DVD Media for those BB DVDR purchases next week

marschw

Member
Jan 23, 2001
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Those are some nice prices. Shipping is a bit rough -- for an order of 10 discs ($29.95) shipping was an additional $9 or so for UPS ground to San Mateo, CA. For 3 day it was about $18. Note that on orders above $100 it's free ground though (34 single-sided discs anybody?).

-=Marcus
 

IgoByte

Diamond Member
Jan 23, 2001
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Which BB DVDR purchases next week? Can anyone point me in the right direction, please?
 

Dood

Senior member
Aug 16, 2001
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I see a DVD+RW Philips for $499 in the BB ad scans. The "+" format requires "+RW" media. Your link above is for "-R" media. They are not compatible. $499 is a marginal deal for this drive.

I am still not convinced which format (+ or -) to get.
DVD+RW is 2.4x (burns a DVD in 20 mins or so), DVD-R is 1x so it takes almost an hour to burn.
DVD+RW lets you do multisession style burning so you don't have to finalize a disc, DVD-R does not have this flexibility.
DVD+RW may be more compatible with current players.
DVD+R (write once) does not even exist yet, so you must get +RW media.
DVD+RW media is expensive (about $15 each), DVD-R is cheap ($3+ each).

So I think I'll wait a few months and see how this pans out.

 

Schmo

Senior member
Oct 9, 1999
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As you stated above the DVD+RW standard has many advantages over the DVD-R format. The only limitation was the media and I believe you will see +R media arrive and the price of +RW media drop. +RW drives also have a little more marketing muscle behind them.

Of course this is just my opinion and prediction as to which one will win... but what do I know.
 

GetReal

Golden Member
Mar 30, 2001
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<< I see a DVD+RW Philips for $499 in the BB ad scans. The "+" format requires "+RW" media. Your link above is for "-R" media. They are not compatible. $499 is a marginal deal for this drive.

I am still not convinced which format (+ or -) to get.
DVD+RW is 2.4x (burns a DVD in 20 mins or so), DVD-R is 1x so it takes almost an hour to burn.
DVD+RW lets you do multisession style burning so you don't have to finalize a disc, DVD-R does not have this flexibility.
DVD+RW may be more compatible with current players.
DVD+R (write once) does not even exist yet, so you must get +RW media.
DVD+RW media is expensive (about $15 each), DVD-R is cheap ($3+ each).

So I think I'll wait a few months and see how this pans out.
>>



For something that you claim does not exist yet, we have been buying and using a lot of DVD-R media in the past few months purchased from this place

Your your statement about DVD+RW media being more compatiable with current player is not true. More players are compatiable with DVD-R media than DVD+RW. The new DVD+RW 1.1 standard offers more compatiability than 1.0, but is still short of number of players already compatiable with DVD+R

DVD-R/RW Compatibility Chart
 

Dood

Senior member
Aug 16, 2001
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Read my post more carefully. I said "DVD+R" does not yet exist. Your link points to DVD-R media.

 

GetReal

Golden Member
Mar 30, 2001
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<< Read my post more carefully. I said "DVD+R" does not yet exist. Your link points to DVD-R media. >>



You are correct I did not see the +. We have been using DVD-R for some time and it is compatiable with just about every computer DVD drive as well as settop players. I do not know why poeple just don't use DVD-R as it is the same media that all commercial DVD are mastered with right now so you have guaranteed compatiability.
 

Dood

Senior member
Aug 16, 2001
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<< You are correct I did not see the +. We have been using DVD-R for some time and it is compatiable with just about every computer DVD drive as well as settop players. I do not know why poeple just don't use DVD-R as it is the same media that all commercial DVD are mastered with right now so you have guaranteed compatiability. >>



I really agree with you. It looks like the CHEAPEST, MOST WIDELY USED, "FIRST TO MARKET" format will win out. That appears to be DVD-R.

Here's an interesting excerpt from the AVS forums on this topic:

DVD-R, DVD-RW, and DVD-RAM are all formats defined and supported by the industry group, DVD Forum.

DVD+RW is outside the spec set by DVD Forum, and was developed by Sony and Philips outside the Forum. Remember that Philips and Sony have a wonderful revenue stream from the royalties for CD technology. +RW is their effort to extend the royalty stream.

The DVD-Forum has no royalties for using their formats; only requires a license to join the "club".

The CD royalties were sizeable, and only recently changed due to a settlement between Sony/Philips and several Taiwanese producers of CD-R and CD-RW media.

As to which will succeed +RW or -R/RW/RAM? It doesn't really matter to much any more as the end result is the same to the consumer. Both technologies will produce a disc that is readable in modern players and DVD-ROM drives (save DVD-RAM, but that is changing). +RW, -RW, and -RAM all use similar recording technology -- phase-change.

Marketing and pricing will determine the evenutal outcome.

