Comments

AtomStream wrote on 3/27/2002, 8:08 AM
See http://www.tapeandmedia.com/dvd.asp. The prices are approximately half of list.
Summersond wrote on 3/27/2002, 12:10 PM
You might try this site. It seems to have really good prices.
www.cd-recordable.com

good luck.
Summersond wrote on 3/27/2002, 12:14 PM
Sorry, got to looking and their site seems to sell just the DVD-R media.
Chienworks wrote on 3/27/2002, 1:40 PM
As long as we're off topic anyway, could someone give me a quick 5 cent breakdown on what +RW and -RW mean? I'm not into DVD burning yet, but hope to be soon. What's the difference? Why do we only have -RW for CDs?
jpresley wrote on 3/27/2002, 7:41 PM
Two different standards and sets of dvd recorders.
-R AND -RW are used for a slightly older standard for DVD
and may or may not work with set top DVD players.

+R and +RW are used with a HP 100i and I believe the Phillips
drive. This is a second, and slightly newer standard but
they say it is more compatible with DVD players. The HP drive
can read and write both DVD standards and the CD R and RW.

I have yet to see +R media sold. From my observation the standards
and players are so new, and production of DVD disks at the present is
small, therefore higher prices. Additionally, it seems there is
a wait and see of what technology will break out into mainstream
acceptance before mass production.

http://www.vcdhelp.com/ has much discussion on these topics.

jpresley
Summersond wrote on 3/28/2002, 8:34 AM
Also, PCWorld.com has a very good article which I printed that helps explain the differences. The article name was "The DVD Dilemma".

dave
kkolbo wrote on 3/29/2002, 10:01 AM
You have not seen +R media yet because there is not a drive that writes to it properly. It is for sale in the US, but only through limited sources. Once there is a drive for sale with the ability to write to it, you will see it hit the selves.
MHampton wrote on 3/29/2002, 12:42 PM
As to your statment of "The HP drive can read and write both..." I think you have been mis-informed. The HP100I can write ONLY the +rw (not counting the CD stuff) The new HP 200? is supposed to support the +r, but still won't be writing -rw or -r.

As for compatability with set top players, I purchased the Pioneer A03, which burns to the -r/-rw media after doing quite a bit of research. I found that for set top boxes, but best compatability ratio currently belongs to the "-r" media. There was a big fiasco with all the +rw/+r camp when the promised +r was disclosed that it wouldn't be coming as a firmware upgrade, but you would have to buy a new drive. They lost a lot of people on that one.

Michael
Ron Lucas wrote on 3/29/2002, 2:38 PM
I'm pretty upset with HP for not supporting the 100i drive with +R. I talked to a customer service manager at HP and he said they are getting lots of complaints about this. Now the 200i is coming which does support the +R format that is supposed to be more compatible with set top DVD players than the +RW format.

I agree that the Pioneer A03 and now the A04 are the way to go for the best compatibility with set top players - at least from my research. Once the A04 has been selling for a while, I'll pick one up. I'll keep the 100i for data back ups since it can.

Ron