Dual Layer Compatibility?

2G wrote on 8/2/2005, 8:07 AM
How compatible are DL DVDs with existing players? I know all about the +R/-R incompatibility potentials. But I'm trying to decide if it's worth the risk to use less compression and give a client a DL vs. sticking with reasonably-reliable compatible single layer +R and -R.

I burned my first DL and tried it on my own DVD player (a $39 special...) It played the first 10 seconds of each chapter then jumped to the next chapter. A great way to get an overview of a DVD, but probably not what the bride had in mind. So right now, with one test, my success rate with DL is 0%.

Should I avoid DL for customers like the plague, or did I just 'get lucky' and hit the 1% failure rate with my first try?

Comments

johnmeyer wrote on 8/2/2005, 10:57 AM
Should I avoid DL for customers like the plague, or did I just 'get lucky' and hit the 1% failure rate with my first try?

I have a DL burner but have yet to burn my first DL disk. I got scared off by the published compatibility reports that suggested less than 30% compatibility. By contrast, with players manufactured in the past 3-4 years, I think compatibility with either the +R or -R formats is close to 100%. I do exclusively -R (Ritek and Tayo Yuden) and have yet to get a single return, including a project I sent to 180 separate individuals last June.
ScottW wrote on 8/2/2005, 11:24 AM
Compatability can be greatly increased by getting a DVD burner that will burn the +R DL media with a booktype of DVD-ROM rather than the new booktype that was assigned to the media (it's the new booktype that are giving most players fits since they don't recognize it and consequently can't tell what the disk is).

I've got a player that will play DVD-ROM and DVD-R; it simply won't touch +R, however, once I started burning +R's with a booktype of DVD-ROM the player does fine with them (even the +R DL DVD's I've thrown at it)..

--Scott
johnmeyer wrote on 8/2/2005, 1:51 PM
once I started burning +R's with a booktype of DVD-ROM the player does fine with them (even the +R DL DVD's I've thrown at it)..

How do you do that? Do you use Nero?
ScottW wrote on 8/2/2005, 2:54 PM
Yes, I usually do use Nero, but the most important thing is a DVD Burner that will let you set the booktype for single layer +R media. Not all burners will alllow it to be changed (Pioneer for example is a burner that will not, but the Pioneer DL burners normally set the booktype on +R DL media to DVD-ROM by default, which is a nice feature).

The burners I use are LG GSA-4163B, which will let me set the booktype on SL media - then in Nero I just tell it to always use DVD-ROM for +R media and I'm all set.

There are other utilities available that will also let you set the booktype (if you take a look at the reviews on cdrinfo.com for optical drives they mention the software utilities they use to test things). One of the reasons I like cdrinfo.com is because their drive reviews always check whether you can change the booktype.

So far, any customer that has returned a -R because they had an older player that wouldn't play it, has not complained about the +R w/DVD-ROM booktype that I create for them as a replacement.

--Scott