DVD recordable meadia compared

[Scuddie]

Now that a DVD recording system doesnt cost as much as a 85th percentile performance machine, I figure I might buy one. Anyway, to help me out with this, I need some info. What are the pros vs cons and performance vs compatibility issues with DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, and DVD-RAM? Any help is good, so give it to me.

[Sardaukar]

Yeah, that **** is stopping my dad from buying one.

[The_Pikeman]

Dosen't the sony one support most of them? .... If I had to choose I'd say -r as most things I see accept atleast that format.
-How.

[Scuddie]

Damn it! Where the hell is hadmar??

[Hadmar]

Whow. I feel honoured and like a monster geek at the same time. :lol:

Note: My memory is not the best and probably faulty. ;)

Well I don't have much knowledge in that area but I have a link for you.
http://www.verbatim.com/products/images/dvd_format_comp.pdf *

All I know is that *R is write once and *RW and RAM are rewritable, +RW is superiour to -RW if you want to use multisession disks and that DVD-RAM is expensive and acts like a HD. You can either get a RAM, a +R/RW or a -R/RW drive. If you want to spend the extra bucks and don't want to play a game of chance you can get a combi drive that can do both - and + R/RW.

The only thing I cared about when I buyed my DVD burner was backups of my own data. My DVD-ROM drive can read - and + so I didn't have to worry about compatibility and the whole format stuff so I concentrated on individual burner tests instead of the formats. The question is what do you want to do with it?

(*)I never read that pdf couse as I said I didn't care about the formats but I took a quick glance at it and noticed the listed speeds are a bit outdated. DVD-R and DVD+R are currently at 4x write speed and DVD-RW at 2x.

*edit* reformated

[erehwoN]

Since my CDRW drive screeches at me when I put a disk in, I've been looking at getting a DVD burner as well. So far, this (http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=659071/pid=/ut=814862ab83c270ed) is the one I'm looking at. Any other suggestions?

[meeba]

got myself the sony DRU-500AX when i rebuilt, it pretty much copes with any format and hasnt made a bad copy yet

-r is the one thats most compatible with other drives once burnt, all of those that ive burnt are readable in the dvd rom drive/dvd players i've tried

rw is a bit iffy...takes hella long and isnt compatible with rom drives

i basically just go with whats cheap and reliable, and if im burning stuff for other people i use -r

[Hadmar]

rw is a bit iffy...takes hella long and isnt compatible with rom drives
+RW works fine with my ROM drive and writing is only slower then *R if you want to spend the extra bucks for the 4x media.

[RogueLeader]

DVD-RAM is basically dead. It was a cool idea but there was no compatability. I recommend DVD-R. Most of the best companies back it, e.g. Pioneer (whos burners cannot be beat, btw, if you have the money). But DVD+R is not really very different and will probably both will be around for a long time.

In any event, don't bother buying 4x media. It isn't that fast and its expensive. My 4x DVD-RW has only actually written to 1x discs since I can get them for $1 each and it still only takes an hour to burn a whole DVD.

[Scuddie]

Hmmm... Well, I have heard that the plus format of Rs and RWs have alot more features than the dash format of Rs and RWs, and also a bit more compatible. Can anyone clarify this?

Also, I heard that CAV is much better for storage, and CLV is much better for video encoding. Is this true?

[RogueLeader]

DVD-R is more compatible I have heard. Shouldn't matter, as generally both are read by any DVD-ROM worth a damn. I suspect both will be available for a long time. Just stay away from DVD-RAM.

[(SDS)benmcl]

We use the sony DRU-500AX to and not a problem once we read the warning about one series of lot numbers of blank media that won't work. WE just happen have 20 DVDs of that. Luckly they worked on the Toshiba. You won't have any of those problems now beacuse the company that makes the media fixed the it.

Fantastic drive. Not a single bad DVD or CD burn.

[Scuddie]

Well, try PS2 :D

[Hadmar]

Whatever you get I suggest you use media from the manufacturers compatibility chart only. It's not like it's with CD burners where compatibility is practicaly not an issue. That's couse CD burners are a 'mature' technology. In the beginning of consumer CD burners there were problems with bruners not liking disks and not writing them 'good' and we have the same with DVD burners now.

And I have a theory and wonder if anyone can confirm or disprove it: There are no 1x +R disks.
And here's the why: Burning a full DVD takes 40min (inclusive verifying) and I thought that's a bit fast for singlespeed (I use Fuji disks without speed label) so I searched the NEC website and found out that my burner burns all disks that are not labeled as 4x with 2.4x speed.

[wiseassbnty]

http://www.dvdrhelp.com/


http://www.dvdrhelp.com/dvdripping


I've got the Sony DRU500A which was rated the best when it first came out. The new one, like the 510X or whatever is the same pretty much but will support 4.2x media. Although from what I understand there are numerous updates for the 500A that will allow it to write to some of the 4x DVD media.

I've not had a problem and burning at 2x (3600k/sec) is still pretty good for me. I even found some utils to do xbox games, so I bet that the PS2 could be done as well..

Also I've always heard that the + media (+r and +rw) is the best to use, supposed to be more compatible. I've used -r and -rw and my DVD player on my theater system won't play em, but when I used +R or +RW the discs played fine.