DVD Video vs RW DVD

hafcanadian · Member Joined: 26 Sep 2008 Location: United States

Confusion reigns. I bought Sony DVD+R disks with the RW over DVD+R icon, intending to use them to copy jpeg photos for an older relative to use in her Sony DVD player, that claims to handle DVD+R. CD-R disks didn't hold enough data and would require multiple disks. Her player reads the CD-R jpegs I made on my Dell XPS laptop with Roxio Creator DE, but neither hers nor my Sony DVD player will read the DVD I burned. The manual for my Sony DVD player mentions it can read DVDs with the logo DVD over a black disk icon over the word "Video".

Is that logo indicative of a type of DVD disc different than the ones I bought? What type and format of DVD disk should I be looking for that I can burn photos and/or videos onto, and watch them on our DVD players?

jman98 · Member Joined: 08 Oct 2004 Location: Freedonia

You bought DVD+RW discs, which are rewritable DVD discs. They are based on DVD+R technology. Your DVD players may be older as older player don't read DVD-RW or DVD+RW well if at all.

DVD-R generally has the best compatibility with older DVD players, but it's barely better than DVD+R. Either of those would probably work better than the DVD+RW discs you bought.

Finally, note that Sony DVDs are now 100% crap in North America. You'd be better off to use Taiyo Yuden (you'll have to mail order these) or Verbatim (available in many stores like Best Buy).

lordsmurf · Posted: Sep 26, 2008 19:23

hafcanadian · Member Joined: 26 Sep 2008 Location: United States

That's correct, I bought Sony Accucore DVD+R, not +RW, disks. The "DVD+R" was the largest text on the disk top. The discs had the RW logo, but didn't have a logo showing "DVD" over a black disk over the word "Video", like my Sony HCD-BC150 DVD Home Theatre System's manual says it can read. The RW logo causes confusion I'm sure, as it does not mean the disk is rewriteable; but I understood I was buying "R" or recordable (once) disks.

The Sony player's manual was published in 2004, and the player was installed by an RV manufacturer in a new RV in 2006. The manual mentions CD-R/CD-RW audio data, MP3 files, and JPEG files as readable, and the CD-R disks I burned JPEG photos to were indeed read by both mine and my relative's Sony DVD players. They just couldn't read the DVD+R disk I burned with the same computer and same Roxio software.

I'm no computer wizard, and find these myriad disk types and formats daunting, as I'm sure most average consumers do. I believe, but can't remember for sure, so don't quote me, that the Roxio Creator DE burns CDs with ISO9660 or Joliet format, and burns DVDs with UDF. One thing that concerns me is the Sony player manual does not mention DVD and JPEG in the same sentence, kind of leaving it up in the air as to whether it can read JPEG files on any version of DVD. The manual does mention it can't play DVD-RWs in VR mode, but can generally handle DVD-R/RW in Video mode.

So when it comes to archiving hundreds of pictures for someone who can't view them on a computer (elderly who won't go near one), it would seem I won't be able to put them on one large capacity disk, but rather several CDs. From what the manual implies, I assume the DVD+R disks could be used to archive videos on, however, and would play if recorded in either Video or VR modes.

I can use these to hold backups of large photo folders, as long as I only view them on a computer with a DVD drive. My question remains, however:
Is there a DVD animal out there that one could archive jpeg photos on and view them on most DVD players?

guns1inger · So Very Tired Joined: 01 Apr 2004 Location: Miskatonic U

-R is marginally more compatible that +R on older players, unless the player is +R limited. +R discs can be bitset with some burners so that they appear to be ROM discs, which can improve compatibility. You need software that supports bitsetting as well.

Frankly, I would not use Roxio software, but that is a personal choice. Imgburn is reliable for anything DVD related (video, data) and for burning data CDs. It can do some audio CDs, but it is not it's specialty.

Get good media. I am not a big fan of Sony DVDs, as I have found them to produce inconsistent results for me in the past. Verbatim is my disc of choice as it is reliable, consistent and easily available.

I burn a variety of discs - data with avi files, data with jpegs, DVD Video - to Verbatim discs using Imgburn, and to date they have played on everything I have tried - different brands, high quality players to no-name cheapies. They also appear to have a good shelf life, with discs going back 5 - 6 years still playing well.

However you have to get the planets to align to get success. The right burn, discs, and software are required. Not all burners burn all discs well. Not all players play all discs well. There is no universal answer outside of getting your discs pressed, which is not going to happen for a one-off backup. So always make two copies of anything important, and test both thoroughly before deleting the files.
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hafcanadian · Member Joined: 26 Sep 2008 Location: United States

So if I could find Verbatim DVD disks, with the DVD/Video logo, somewhere, and downloaded and used ImgBurn, I stand a fair chance of burning JPEG photos onto them that our Sony players could read? Or am I still limited to putting JPEG type data on CDs only, ImgBurn or not?

guns1inger · So Very Tired Joined: 01 Apr 2004 Location: Miskatonic U

That depends on your player. Some older players we restricted to reading jpegs and mp3 files only from CDs. Your manual can confirm this. I have been able to read all sorts of files from DVD on LG, Pioneer and other assorted players, branded and not. I must admit that I haven't had much experience with Sony players because I don't like their DVD players - for too long they were format and region restricted, and generally more expensive for no greater value.
_________________
The views expressed in this post are mine alone, unless plagiarised from others
Read my obscure DVD reviews here and my general blah here