Burning a movie to DVD-RW??

[bcsman]

I'm experimenting with DVB MPEG2 downloaded movies. I want to convert and burn to a DVD, but am having some trouble getting good audio and video quality, so I'm using a number of programs and methods. To save wasting DVD-R disks I bought a few TDK DVD-RW disks so I can burn and see how it worked and try another without wasting media. My question is do I have to format the DVD-RW first before burning a movie to it or do I treat it as a regular DVD-R and just burn?? And once the movie is burned and I want to start over and try again do I just erase, format, or delete the file?? Thanks!!

Also should the quality of the record be as good on a DVD-RW as opposed to a DVD-R??

[bugster]

do I treat it as a regular DVD-R and just burn??

Yes.

And once the movie is burned and I want to start over and try again do I just erase,

Yes, quick erase will do too.

Also should the quality of the record be as good on a DVD-RW as opposed to a DVD-R??

In strict terms yes, it is digital so the quality of the movie will stay the same irrespective of the disk type. However RW's seem to cause more problems with players than record once media, so there is chance you may get stuttering, skips and jumps with RW that you don't get with R media, it depends on your player and the media used.

[bcsman]

I apologize, I guess my question was asked incorrectly. Unless I format the DVD-RW first before I burn a movie to it, will it be erasable?? I'm afraid if I just place the unformatted DVD-RW in my BENQ and burn I won't be able to erase when I want to try another movie?? Sorry about the confusion on my part!!

[pchan]

hi bcsman,

Just load in the DVD-RW disc like any DVD-R. If you have already use the DVD-RW before (i.e. have data in the DVD-RW) your burning software will prompt you if you want to overwrite your old data. I use NERO and I guess all burning software works the same.

EDIT : There is NO need to format the DVD-RW if you want to burn movies. If for data, then you need to format.

P.S. Be careful with -R and -RW media on Benq DVD burner. It can be picky.

[bcsman]

Thanks pchan for the info, I'll give it a try!!