DVD-R DL vs DVD+R DL

[jntaylor63]

Getting on board with DL Burning. Drive was cheap, wish I could say the same for media.

It looks like Verbatim is the brand to use. But I have a question.

Is there really is pro or con's using DVD-R DL over DVD+r DL?

I newer Pioneer with play DVD+-R without issue. My old Panny A120 (7 years old and still going!) Will only play DVD-R's Would like to have the DL disk play on both.

I have heard that the DVD-R DL's must burn all of the 1st layer to work. Would that be a problem if I burned an ISO image with ImageBurn? Or a Main Movie Only burned on DL?

[HatchetMan]

Pretty much sure that most everyone agrees that the main pro to go with DVD+R DL is that most burners by default bitset them to DVD-ROM, making them more compatible with players than DVD-R DL which cannot have its booktype changed.

[jman98]

I have experimented a little with both formats. You are correct in that the entire first layer of the DVD-DL must be burned for it to work. What happens is that the layer is padded if necessary to fill it out. The only reliable way that I know of to burn DVD-DL is to use PgcEdit to make an ISO and then use ImageBurn. The settings of ImageBurn are a little tricky. There is some setting where it says something like "calculate layer break" or "set layer break manually" and you have to set the layer break manually for DVD-DL. This is very poorly explained in a lot of places. I had to do a web search to find this out. The value 2295104 for the layer break usually is OK for DVD-DL (at least for Verbatim) but one or two guys reported having to use different values because DVD Decrypter reported a different number of free sectors in their discs.
It has been reported that Nero cannot properly burn DVD-DL, but I can't confirm that. The discs are too expensive to waste on a test with Nero. I like the format less than DVD+DL. My DVD-DL discs have been consistently problematic for my Philips DVP-642 to play. It will play them, but at random points it freezes for a few seconds before resuming play.

[Noahtuck]

I newer Pioneer with play DVD+-R without issue. My old Panny A120 (7 years old and still going!) Will only play DVD-R's Would like to have the DL disk play on both.

Pretty much what HatchetMan said.
Except i don't know about "most burners by default bitset them to DVD-ROM" ?
As alot of burners have to be flashed or use a utility to change the book type.

But i always use +R because i have set my burners to change the booktype to DVD-ROM.

My panasonic dvd recorder only records & plays -R, will NOT read or play a DVD+R, but with the booktype changed to DVD-ROM it reads and plays +R & DL+R perfectly!!

I don't know what kind of burner/s you have but that would be the way to go with +R's.

[HatchetMan]

Then I should calrify. All dual layer burners that I have used, even ones that do not bitset +R, do bitset +R DL, my Pioneer 108 for example, for better compatibility reasons . But, I have seen some that do not and need flashed to a firmware that will. On the upside to that, usually a hacked firmware that bitsets +R DL will also bitset +R as well

[retiredjoker]

My pioneer 108 never bitset and as far as i know Pioneer are unable to bitset at all.

[HatchetMan]

My pioneer 108 never bitset and as far as i know Pioneer are unable to bitset at all.

Then maybe you have never burned +R DL ( = DUAL LAYER ), or not checked its booktype afterwards ?
And if you were to happen to flash the 108 with the Piodata firmware, they will bitset +R (Single Layer) as well.

[smitbret]

All the latest Pioneer drives will automatically bitset dual layer discs, even though they don't bitset single layer.
-Brett

[lenti_75]

My pioneer 108 never bitset and as far as i know Pioneer are unable to bitset at all.

it does on +R DL....

[jntaylor63]

Thanks for the info guys.

How do I change the booktype on my burner to DVD-ROM for DVD+R DL?

[Noahtuck]

Thanks for the info guys.

How do I change the booktype on my burner to DVD-ROM for DVD+R DL?

Well, from what everyone seems to be saying, dual layer burners automaticaly set DL+R's to dvd-rom, i can't say for sure one way or the other as i have never looked into it and i always flash my drives with custom firmware to set the booktype with sinlge layer +R's as soon as i install them.

If you want to reflash your drive to set even single layer +R's to ROM you can do a search for the firmware, i can't look because i don't have a clue what kind of a burner you have as nothing is listed in your "computer details" and you have not stated what burner you have

[bevills1]

According to Google search results I found at http://www.bitburners.com/Reviews/Hardware/VSO_DVD_recorder_and_media_reliability_report/ -R is compatible with more players than +R, but +RW is more compatible with more palyers than -RW. From my experience with DVD5 media I've found this to be the true although I've not yet done any DL burning.