Is a DVD burner really worth it?

[jazzer]

Considering that they are coming down in price -- I saw the DVR-A03 on Pricewatch for around $399 -- I was tempted to go down that road instead of the DVD to SVCD road.

But considering that DVD-R/RW are being battled by DVD+R/RW and there NO standard yet, not to mention the fact that the new HP drive is supporting +RW and the Pioneer is supporting -R and these are incompatible formats, you can't even necessarily use a DVD with data on another person's machine.

Also, I've seen it posted that you cannot do a straight DVD to DVD rip because of the CSS/Macrovision.

So my question to you folks is: When will it be worth it to invest in DVD and is it worth waiting for? Or would you say a cheap DVD-ROM drive like the Pioneer DVD-116 and a nice CD burner like a Plextor/Yamaha would make a better match for movie backups?

Thanks

[Vejita-sama]

The general feeling seems to be that it's too soon the get a DVD-R/DVD+R drive. The blank media just cost to much and there's not stable format. I think the real advange to DVDR will be putting LOTS of xSVCD (I guess xDVD) at ~3000kbit/s. I could pack a lot of movies into 4.7GB then

But given that blank 80min CDRs are $0.25/ea, and a the Liteon 24x CDRW is ~$80...

[disturbed1]

For movie backups, the DVD-SVCD is might be better. Depends on your thinking.

A blank DVD-R is ~$5, blank CD ~$0.13. SVCD 2-3 CD's, DVD-R 2-3 movies.

I have a Pioneer AO3, and burn 15-20 DVD-Rs a month. I've only done 7 DVD back ups. Nightmare On Elm St. (1,2, and 3) to one DVD, Coyote Ugly and Down To You to another, and 2 adult DVDs to another.

I have 2 capture computers, 3 editing computers, 1 DVD-R burning computer. They all use removable hardrives. I capture to the drive, swap it to edit/author, swap it to burn.

If you want to make some money, or have a lot of home movies it can be worth it.

About the standard, right now, DVD-R plays in most DVD players, more than DVD+R. DVD-R is also compatible in computers. DVD+R is also NOT APPROVED to be standard/compatible with anything.

The DVD forum is going to release it's standard to which all DVD player must adhere to. It's called the DVD Multi Ver 1.0. It includes.....
DVD-Video
DVD-ROM
DVD-Audio
DVD-R
DVD-RW
DVD-RAM
DVD-Video Recording

But Not DVD+R

More info http://www.dvdforum.org