DVD Drive Question

[farscapesg1]

Will a standard DVD-ROM drive read Dual-Layer DVD disks? What about a single-layer DVD-RW drive?

I need to buy a couple new drives for my systems. I need to replace the CD-RW with a DVD-RW drive on my server, add a DVD-RW drive to my desktop, and add a second drive (probably just a DVD-ROM) to my HTPC, which already has a DVD-RW. What I want to do is add Dual Layer drives to the server and the desktop, but I need the disks burned with those systems to be readable in the HTPC also.

 

[LouPoir]

Yes - all DVD drives have always been able to read D/L DVD's

Lou

 

[farscapesg1]

OK, thanks.

I was confused because some DVD-RW drives list the ability to read DVD+R DL, while some don't.

 

[Wolfshanze]

Actually the first answer is a bit misleading... I've found that there are DEFINATELY DVD-ROM drives that will NOT read burned Dual-Layer DVDs. I've witnessed this first-hand, as I had some older DVD-ROM drives that definately would not under any circumstance read a burned dual-layer DVD disk.

However, with that said, NEWER DVD-ROM drives do indeed read burned dual-layer DVD disks (I since upgraded my offending DVD-ROM drives with newer drives and have had no further problems).

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: Wolfshanze
However, with that said, NEWER DVD-ROM drives do indeed read burned dual-layer DVD disks (I since upgraded my offending DVD-ROM drives with newer drives and have had no further problems).

The operative word is "newer." I do a lot of travelling, and many hotels, etc. today feature DVD players with their TV sets. I have not found one yet that will read a burned DVD+R or -R, single layer - let along dual layer.

My home entertainment systems read all just fine - but they are less than 1 year old. I guess it depends on whether you are talking about computer DVD drives or any DVD drive/players.