DVD+RW, -RW, -ROM, +RDL, etc.

sleuth

Livin' Like Thanksgivin'
I just recently upgraded my CDRW burner to this DVD+/-RW drive and I was wondering if anyone could fill me in on the intricacies of the different types of recording disks available.

Is there any reason why I should prefer +RW over -RW or vice versa? What about +RDL and -ROM? Any real difference cost- and value-wise?

Also, does anyone know of any good freeware or inexpensive software that will help you convert MPeg, AVI, and your .MOV files to formats that are playable on a DVD player? Anything that will help you create menus, etc. on your burned DVD disks?
 

John Z

if you will
Sorry to respond without having an answer, but...

I am wondering the same thing, since I plan to get a DVD burner soon as well. There must be a few nerds on the board.... :nerd:
 

pappascw

Member
I prefer -r since they work good with my home DVD players. It really depends on what you are using them for. Just about any computer will read -r/+r/ and the rw's. You will notice the re-writables are going to be more expensive because they can be used over and over again. Check out this site it has a lot of writeups on different media types and burners..

http://www.videohelp.com/

Hope that helps some..
 

Penn

Dancing Up A Storm
There is an emerging genre out there that is known as the "dual layer"(DL) format as well.
This one writes at different levels, or different substrates on the DVD disc, which will afford you up to 8.5 gigabits storage per DVD. It seems there are any number of DVD dual format(+/-), R and RW burners(and readers), but I've only seen one company where these dual layer discs are readibly available so far, and that is Memorex.
There will be more in the future, I'm sure.
 

sleuth

Livin' Like Thanksgivin'
Penn said:
There is an emerging genre out there that is known as the "dual layer"(DL) format as well.
This one writes at different levels, or different substrates on the DVD disc, which will afford you up to 8.5 gigabits storage per DVD. It seems there are any number of DVD dual format(+/-), R and RW burners(and readers), but I've only seen one company where these dual layer discs are readibly available so far, and that is Memorex.
There will be more in the future, I'm sure.
Penn... how much $$$?
 

Penn

Dancing Up A Storm
sleuth said:
Penn... how much $$$?
The last time I saw them, a 10 pack of Memorex DL DVDs went for $29.98.

There is another company - Verbatim - that also offers them at the same pricepoint, I think.

Not cheap, but at 8.5 gigs of storage per disc, it's not bad I guess.

The favorite storage device at the moment seems to be the USB Flash Drives, however, any wheres fron 128 megs, out to 4 gigs!
 

FastCarsSpeed

Come Play at BigWoodys
You can get DVD-R discs in a 50 spool spindle or even 100 for cheap.. Best buy has em at 40.00 for 100 and thats Fuji DVD's .. -R is the most prevalent and your best bet.. They work on your home DVD and will be read by pretty much any dvd rom.. Dual layer isnt quite prevalent yet so I would not worry about the media just make sure your Burner is capable of doing it.
 

Tomcat

Anytime
RW's are kinda like a VCR tape, you can use it over and over. However, they may not play on all home DVD players unless they are finalized, then you can't re-record anymore.
 

MikeyBash

New Member
Be careful what kind of DVD media you buy, especially for those cheap set-top DVD recorders. I have a VCR/DVD-R combo recorder I bought at BJ's less than a year ago, and I discovered that it only works with DVD-R disks that are rated at 4X or less. Most of the spindle packs sold these days are 8X, and those won't work. I don't know why this should be, but I called the company and they confirmed that's the case.
 
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