DVD R

ramayes wrote on 8/20/2002, 9:50 AM
Right now I'm burning SVCDs with pretty good results. The picture is a little "grainy", but acceptable. I believe that part of the problem is the source material quality, the rest is with the rendering. I'm playing with setting to get better quality.

Here's my question:

If I get a DVDR burner, will I get better quality, or do just get longer video?

As a follow-up. What are people's opinions about DVD-R vs. DVD+R?

Comments

Simmer wrote on 8/21/2002, 1:43 PM
ramayes

-> If I get a DVDR burner, will I get better quality, or do just get longer video?
I'm interested in this also. Anyone?

-> What are people's opinions about DVD-R vs. DVD+R?
Other then the fact that they are totally different formats, I understand that both
produce good or equal quality.
I've noticed though that most of the home DVD players that support a DVD writable
format support only the DVD-R. Some support DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-RAM.
None I've seen, so far at least, support the DVD+ formats yet.
So that is something to consider if you want to be able to play your DVD productions
on a home DVD player.

Which brings up a question. The DVD writables I've seen only support up to 4.7Gig.
How long of a production does this support? I understand that it is far less then
your basic 2-hour movie. If so, how long of a movie can 4.7Gig support?

Thanks

-Mike

format.
bdunn wrote on 8/21/2002, 5:43 PM
-> If I get a DVDR burner, will I get better quality, or do just get longer video?
Yes and yes. Since DVD is 720 x 480 you're already starting with a larger image
as opposed to VCD or SVCD. Also, DVD can run at higher bit rates producing better
quality and can hold upto 4.7G (real world about 4.4G Video & Audio combined,
leaving room for first run, menus, etc.) As with all formats it is dependent on
good source material to produce good output. Advertised at 1 hour, it can hold
any length that you can render to with <= 4.4G. I've successfully made a DVD of
143 minutes, but the longer you go over 1 hour the more the quality suffers
because of the lower bit rates required. It's just a personal opinion of what is
acceptable quality to you.

-> What are people's opinions about DVD-R vs. DVD+R?
The jury is still out on the long term of DVD-R vs. DVD+R. I went with the +R
simply because I was in the right place at the right time and got a good deal on
an HP200i. As far as compatibility testing reports on the web, I believe that the
+R is not shown as compatible simply because it's newer and has not been tested as
extensively. I can say that I've tested with +R with an older Sony DVP-S500D, a
Lenoxx DVD 2003, APEX AD-1500 and a Sharp DV-S1. All of these played the +R with
no problems except the Sony which sometimes I have to load the disc twice to get
the player to recognize it. Once loaded it plays ok including Menus, fast forward,
chapters, etc. However, only the Sharp plays a DVD+RW which I burn first as a
test DVD. One good sign for +R media is over the past couple of months the price
has dropped considerably, not yet in the -R range but looks like it will get there.

Hope this helps.
Barry