The Old Joel on Software Forum: Part 4 (of 5)

Please recommend a DVD-RW

Guys,

I need more storage than my PC's CD-RW allows. Can someone please recommend a rewriteable DVD player? Also, what do all the designations (+RW, -RW, etc) mean?

MoreStorage4Me
Friday, February 27, 2004

+rw -RW etc are the different formats.

The drive I have is a pioneer 106-d. It works with all the formats except DVD-RAM (which no-one seems to use). It works great for backups.

Koz
Friday, February 27, 2004

Any of the major name brands (Sony, HP, Plextor, etc) should be fine. I have a Sony Sony DRU-510A and I'm very happy with it. You may want to get a 4-format drive (-R, +R, -RW, +RW), but you can probably ignore the DVD-RAM format.

For reviews, try c|net's site: http://reviews.cnet.com/Storage/2001-3185_7-0.html?tag=cnetfd.dir and http://reviews.cnet.com/Multiformat_DVD_burners/4520-3185_7-5059562.html?tag=prmo1

Philip Dickerson
Friday, February 27, 2004

The DVD "+" and "-" are different recording formats, and "R" is "recordable" (write-once) and "RW" is "rewriteable" (can be erased and re-recorded). Blank DVD discs are available in all 4 of these formats. If you are recording a video DVD to play in your DVD player connected to your TV, for example, you need to find out which format(s) of DVD the player will accept.

This article (although it's a couple of years old, and some of the information, such as price data, is no longer correct) at PC Magazine http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1177333,00.asp (and the follow-on pages) is one explanation of the different recordable DVD formats.

Philip Dickerson
Friday, February 27, 2004

The -R format is the most widely supported among the consumer players (I believe it was something like 98% of players). DVD-RAM isn't an issue, because this format is smaller than 4.7GB, and the media is encased in plastic, so it's not compatible with anything except another DVD-RAM drive.

Just +1 for the advice here. Get a 4-format drive from Sony, Plextor, HP, or Pioneer. Don't settle for less than 8x. They'll all burn CD-R and CD-RW as well.

Brad Wilson (dotnetguy.techieswithcats.com)
Friday, February 27, 2004

DVD-RAM sure is getting a bad rap. That's too bad because it is a superior format for data storage where interoperability with typical home DVD players is not an issue. Current capacity is 4.7GB, double sided discs are available with 9.4GB capacity (they have to be manually flipped, however) and the use of cartridge discs is optional. Windows XP has support for treating the discs as standard removable media without the use of packet writing software.

There may be some question about it's future but Panasonic and others sell a lot of home DVD recorders that can use DVD-RAM. When it comes down to it, all of these existing formats are going to be old news before long when the blue laser DVD formats are finalized and reasonably priced.

Doug
Saturday, February 28, 2004

Thanks for the suggestions guys!!!

MoreStorage4Me
Saturday, February 28, 2004

I have a 4-format drive from Sony (not sure of the exact model) and have been really happy with it. I've written about 100 - 150 DVD's with it in the last few months with few problems.

James U-S
Saturday, February 28, 2004

LG -produce a four format drive that is actually cheaper than most of the competition.

Stephen Jones
Saturday, February 28, 2004

> "R" is "recordable" (write-once) and "RW" is "rewriteable"

Call me awkward, but shouldn't they have called them W(riteable) and RW?

Monday, March 1, 2004

Any thoughts on this one? I had thought of getting it...

BENQ DW800A 8X DVD+ REWRITABLE DRIVE W/SW (RETAIL)
http://www.mwave.com/mwave/skusearch.hmx?SCriteria=AA24690

The BenQ DW800A is the fastest DVD writer in the market. With speeds of 8x for DVD write on DVD+R formats and 4x DVD rewrite on DVD+RW, the DW800A, in conjunction with DVD+RW technology, delivers superior functionality and performance over other DVD recording formats. It boasts an 8MB internal buffer for seamless writing of DVDs. The DW800A also features 12x DVD read, 24x CD-R write, 10x CD-RW rewrite and 40x CD read speeds.

GuyIncognito
Monday, March 1, 2004

Oh, and my Toshiba laptop seems to support writing DVD-RAM media only with it's drive, but I've never tried it. It doesn't support any of the DVD RW formats.

GuyIncognito
Monday, March 1, 2004