Double-Layer DVD Support in stand-alone DVD players.

[mltwitz]

I want to buy a new stand-alone DVD-Player as my old portable won't play DL-DVDs that I recorded. If a stand-alone DVD-player does not explicitly list the double layer format in the manual, does that mean it won't support it, or is it understood that all new players support this format per default and therefore it is not explicitly listed?

[jman98]

I've never seen any kind of official DL support logo, so all bets are off. The best thing I can tell you is that recent DVD players seem to mostly play them OK. I'd advise try before you buy. Media may have something to do with it too. If you are using any DL media other than Verbatim, you are potentially asking for problems. I can also tell you that my limited experience is that DL DVD+R has a lot fewer problems than DL DVD-R.

[ntscuser]

The "DVD Players" list on the left side of this page is a pretty good guide to which machines play DL and which do not.

[jman98]

I would advise using it as a guide, but I wouldn't bet my life on it. Some people will post saying "Player X will play VCD and SVCD" and then somebody else will post that the same player won't play those formats at all. I tried in vain some years ago to get an Apex description changed where the guide here claimed that a certain model would play miniDVD (DVD format on CD-R discs). It was 100% wrong. The model never supported the format unless you replaced the firmware with a hacked version. I used to send email to people who swore the player would play miniDVD and the answer I got back was "Uh, well, I don't actually own the player. I just read that it supported it." Too many people don't know what the heck they are doing and they say that players won't support certain formats when they will or vice-versa, so yes, you can use it as a guide, but I still recommend "try before you buy" just to be sure.

Note that miniDVD support has been missing from the DVD Player list here for a long time. One of the guys here (I forgot who) who maintains the list told me that he finally took it out because it was too inaccurate, with people swearing that a player supported the format and others swearing that the player would never play such discs and it just became impossible to tell who was telling the truth. Keep in mind that one guy might report that a player doesn't support DVD DL when it actually might but maybe he:
1) botched the burn by using Nero and the layer break wasn't set correctly
- or -
2) used a brand of media that doesn't work well with the player

[mltwitz]

I bought the Philips DVP 3040, the manual does not mention DL media, in fact, when I checked the Philips website, none of their players, even the highest-end ones show DL support, so I'm guessing/hoping, they all support DL as default it is just not specifically listed. Btw, the list here on the left says it does support it...so I guess I have to try it out to be sure.

[jman98]

Probably you'll be fine. I have a 2+ year old Philips DVP-642 that plays DVD+R DL fine. The only problem is sometimes it has a minor delay at the layer break but it's just a very very brief pause. It's less than a second, but you can see it. My player didn't like DVD-R DL much though. It would have weird problems on those discs. I bought a 3 pack of DVD-R DL for testing and the discs were essentially unwatchable on my Philips. They would start OK, but at some point they would start to have problems. I was able to watch the discs on my PC and I checked the places where my DVD player had problems and my PC played them fine, so I just blamed it on the player.

Stick with DVD+R DL for best results. DVD-R DL is kind of kludgey and I don't trust the technology behind it. You should also stick with Verbatin DL media for best results too. You can save money on other brands, but they may not work as well.

[mltwitz]

OK, thank you all for the help.

PS: I hope DL media will get cheaper soon, still approx. 2 bucks a disc.