Here are some facts to consider:
- all the +RW drives are produced in the same factory; Ricoh, HP, Sony, Philips, and Acer simply change the firmware and front bezel
- Sony computer system group produces PCs with Pioneer -R/RW drives rather than their sister division's +RW drives
- HP exited the consumer CD-R/RW internal drive business when margins got too thin, and price points got too low. Drives on the shelf today are the end of inventroy
- Philps is not a very strong brand in the U.S.
- Ricoh exited the consumer CD-R/RW space in the last year for reasons similar to HP
- computer OEMs typically use drives from manufacturers with high volume experience: e.g. Panasonic/Matsushita, Hitachi/LG, Toshiba, Mitsumi; when was the last time you saw "Ricoh Inside"?

Disclaimer: while not an employee of any of the companies mentioned, I have been known to be a strong Panasonic supporter; but I'll admit, even they are not immune from making mistakes.


LINK to entire thread
 

dimwit

Golden Member
Jun 28, 2000
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I don't have the link anymore, and too lazy too look for it, but a independant research group did compatibility tests on DVD+RW and DVD-R. 7 out of 10 set top players recognized DVD-R, and only 3-4 recognized DVD+RW. And of those that did recognize DVD+RW, they were less than a year old. No older DVD set top players recognized DVD+RW.
 

wasssup

Diamond Member
Nov 28, 2000
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this place is fast! i ordered 10 single sided discs and 1 double sided disc, and chose the cheapest shipping (a little bit more than $5), yesterday...today when I got home from class (stupid winter session, ugh) I saw a box from DHL inside! the double sided was in a jewel case, and the single sided ones were how you would find them on a spindle (covered with plastic), without the spindle though...I kept hearing there was a huge delay with these things, so I didn't purchase a DVDR drive yet (though it looks like i'll be ordering today)
 

aCiDReflux

Senior member
Oct 9, 1999
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SO let me get this straight. You can get a DVD-R Panasonic drive from newegg for $400, get the dvd-r media from this place and burn a dvd that will play in most all set top players? I could make a backup of my green mile dvd which keeps giving me fits about a scratch?
 

Dood

Senior member
Aug 16, 2001
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No, you can't just "copy" DVD movies like you can copy a CD. There's copy protection built in. There are ways to bypass this, but it is not worth the trouble when the original DVD only costs $10.

These burners are meant for authoring your own DVDs using an authoring program. Or for data storage.

 

GetReal

Golden Member
Mar 30, 2001
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<< SO let me get this straight. You can get a DVD-R Panasonic drive from newegg for $400, get the dvd-r media from this place and burn a dvd that will play in most all set top players? I could make a backup of my green mile dvd which keeps giving me fits about a scratch? >>



Just like copy-protected CD-ROMs, your ability to make a backup of a copyrighted DVD movie is determined by the type of software that you use with your DVD-R burner and the copyright protection features enabled in your writer's firmware. By default, you cannot copy DVD movies to DVD-R media, becase just like VHS movies they are created with copyright protection and the end result is much like making a copy of a copy-protected VHS movie. Most software included with DVD-R drives does not allow duplication of copyrighted material. There are software programs out there that will let you duplicate copyrighted media. The publishers of such programs are the same ones that produce similar software for duplicating copy-protected CD-ROMs.
 

CQuinn

Golden Member
May 31, 2000
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<< I do not know why poeple just don't use DVD-R as it is the same media that
all commercial DVD are mastered with right now so you have guaranteed compatiability.
>>



Same media, but the data is written to the DVD differently,
(DVD+RW uses slightly different media, but writes in a way that is closer to the
commercial DVD spec).

And neither standard has shown %100 compatibility with all DVD players, both
should be readable/viewable on more recent players.

DVD+RW has definite advantages for those interested in Data storage.
(How many DivX files could you fit into 4.7 GB?)

-----

Sony and Phillips are also members of the DVD Forum. While I can't argue that they have some vested interest in promoting
a different standard, they also address some areas where the DVD-RW standard is not as flexible as PC users might want.
And the DVD Forum had its own share of politics involved in making sure the DVD-R standards (DVD-General) are not quite the same
as what you get on commercial DVDs (DVD-Authoring).

Sony is hedging its bets by supporting both standards at the moment.

CDRlabs did a recent review of the Phillips DVD+RW drive, with some
interesting results showing about the new firmware inlcuded on the drive.
(apparently it can read DVD-RW disks).

http://www.cdrlabs.com/review.php3?reviewid=92
 

t0lik

Member
Nov 9, 1999
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As far as DVD-R 1X burning speed - it's not really true. Pioneer DVR-A03 drive burn DVD-Rs at 2X speed. In fact, this Pioneer drive is CD-R/RW - DVD-R/RW combo drive - it burns CDs at 8X speed I think. It's the best DVD-R drive as of today IMHO.
You can find it under $400 on the net. Just use Pricegrabber.com or any other similar price searching web site.