Need a DVD burner....confused. Any advice?

[dood]

I'm just a hobbiest who is anxious to start burning DVDs. I've researched the formats, but I don't know if this is the right time to jump in. If I DO jump in, which format is best (+ or -).

The Panasonic A03 DVD-RW is about $430 or so and the media is cheap ($3 each). It is a 2x write drive.

The HP 100i DVD+RW is $411 on Dell's site, but the cheapest media is $10 each. It is a faster write drive, I believe (4.2x??).

Or, should I wait a couple of months and let the next generation drives come out and let the media get cheaper.

Any advice appreciated.

dood

[winman42]

Well, I have the 'PIONEER' A03 unit, which cost me $399.00, but is now selling for $375.00, and the media is $2.95 for DVD-R discs, and $5.99 for DVD-RW media.

I didnt wanna go with DVD+RW, because the blanks are more expensive, and i wanted the DVD-R format, because it looks like RW media is 'always' gonna be more expensive.

As far as price goes, things are ALWAYS gonna get cheaper. So it's a judgement call if you wanna wait for the price to drop. If u can afford it, go for it. Perhaps the next Pioneer unit will be faster in speed, but i dont make enuff discs for it to matter at the moment.

WInston

[gNOMEintheRedHat]

Just FYI

The -R/-RW Pioneer drive is 1x

All the +RW drives are 2.4x

Pioneer is releasind the A0?(2 i've heard) that is a price reduced drive (made the circuit board smaller) in Q1 2002

The +RW drives (all made by richo) are supposed to get a firmware upgrade to make them +R compatable.

The +R media will be cheaper and soon be as inexpencive as -R media

by Q3 Someone who is in BOTH the DVD Forum AND the +RW alliance should be releasing a single drive that is DVD-r-rw+r+rw / CD-R/RW capable.......

then the most compatable media will become the cheapest.