software and any DVD recording software because seperately they can cost...

Bob