Drives Supporting All DVD Writing Standards?

lnxslak asks: "I was asked today to research a viable DVD burning solution. I thought this would be a simple task, little did I know of the horrors waiting me just around the corner. There are 5 different DVD writing standards. DVD-RAM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW. After coming to terms with this I figured I'd just get a drive that does them all. Is there a drive out there that does this, and (hopefully) more ? Have you guys had any experiences positive/negative with various brands? C-Net reviews are great, but I'd like some comments from people that actually know how to use a computer."

Comments

Sony DRU500

[the eric conspiracy]

The Sony DRU500 is the most universal drive currently available, however other companies have announced drives with similar capabilities.

There are drives that combine DVD-RAM with DVD-R/RW out there. I have one of the first DVD-RAM drives made, (read very slow). DVD-RAM has some advantages over other rewritable formats, most particularly in that it really is designed from the ground up as format for rewritable data storage. The big downside with DVD-RAM media is that you can't put a DVD-RAM disk into a typical DVD-ROM drive and read the data, while this is possible with other DVD formats.

A review from someone who knows how to use a compu

[Anonymous Coward]

Hello, my name is Alice, I am a retired homeworker currently using AOL as my "Internet" portal and electric mail.

I own a universal DVD burner myself, which came with my computer, which was conveniently bought from my local Gateway Country store, where I got best deal on the dollar, professional technical help on setting up my modem and extended warranty for a very low price.

I am satisfied with my universal DVD burner, I usually use it to save digital pictures of my cat. In Windows XP Home Edition (it's a company called Microsoft that makes it, I think they are a Seattle-based company, but you might check your local phonebook to see if you have a dealer in your town) you just click "Burn this to CD..." and even though it is DVD, not CD, the operating system from Microsoft (highly recommended for high-tech professionals, by the way) knows the difference and does the burning just right.

On a 5-point scale I would rate my universal DVD-burner as 5 stars.

Re:My 2 cents

[grammar nazi]

There are 5 different DVD writing standards. DVD-RAM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW.

According to the MPAA, there are 11,113 standards of DVD burners, since a 8x DVD+R Writer counts for 8 standards, 4x DVD-RW counts for 4, and etc.