New to DVD+R DL burning, sorry if asked before...

[takearushfan]

Hi all,
My drive is capable of writing DVD+R DL discs. I "kind of" understand how it works, but need some clarification.
Let's say, theoretically, that I have a DVD that's about 8 Gigs large. How do you specify where the switch to the next layer should be? Or, if I had an ENORMOUS ".avi" that needed to be spread over both layers, again, how to you tell your burner where the switch should be? I don't understand this aspect of how DL DVDs work.
I'm not good with words, so I hope someone might get what I'm trying to say.
Thanks,
Justin

[louv68]

Without going into details. For burning dual layered size DVD's, use IMGBurn. It will give you several choices of where it believes is a good layer break. You then choose one of them. Click on IMGBurn above, and see what guides are available for burning DL discs. One more thing. Stick to Verbatim +R DL "made in Singapore" discs. Anything else is a crapshoot.

[redwudz]

I would also recommend ImgBurn and Verbatim DL plus. Coasters can get expensive.

You can probably find more info by doing a forum search for 'layer break'. And the ImgBurn forum website has a tutorial that discusses it: http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?showtopic=1777

[takearushfan]

Well, I installed ImgBurn, but I don't (yet) own any DL media. I plan to experiment with DVD+R DL DVDs in a few weeks. So, Verbatim sounds like the way to go...?
Thanks for the replies

[TBoneit]

FWIW I burn AVIs onto +R DL media with Nero 6.6 and a Lite-On and Verbatim discs. I do not know of a way to do a layer break on AVIs. Layer break settings on a DVD video are usually set at a point where there is no movement such as where a scene fades out and another starts so that if the player hesitates at that point the viewer will never notice it as it looks like part of the scene change. AVIs I just add them to Nero and burn.

Imgburn will suggest several points for a layer break and may or may not list one as the best to use. You still have to choose from them. I believe it picks from the chapters as chapters are typical set at the start of a scene. If you author a DVD yourself then try and set the chapters at scene changes.

I tried Memorex DLs first as they were on sale at the time, So so results. I believe partly the burner I was using as I still had the exact same windows and burning software when I changed burners and then they worked Ok. I still reccomend Verbatim for anything important.

BTW Imgburn works good for single layer discs and burning ISOs too.
Good Luck

[jman98]

ImgBurn is the only burning tool I know of that will let you set the layer break and that only for DVD video. I know of no way to use ImgBurn to burn data discs, which is what you need for AVI burning. Like TBoneit, I use Nero for burning DVD data discs. On the rare times that I have had an AVI or similar file that required a dual layer disc, I had to let Nero set the break point. There's no way when burning with Nero to set the layer break.

I very strongly recommend the use of Verbatim DVD+R DL discs for dual layer burning. Use other brands or the DVD-R DL format at your own peril.

[redwudz]

I've burned DVD data discs with ImgBurn, using 'Build' mode and the UDF file system. Never tried doing it with DL discs, though, If that's what you mean.

[jman98]

I've burned DVD data discs with ImgBurn, using 'Build' mode and the UDF file system. Never tried doing it with DL discs, though, If that's what you mean.

I meant that I didn't know how to do this at all regardless of the media type. That's good to know about Build mode.