Have you bought a dual/double layer DVD Writer?

[Baldrick]

Nope. Still using my old good nec.

[Rookie64]

Nope...for now and for what I tend to use the writer for, 4.38GB is usually enough for me.


I now have a DVD recorder and a DVD burner though 8)


Will give dual layer more thought when prices come down.

[yoda313]

Hello,

Nope - waiting for price drops.

Bought my brother in law one for christmas though. I'm waiting to hear how it goes for him

Kevin

[hetvarken]

No tgpo option this time??

[koolaidwa]

i have 2 16x DL burners and 2 8x -/+ burners

so i got 4 burners

now i got the 2 DL ones to have the newer DL format when they come down in price

[Faustus]

What about "nope, waiting for the media price to come down"?

[Capmaster]

Nope. Still waiting for DVD-R DL to come out. And for media prices for DL to drop, and the bugs to get ironed out. :P

[tekkieman]

Yep. Cost of the drive is cheap. Paid less than half of what I paid for my 4x a year ago. Still haven't bought any media for it though. Maybe this week.

Funny that there's only 2 yesses so for in responses, but the yesses are way ahead in the poll.

[chas0039]

Absolutely. My NEC 3500 burns much better than the SL burners, as does the Pioneer 108. I doubt I will ever use it for DL media though.

[Weapon]

No, I'm waiting for media prices to fall.

[DJ Baz]

Surely the question is "Do you use double layer media?".

I have a dual layer burner, and I'd like to use the dual layer funtion, but I'm not going to until the price of the media comes down.

[Bodyslide]

I have a Pioneer 108, but I only use Single Layer DVD-R. Prodisc and TY, mostly..

[BSR]

Waiting for cheaper DL prices, and waiting for the bugs in them(if any to get worked out). Read stuff about layer break issues and such.
It'll be like night and day for backing up stuff. No more shrinking, or maybe put 2 DVD's on 1 DL.

[HatchetMan]

Why are there only 2 manufacturers of DL media??? (Ritek,Verbatim) That's why the prices are so high, no competition.

[lordsmurf]

Reasons to not get +DL:

Bad DVD-Video player compatibility.
Expensive blanks.
Few media choices.
DVD+R only.
Poor software support.
Inconsistant hardware.
Longevity is suspect compared to single layer.

[SLICK RICK]

Nope, waiting for cheaper dl media.

[bazooka]

Yes - It was only $50

[tekkieman]

Reasons to not get +DL:

Bad DVD-Video player compatibility.
Expensive blanks.
Few media choices.
DVD+R only.
Poor software support.
Inconsistant hardware.
Longevity is suspect compared to single layer.

With the exception of this....

Inconsistant hardware.

...on which I would like to hear some clarification, all the other reasons stated are reasons to not get DL media, not reasons to not get a DL capable drive. Almost all new drives now are DL capable by default. So if you need a new drive, why not? You get 8x, 12x, 16x, and DL (whether you use it or not), and if you hit the sales right, $40-50 is a good price.

[edDV]

Define "bought"

I exchanged a failed BTC unit for a Sony DRU-710A (made by Lite-On) and so far so good. I burned the included dual layer blank as a test. It worked but at $10 vs 2x 40 cents, I fail to see the point of buying more blank dual layer media until prices come down.

[tekkieman]

... I fail to see the point of buying more blank dual layer media until prices come down.

I would say it depends on your project. There may be times it calls for one disc...period. So do you ruin quality to make it fit on a 4.7, or bite the cost and get the 8.5? Why did people buy the 4.7 at $6-10 instead of using CDs at 7 X $.05?

[ghoster]

i am waiting for the prices to drop on media and also waiting for -dl media and a burner that can burn both +dl and -dl media. i heard the ones out now should be able to with firmware updates. for somereason i think i will have a long wait for all that happen..........

[racer-x]

Absolutely.........for $40, you can't go wrong. I doubt I'll ever burn Dual-layer media with it, but it's nice to know I can.

Mine is a BTC and I've had nothing but perfect burns with everything I through into it so far.

[budz]

I bought from Office Depot (2) I/O MAGIC drives which are rebadged BENQ 1620 DUAL LAYER 16X burners. I paid $86.00 total for both drives after having Office Depot price match compusa & circuit city plus the mail in rebates.

The drive is great and reasonably priced compared to other DUAL LAYER burners. I purchased the drive because of the great reviews that cdfreaks and cdrlabs posted on their websites. I didn't purchase this drive for DUAL LAYER burning capability. DL media is still too expensive for me.

It is indeed a better reader than other brands although I use my dvd roms to rip but for some discs that have have problems reading the BENQ 1620 saves the day! It burns flawlessly 8x TY, MAXELL & SONY DVD -/+ media. BENQ has frequent firmwares for their drives to make newer media compatible. I was surprised to see that it burned DVD-R quite well since it's known to burn DVD+R better. All in all I like the drives and am very satisfied with them.

[J. Baker]

Yes!

Pioneer DVR-A08XL

Reg. $129 ($13 instant credit at BestBuy + $10 mail-in rebate + $30 mail-in reabte)

[daamon]

Yep - But mostly coz of the write speed - and I didn't realise that only +R DL was out there at the moment.

Still learning...

[aanaravs]

Yep!

NEC 3500AG, but have not used DL media yet and doubt that I will in the near future

[gll99]

If my NEC goes then I would buy a d/l but would burn all the 4+ gig discs on hand. The drives are cheap but it would take a big drop in $ of media to be worthwhile. My next planned upgrade is to the hd or blueray format but I fear that for video use we may be screwed in backing up any hd original material because of new encryption schemes. So unless it's broken it may only be used for data, unprotected tv caps and to recreate my older format dvd's. We'll have to see how prices and the rest goes

[NightWing]

Have a 108 DL but got it for the 16x mostly.

Oh DV mag for Feb 05 had an article on DL media. Results we not that good. They took it to a real testing house used by Hollywood studios. Test was simple. Play menu, read Layer 0, read layer 1.

Using 246 consumer machines and 7 disk the result was around 70% WONT play these things.

[Kingnog]

Well, yes and no. Technically I bought a single layer GSA-4040b. But it broke before warranty ended, and they sent me a dual layer 4120b free of charge

[Paul_G]

Nope.

Have no interest in dual layer until the blank media costs around 40p each (or around that price).