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DVD Recording - Is There a Winner Yet?
Rob writes "Ok, so I've finally gotten my TiVo configured to let me extract and archive video, now I'm wondering what is my best solution? I currently have a CDR that I've been able to use to save both VCD and SVCD. Unfortunately I have a very old DVD player that will only play VCD's. So I decided that it's time to look at recording to DVD, but what is the right answer? Has any format won? I just got back from Fry's and I could get either -R/-RW or +R/+RW and there were even drives that did all of the formats. This is all well and good, since I'll have to buy a new DVD player to play any of them, but which format is most widely accepted? Even if I get a drive that will record in any format what do most DVD players accept? Sure I can make sure that my DVD player will play whatever format I produce but what about my parents and friends?"
No; not even remotely, and I don't know why people keep harping on about it. Could you play a VHS recorded tape in a Beta player? Of course not. Can you play both DVD-R and DVD+R discs in a standard DVD player? 85% of the time, yes. So, there is no comparison; nothing to see; move right along. The only relevance is in this debate is the type of media you buy; not the playback. Its not an issue.
For making DVDs to play on a hardware player: They both work fine. +R and -R both work fine in most DVD players, and virtually all new DVD players.
On a computer: DVD+R has some advantages when used on a computer (it closes sessions much faster), so if you're packet-writing disks, it helps.
The main differences you'll see are media costs. Do your research to know what you'll pay per disc. I use a -R. My main motivation was cheaper media. The gap seems to have closed a lot since we got it, though.
Big whoop. DVD+R is the one approved by Sony and Phillips...not to mention Dell, HP, Ricoh, Yamaha, and a little company named Microsoft.
DVD+R/+RW is better technically, and doesn't require different discs for different purposes. It will easily last as long as DVD-R.
It may smack of insanity to many, but Slashdot is a community (okay, a vocal, opinionated group that will share their opinions wether you want them to or not). Cliff is asking for an opinion from his community - something more than the fact sheets from manufacturers or "unknown entity" opinions found in a random search.
Does that mean that the information he'll get from asking Slashdot will be better than the results of a Google search? Maybe not. Slashdot is just as good of a choice for disinformation as any other site on the web - but at least he'll have context - and he'll have chosen the source of his information, for better or worse.
I am using a Toshiba (I think) SD-5002 or something like that and it has work flawlessly for sometime now. The only thing I have noticed is that the media matters. My laptop has a hard time with some of the "backed-up" DVDs that I have burned onto the cheaper media ($1 each) and no problem with the good media. Same goes for PS2s with modchips :)
The dingo ate my sig.
Don't count on new tech being so cheap so quickly.
It will be a while before a higher density optical writer will be affordable. DVD-R drives used to cost well over $1000 (I think several thousand at start), I am certain that the next format's writers will follow that trend, it may be a few years before you can get a $200 BluRay drive or the like.
One notorious problem is that fabbing blue lasers is highly unreliable, it's no coincidence that Sony's BluRay set-top recorder costs $3500. The labcoats are working on the problem though.
But I dont want a keyboard and a mouse siiting next to my TV.
DVD+R is the one approved by Sony
DVD+R/+RW is better technically
So was Betamax, but all you hear about it now is because of the legal precedent.
At the office, we've got 3 Pioneer A04's & A05's, a Mac with a Superdrive (an A04 in a different casing), and the new Sony dual format drive. That's 5 "-" drives, and one of them does "+".
Methinks there's a defacto standard.
What Rob wants to know -- and what I want to know -- is which format is outselling the other, not which one /.'er X prefers and which one Y has heard has more problems than the other, and not even the rumor that a certain fruity computer company is leaning toward dvd-r (or is it dvd+r, who cares?)
dvdrhelp is a nice site, but they only tell you how many recorder models do one or the other or both and how many dvd player models play one or the other or both. What we want to know is: is one recorder format outselling the other by, say, 5 to 1, because then the war is over and hang the minute technical details. You can't find this out by Googling, unless there is some secret search-term combination; I've tried.
The sales data seems to be as closely held as the crown jewels. Isn't there some industry insider reading this who will post some facts, perhaps as Anonymous Coward?
And curse Sony for starting this whole format war in the first place!
Most online reviews are either self-serving or shallow. I can understand why they'd want to get the opinions of fellow geeks.
m mmmmmmmmmm,
I've been a mass debater for years now. It's one reason I can type so fast.
The secret to my speed is that I practice typing with one hand, then the other. Nothing like a good workout to motivate me to aspire to poetic greatness.
The way to begin is to practice lots of single character streams:
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa,
mmmmmmmmmmmm
and
oooooooooooooooooo
are a great way to get the ball rolling.
Once you can hit 100 words/minutes, you'll be ready and getting lucid FPs all of the time.
In closing I must debunk a myth: the danger isn't going blind, it's that damnable carpel tunnel symdrome.
I have a hard time believing this really. I have a NEC +RW drive - and I made a test disk with a clip on it - so far I have honestly yet to find a drive or a dvd player that wouldn't read it (admitedly I just try it at friend's houses). It worked on all the dvd players I have at home for instance - like the Sony PS2, Xbox and my Apex AD660A. Apex and PS2 (this is an original release date PS2) are somewhat old players now.
If it's not better, why do so many people use it?
I'm gonna go out on a limb here:
Because Microsoft has a monopoly?
Because of software availability?
Because that's all OEM's offer? (with VERY few exceptions).
Because that's what they learned at school?
Because most people don't even know there's an alternative?
Just because it's popular doesn't make it good.
Just look at Britney Spears... or VHS... or Michael Bay movies... or McDonalds... or Twinkies... or fossil fuels... I could go on...
My point is, popularity and quality are not the same thing. Microsoft has the worlds best marketing machine... how do I know? because they routinely beat the competition, even when the competition offers a better product, at a lower price.
-- This sig for rent.