Good DVD Burner

[raceman3]

Looking for some insight on dvd burners. Basically I want to burn home movies and be able to view them on my Sony dvd players. I'm not overly concerned about using them as storage media although it would be nice. Any recommendations or experience (good or bad) would be helpful. According to the dvd info on this web site it looks like the HP or the Phillips are the way to go ?

[mijman]

Well, the HP is a good enough drive, except that it STILL doesn't have one-time burn discs yet, only re-writable ones.

These two companies' drives record different types of discs.
The HP uses the DVD+RW discs.
The Pioneer uses the DVD-R and DVD-RW discs.

NOTE: The +RW and the -RW discs are NOT compatible with each other.

Both camps claim theirs is the most compatible with standalone players.

(don't know if this matters to you, but...) Macintosh computers use the Pioneer drive as standard.

and the war rages on...

[raceman3]

mjman:

Looks like the Pioneer may be cheaper to use since it supports DVD-R media. I guess what I'm wondering is what the difference is between the + and the - versions. The link on this web page seemed to indicate that the + version was more caompatible with DVD players ? Now I'me not sure which way to go, I'd hate to get one only to find out it isn't compatible with my DVD player

[MegaBit]

You can check some of compatability tests for the recorders on the manufacturer's web sites. HP's is at:

http://www.hp.com/cgi-bin/cposupport/get_doc.pl?SNI=hpdvdwrite63712&LC=information_sto...Tfile=lpg41401

Pioneer may have one too.

Keep in mind the re-writable media can be reused about 1000 times so you recycle stuff or make lots of tests before a final burn. That could make them much cheaper than record once versions-- especially if you want to try different authoring tools (they don't all burn alike and some are better/more compatible than others)

[TheInformer]

The DVD+R and DVD+RW formats are NOT supported by the DVD Forum (http://www.dvdforum.com).

The + camp claims greater compatibility with DVD-Video players, but I have yet to see -anything- supporting this. In fact, I read a discussion regarding the two formats that did a check and found DVD-Rs played in more drives than DVD+R. I wish I would have kept the URL to post!

Apple uses the Pioneer drives in their Macs as well. If I decide to pick up a DVD recorder, I think I'll go for the DVD-R/-RW drives like the Pioneer. eBay has them for under $400, s/h included.

[Bob 4255]

Go to the website: http://www.dvdplusrw.org/

In it you will find their comparisons to -RW, which show LOTS of advantage for +RW:
DVD+RW supports accurate lossless linking
DVD+RW supports defect management and accurate addressing during recording
DVD+RW system supports both CAV and CLV writing
DVD+RW has a 2.5 times higher writing speed
DVD+RW uses the same discs for data and video applications
DVD+RW offers quick background formatting
DVD+RW offers Mount Rainier drag-'n-drop support

[raceman3]

Thanks for all the info, looks like there's supporters of both technologies. I'd have to say that I'm leaning towards a burner that supports R & RW technology simply from a economic standpoint. I can do my testing on the RW format and once I've got things the way I want them I'll be able to use the same procedures with the R format at a lesser cost. Keep in mind I'm just doing home movies that I currently have to do in VCD format. Looks like the HP is compatible with my DVD player even though it only supports the +RW format. Thanks again for all the info