DVD-RAM vs DVD-RW: Winner gets the Safe Side Superchick and Dr. Z

[Bartron]

I'm trying to capture some commercials onto my DVD recorder. I'm looking for a rewritable DVD media, since commercials only last 30 seconds, and I could be using the rest of the disk for other things. (I'd be recording shows on the timer while I'm at work, which is why I wanted a rewritable media)

My question about DVD-RW is, is it true that they are only temporary? If I fill a DVD-RW up and finalize it, how long will it work before I need to get it backed up?

And what is that (V) they always have after "DVD-RW" that I had to format before I could use a DVD-RW?

Are DVD-RAM's popular with home PC DVD drives? Or would it only be viewable on my DVD Recorder? Will the future home DVD players play DVD-RAM?

[kschang]

A1) They last a few years

A2) Format as UDF, perhaps?

A3) No, not popular at all. DVD-RAM was first out the door, but suffers from very poor compatibility, due to its initial "cartridge" format. Only recent drives solved that problem. However, DVD-RAM is built for rewrite, with multi-layer each that can do thousands of rewrites compared to hundreds for regular RW media.

A4) Likely NOT, as home players are moving to blu-ray or HD, neither is compatible with DVD-RAM.

[CrayonEater]

I could be wrong but that (V) might mean that you are recording in DVD-Video file format as opposed to VR. VR poses compatibility problems. UDF refers to disc format, not file format i.e. Video's IFO/VOB as opposed to VR's IFO/VRO.