dvd-rw, +rw, vhs

[twolf]

as I am going to put my home movies from vhs tape up for dvd, and what you put in is the best you get out, can anyone recommend an excellent vcr for playing the video in for capture? Reasonably priced, or at least give ideas of what would make a good input?

Also was thinking of going to the +RW, but not so sure now, can anyone comment on how the -rw is and a good dvd-rw pc burner..and the pros of one over the other...

Also, does anyone know if they will come out with a double sided dvd-rw or -r?
thanks all..t

[alkieman]

To be honest it shouldn't matter which format (DVD-RW or DVD+RW) you choose to purchase for recording. Although the formats are different they should both play on the vast majority of stand alone DVD players once you have created your DVD Video disc. Philips told us for months that +RW was going to be more compatible than -RW but that is not the case. In practice they are very similar. Check which format your DVD player supports before deciding.

Another factor is cost of blank media. Both the Pioneer -RW and HP +RW drives are now available for similar money but the media costs could be the deciding factor. DVD+RW has no write once format yet, only the re-recordable +RW exists at the moment. Blanks cost around 20 dollars each. Philips plans to produce DVD+R in the future but as yet will not commit to a launch date.

DVD-RW blanks cost about the same but the Pioneer DVD-RW can also write to DVD-R blanks. These are a write once format (i.e. once recorded on they cannot be erased just like a CD-R) but are now surprisingly cheap. Here in the UK I can buy bulk DVD-R for 4 pounds each, and I know you can get bulk in the States for around 5 dollars each too.

In practice there is little difference in using each on a PC. You encode your video to an MPEG file, load into your authoring software and burn using the same applications with each drive. +RW uses a variable bitrate whereas -RW uses a fixed bitrate for DVD Video. In theory this means the +RW format should be more efficient in squeezing slightly more on one disc, in practice it makes little difference as both store around 60 minutes at best quality. I have a Pioneer drive and one of my friends just bought the HP +RW drive. Both of our home DVD players will happily play each format without problems and to be perfectly honest, there's no difference we can see in the final quality of the discs.

The only thing I would say is that the Pioneer DVD-RW format is ratified by the DVD Forum whereas the Philips DVD+RW format is not. Whether that makes any difference to which format survives is yet to be seen however, the DVD-RW format has the support of by far the largest number of computer and audio/video companies so is the most likely to survive in the long term. For example, Sony was a long time supported of DVD+RW but has recenlt defected to throw it's weight behind the DVD-RW format instead. Sony have dropped planes to release a DVD+RW deck and instead have released a DVD-RW recorder in Japan. They are also to launch the deck in the US and Europe next year together with a PC based DVD-RW drive.

In the long term no one knows which format will win out, but whichever of the two you choose should both be able to create video discs that will play on most players for years to come even if one is killed off by the other.

As for double sided discs the answer is yes, major media companies are planning to release double sided DVD-RW and DVD+RW media.