Which one should I buy the pioneer DVR-A03 or the hp dvd100i

[herzet]

For mostly playing movies on standalone dvd player and ps2, I have done some reading about the different formats but still can't make up my mind.

Thanks in advance.

[Bullworth]

Honest opinion, I'd wait until there is a definite standard and more competition drives down prices. You might be investing in a product that will be unsupported a year from now and then you'll have nowhere to turn.
If you're really all jumpy to get a DVD burner then get a Pioneer. If you do wait the technology and price will even out to where you'll be able to do direct DVD backups intead of having to split them.

[buzz10]

I agree with Bullworth - I'm gonna wait a few months for the prices to drop and hope that a clear winner emerges. But if you're dying to get one now, I'd make sure that it is the newer DVD+R/DVD+RW format, and not the older DVD-R/DVD-RW format. By all indications the +R/+RW format is supposed to be much more compatible with many different standalone DVD players. Read these sites:

http://www.dvdplusrw.org/
http://www.ce.philips.com/images/highlights/dvdrw/uk/popup/philips_dvd_popup.htm
http://www.dvdrw.org/

[disturbed1]

If you plan on authoring DVD videos, you want to read what the org. for DVD video has to say

http://www.dvdforum.org/forum.shtml

DVD+RW is an independant format from 9 members. DVD-R is sanctioned by the DVD Forum (who decides what the specs for DVD authoring are), where as DVD+R isn't sanctioned or approved for anything.


Right now, DVD-R has a 90% compatibilty, DVD+RW is only 50-60%. No professional video place, uses, recomends, or sells the DVD+RW.

[herzet]

Thanks very much for the replies guys, I think I will wait
to see which will be the standard.

[disturbed1]

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: disturbed1 on 2001-12-25 16:15:07 ]</font>

[alkieman]

Actually, I would completely discount dvdplusrw.org, it's NOT independant and is biased towards DVD+RW. The fact is both formats have their merits and problems.

The Pioneer drive writes to cheap, low cost write once DVD-R as well as the more expensive rewriteable DVD-RW. However, DVD+RW makes more efficient use of the available space as it fully supports VBR encoding whereas the -RW models use CBR encoding. To be honest though this will make very little difference in practice. The claims about +RW being more compatible are not correct, all of the magazines that have tested the new Philips recorder in the UK have found that +RW suffers similar compatibility problems to -RW. It seems that DVD-R is the most compatible format so far simply because it's been around the longest and almost every new DVD player now supports it.

+RW is already at a disadvantage in that one of it's biggest supporters, Sony, has defected to -RW camp. Their new PC drives and their forthcoming home video recorder are DVD-RW and not +RW. Philips has the suport of only one other AV company, Thompson (RCA in the US). All of the others, from Sony, Toshiba, Marantz, Samsung, LG and even Panasonic are supporting DVD-R/RW. Panasonic's DVD-RAM video recorder also writes to DVD-R and apparently their next generation machine will also write to DVD-RW as well as DVD-R and DVD-RAM. On the PC front both HP and Ricoh are producing DVD+RW drives, but the other big names are producing, or have said they will be producing, DVD-RW drives instead. This includes Sony, Compaq (although the merger/takeover by HP may change that), Pioneer (of course, they invented the format), Lacie and others.

Put simple, it comes down to a few simple choices:

Initial cost of DVD-R/RW is higher as the drives are more expensive. DVD-RW media is slightly more expensive than DVD+RW at present. However, DVD-R is very cheap and is a proven technology. No write once version of DVD+RW yet exists, Philips haven't even shown a prototype although they do say once it comes the existing drives can be upgraded by a firmware upgrade.

If you want to get into low cost DVD authoring now, go for either the Pioneer drive (DVD-R/RW) or the Panasonic drive (DVD-R/RAM).

And ignore the comments about DVD+RW being the most compatible, it is NOT. It has similar compatibilty issues to DVD-RW. Whichever one you chose, if your intention is to produce DVDs to watch on your home player, test it works with the format first.

