First DVD-R media

[watl1]

Hi all

I am new to burning DVDs and was wondering what I should be looking for - my DVD burner writes to DVD-Rs and 4x and DVD-RWs at 2x.

Any help would be appreciated.

Many thanks.

[garryheather]

I would invest in a couple of rewritables to get you started (I still prototype my stuff occasionally), and then look at the many media based threads already in the forum.

Also, look up your DVD player in the list to the left to see what other people have said about it regarding media compatibility. You might find some discs work much better than others and subsequently save you some hard earned cash and time in "trial and error".

My personal recommendations for -R would be (in no real order)

Ritek G03 / 04
Nan-Ya
Pro-disc

... all of which seem very compatible with my DVD player which is an absolute arse when it comes to recordable media.

[Hardcoreruss]

A lot of companies do starter packs which has a variet of discs so you can find out which ones work best on your setup. I recommend starting with one of these.

[garryheather]

Agreed - that is a good point.

For example, look at the first product here:

http://www.blankdiscshop.co.uk/acatalog/FOR_DVD_R_RW_CLICK_HERE.html

There are other companies out there doing a similar thing, but I have got on well with SVP and would say that if you're in the UK, you could do a lot worse than these guys.

[Hardcoreruss]

I agree SVP are one of the best I also like cd-rmedia.co.uk

[watl1]

Thanks for your help. What does it mean when the disks (DVDRs and CDRs) have a speed on them e.g. Ritek 48x? Should I be looking a disks with a higher or lower speed that the write speed of my burner?

Thanks

[Hardcoreruss]

I don't think that a ritek 48x exists. The number is the speed you should look for ones that are the same or lower than your burner.

[Hardcoreruss]

God, that last sentence was bad english !!!!

Look for discs with a speed that is the same or lower.

[solarfox]

What does it mean when the disks (DVDRs and CDRs) have a speed on them e.g. Ritek 48x? Should I be looking a disks with a higher or lower speed that the write speed of my burner?

The speed rating on media is the maximum write speed which the media itself will support. You can use higher speed-rated media in a lower-speed drive without problems... and you can also use lower speed-rated media in a high-speed drive, as long as you remember to set your burn speed to the appropriate level in your burning program.

The only place where this doesn't always hold is with CD-RW media. The phase-change material, and thus the required write strategy for the laser and drive, is different between the "low-speed" 1X-4X RW media and the "high-speed" 4X-10X stuff. (It may also be different between those and the so-called "ultra-speed" 12X-and-up stuff; I'm not sure because I haven't used any of those.) So if your CD-RW drive is only capable of 4X-or-less burn speed on -RW media, you probably can't use the high-speed 4X-10X stuff. (Which is why they still sell the old 1X-4X media in stores, for people with older drives.) Unless your drive is more than a couple of years old, though, this shouldn't be an issue.