What to do, what to do

[filmguy123]

Just asking for some thoughts:


1.) DVD-R / DVD+R = whats the current news on this debate? is one likely to win out over the other? Is it best to be safe and get a DVD +/- RW drive or does it not really matter if I just pick one, say DVD-R? I know the sticky talks about this, but only a couple posts were from within the last couple months... whats the current take?

2.) 4x DVD media - how widespread is this now, what are the prices, and what are the good brands? From reading I hear esbuy 4x media may be a good purchase? Is this true? Anything else?

3.) And, of course, the drive to get - I'm looking at picking one up soon. Should I go for the Sony DRU500AX? I'm a little wary about this one because of all the problem posts (I know most ppl don't post 'my drive is working fine posts', but the # of problems is still pretty significant). Or how about another good combo drive - what is Sony's competition?

4.) If a combo DVD-/+R drive won't really do me any good (I don't care about RW, only R. I want to backup my DVD movies and burn my own homemade movie projects to DVD. I want the best possible widespread compatibility; i.e. 30 copies of one of my homemade DVDs to 30 different ppl and playing on as many drives as possible - I think the current compatibility rate is like 85%ish isnt it?), what should I go for in that case. I'm thinking DVD-R looks better but I could be wrong... but what drives specifically?

5.) Finally, buy or wait? Is this kind of a 'rough' time in the market? Would I be better to let things settle a bit more before spending the cash? What's this I hear about a 4x lite-on combo drive for $200 coming soon??


Thanks guys,

Dan

P.S. please # your responses to the corresponding questions to help me/others keep track of what hasn't been answered yet. Many opinions welcome!

[HyperYagami]

1) IMHO there will never be an answer. lots of products have been sold for each standard and it's not possible for either camp to retreat.

2) Availablity is not a problem, just that it's quite expensive and some people aren't getting good results with the cheaper ones.

3) That's because it has been selling like hotcakes. NEVER look at the raw #. Think percentage.

4) pic quality-wise it's 100% identical (it's digital!). compatiblity-wise no one can answer that question w/o knowing specificly what dvd-player models that you're concerned about.

5) again, no one can answer your question but yourself. people have different needs and patiences. about the lite-on -> no one knows for sure. there are reports that talk about this quarter but that's no official statements for it.