<< As for downsizing films to fit on CD-R, you also have to downsize them to fit on DVD-R. >>
Not always, but yes most of the time, depending. You can just split the movie into 2 to keep the quality and avoid having to recode the movie. It depends on what all is in the vob's and what you really want/need to keep as you are probably aware. Out of my collection of say 20 DVD's I have only about 4 that can be 1:1. The rest are DVD-9 and long movies.
<< Until 1:1 copies are possible, I won't be bothering with it. >>
What do you think the hold up is? Is it technology? Meaning burning dual layer. Or is it outside influence making the drive companies cripple the abilities.
simple 1:1 copies may never be a reality if the MPAA gets its way.
Regardless, the storage advantages now are worth it IMO. 700MB vs 4,500MB.
<< the standards war is still brewing. Today's units will be but memoirs in the not-so-distant future. >>
I think these drives and the discs they make will still work in future players. I don't think that will be an issue. I think the capacity and , of course, the speeds will increase due to natural progression though. I doubt a standard to change all standards will be created, although it will be nice when they get this crap worked out; however it may be.
I'm betting on DVD-R or something resembling it. Look at the mess the +RW camp is in right now.
<< how fast can it be if these dvd burners now are 2x for a disc that's over 4 gigs, a few hours to burn? >>
Pioneer made an attempt to convince people to buy their media by forcing 1x burning with non-Pioneer media. With that in mind, I can burn a full disk in about 45 minutes on generic media. 2X is under 30 minutes I've heard. I have not been willing to spend $10 on a pioneer disc when I can get the generic gold/purple for about $2. I can wait.
I've read that Pioneer is soon-to-be removing the 1x restriction and other supported media will be able to burn at 2x. Over 4 gigs in under 30 minutes sounds pretty sweet.