Opinions on these DVD burners please?

vonhosen wrote on 10/1/2002, 3:57 PM

Sony is obviously 2nd generation as it supports +R as well as +RW where as the HP drive doesn't. If you want +R with the HP you are going to have to go for the HP 200i drive.

For more or less the same money as your looking at with the Sony there you can get Sony's newest drive that not only supports +R/+RW but -R/-RW as well. (This drive benfits from 4X DVD-R writing & faster CD writing speeds than the others with 8Mb buffer as apposed to 2Mb)

http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.asp?EDC=425705

Randy Brown wrote on 10/1/2002, 4:24 PM

I don't understand the -R and -RW, but I'd agree it's worth $40 more for the other features alone. Does the -R and -RW have anything to do with compatibility issues with older DVD players per chance?
Thanks vonhosen,
Randy

vonhosen wrote on 10/1/2002, 5:16 PM

-R & -RW were around before +R/+RW . They are not as technologically advanced but it increases your output options. Most people before the advent of +R used -R (& many still do) It has good comaptability with quality branded media (cheaper than +R generally) & it still isn't decided yet which format will run out as winners as the defacto DVD format in the end.

You can hedge your bets with the new Sony drive, shop around & you may find it cheaper.

( Pioneer drives are -R/-RW, Panasonic -R/RAM , )

Randy Brown wrote on 10/1/2002, 6:11 PM

Thanks vonhosen! I'm really a novice to this, can you point me to a link (or Google keyword)with more in-depth info? My concern is, what to get to assure clients they will get compatible DVDs for their players.
Thanks again,
Randy

vonhosen wrote on 10/2/2002, 12:41 AM

For player compatability you are best off using -R or +R (use +RW or -RW to check your projects yourself & reuse them, or you can use them for backup/archiving).

If you want to check stand alone player compatability there are lists at www.vcdhelp.com.

What some videographers are doing with say weddings is quoting prices that include a DVD stand alone player in the package so that you can be sure that they are going to be able to play back their discs as you've previously checked compatability.

You can find more about the various formats (& DVD in general) here
http://www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html#4.3

Randy Brown wrote on 10/2/2002, 11:21 AM

Perfect,thank you vonhosen!
Randy

riredale wrote on 10/2/2002, 4:14 PM

You can go to the DV.com site for an excellent article last summer on DVD compatibility. At the time, however, the author had not tested +R media.

http://www.dv.com/features/features_item.jhtml?category=Archive&LookupId=/xml/feature/2002/labarge0702