[JumboTech]

Of course the support of a little company called Dell for DVD+RW may make things interesting. Also Sony haven't really defected, they're "supporting" both formats.

+RW's biggest problem right now is that they need to get a +R drive out quick.

Al

[alkieman]

Thats true, Dell could make things interesting.

Sony did say they would support both formats but their new Viao PCs have DVD-RW drives and their newly launched DVD Video Recorder is DVD-RW in Japan. They are also to launch the same models in the US and Europe with NO DVD+RW support. They have stated that they may produce a recorder that handles both DVD-RW and DVD+RW but as yet, no planned launch dates.

Another of DVD+RWs problems is that it is not ratified by the DVD Forum although what this means in practice is anybody's guess.

At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter which format you buy as long as your target DVD player handles the formats. Both DVD-R/RW and DVD+RW produce discs that can be played on most existing DVD players. When recording they are completely incompatible, but once authored, they should both play in most drives quite happily.

[herzet]

If they will support both formats that would be great, but it would be a real shame that you bought the pioneer dvd-r/w
and the format didn't make it, then you are stuck with a piece of hardware what has cost you a lot of money and you can't get any disc for it anymore.
To be honest I hope that they will continue support for both formats but I think in the end only one will survive.
I've read a lot of articles related to this format war and to be honest the dvd-r/w is the most compatible and the cheapest solution to buy at this moment, I know dvd+r/w has also a lot of advantages over the dvd-r/w
but still I'm more leaning towards the dvd-r/w technology then dvd+r/w and maybe in the future the dvd+r/w technology will be most versatile and compatible, who knows!

[alkieman]

Have to agree there Herzet. I do think DVD-R/RW will win eventually simply because it's proven, cheap and available now (well the media is anyway), it's backed by the largest number of companies and the Pioneer drive for PCs is selling in huge numbers. To be honest which format wins will probably depend more on home AV consumers rather PC users. When people come to replace their video recorders they aren't going to give a hoot which format is ahead on PCs, they'll want a system that is easy to use, is available from their favourite manufacturer and does what they want. In this respect, DVD-RW is the likely winner simply because of the huge number of AV companies backing the format.

DVD+RWs compatibility promises turned out to be false, both formats are compatible with most but not all DVD players. DVD-RW has the advantage in that it is ratified by the DVD Forum which means that almost all members will make their current and future products compatible. I was going to look at the Philips DVD+RW Video Recorder even though I have a Pioneer DVD-RW drive for my PC. But I got some info from Pioneer on their new DVD Video Recorder to be launched in a couple of months so I'll wait instead. It looks very good indeed and even has a few features that improve on the Philips machine and of course, it uses cheap DVD-R discs as well as DVD-RW.

I still stand by my remarks that whatever format you choose will serve you well for many years. If DVD+RW or DVD-RW disappear you will still be able to buy blank discs for many years, I mean I could still buy Betamax video tapes today if I still had a recorder.

[Douglesh]

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You might be investing in a product that will be unsupported a year from now and then you'll have nowhere to turn.
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Wow, this is a flashback of VHS, When Video tapes were first released, there were two standards, one perished, and one flourished, the moral.. Dont jump in too soon, wait it out and see (as many people have already said)

[disturbed1]

Let's not forget that DVD-R is already ISO certified for DVD-Video writing. It may be the authoring version, but the only difference is Authoring supports CSS, General doesn't.

There aren't any "Works In Progress" for DVD+RW for video recording.

Here's a link for DVD Format/Logo Licensing (DVDFLLC) they have a strong message againstDVD+RW. http://www.dvdfllc.co.jp/ (Main page)

Message about new DVD's and against DVD+RW http://www.dvdfllc.co.jp/mess.htm

[drandles]

Most of this talk is theorectical. Who has a a DVD-RW drive? How is the quality? I'm ready to jump on a DVR-A03 in early spring. I feel I'm wasting my time with VCD and xVCD.



Dale