Please help out a DVD+RW noob. Need help picking one.

[DARRIN]

What kind of features should I look for? Any recommendations on a good one?

 

[Zzzt]

This space intentionally left blank..

 

[Zzzt]

...Sorry about that. There doesn't seem to be a huge difference between drives, but I wouldn't recommend a DVD+R drive. More than 80% of the DVD players out there support DVD-R, less than 30% support DVD+R (No flames - some drives support both). They are all low performance for burning CD's, so get a good CDRW. If you are stuck on the idea of the newer DVD+R that may or may not make it (kind of like Beta vs. VHS), get a drive that supports both.

 

[DARRIN]

Well seeing as how I'm a complete noob to DVD RW I do not really know the differanve between +RW and -RW. I just want to burn home movies etc.

I have a good CD burner. Just got a 52x Lite On today.

 

[DARRIN]

Is this Cendyne 4x Internal DVD-R/RW Drive from staples any good?

Link

 

[oldfart]

Here is the way I look at it. If the disc will play in my home DVD player, what else do I need? I've made a bunch of home movies with my Cendyne 4X (Pioneer 105) DVD-R/W. I've tried them on 4 different DVD players and they all work. I got this drive for $150 @ Staples (hot deals forum).

EDIT You beat me to it. Yes, it is a VERY good drive. Stop by the hot deals forum to see how to get it for a great price.

 

[DARRIN]

Thanks!

 

[human2k]

wow, thats cheap $189 for pioneer 4x dvd writer!

 

[oldfart]

If you use a coupon, you can get it for $150 Quite a hot deal.

 

[DARRIN]

yah. If they had them in stock.

 

[AtomicDude512]

Originally posted by: Zzzt
...Sorry about that. There doesn't seem to be a huge difference between drives, but I wouldn't recommend a DVD+R drive. More than 80% of the DVD players out there support DVD-R, less than 30% support DVD+R (No flames - some drives support both). They are all low performance for burning CD's, so get a good CDRW. If you are stuck on the idea of the newer DVD+R that may or may not make it (kind of like Beta vs. VHS), get a drive that supports both.

Agreed. If you can get a DVD-RW drive, much more compatible. There is one drive that can do whatever with all four formats but I forgot its name...

 

[oldfart]

Yeah, you have to jump on the deal pretty quick. I got mine ~ a month ago. I ordered it first thing Sunday morning. Staples seems to do this like once a month. You may be able to find a pretty good deal on the drive if you look around Pricewatch and such.

 

[Wintermute76]

I believe the drive that burns all 4 formats is the Sony DRU-500. Pretty sure it's around $350 or so, haven't looked.

 

[DARRIN]

Originally posted by: Wintermute76
I believe the drive that burns all 4 formats is the Sony DRU-500. Pretty sure it's around $350 or so, haven't looked.

Ouch. I believe I'll wait for Staples to have Cendyne 4x on sale again.

 

[Richard98]

" What kind of features should I look for? Any recommendations on a good one?"


This may help:
dvd faqs

As noted in the faqs, neither format has a clear compatibility advantage over the other. I have a Memorex (Ricoh) +R/+RW that I got from Staples for $150 and the DVDs it creates work flawlessly in my DVD player.

I have read that +R/+RW drives can re-write RW discs much faster than -R/-RW drives - (apparently -RW discs need to be re-formatted). My drive will rewrite a used +RW disc almost as fast as it will write a virgin +R disc. I've also read that burning with -R can be a bit trickier; apparently the write speed (1,2,4X) must match the rated speed of the media. With +R, there are no write speed settings (drive burns at 2.4X; all media is rated 2.4X). One clear disadvantage of +R/+RW is that the price of blank media is somewhat higher than -R/-RW media. Decent -R media is about $1; decent +R media is about $1.80

 

[dmhinz]

"I wouldn't recommend a DVD+R drive. More than 80% of the DVD players out there support DVD-R, less than 30% support DVD+R"

+R is the standard that is supported by Microsoft while -R is the standard supported by the recording industry. That is why you see more players supporting -R right now. I think that as DVD recding technology becomes more common for the home user, you will see +R become more popular. Personally I have a TDK 4X +R recorder and it writes discs that play fine on my Sony home player. It doesn't do such a good job on the +RW discs unfortunately.

-D

 

[Richard98]

Originally posted by: dmhinz
"I wouldn't recommend a DVD+R drive. More than 80% of the DVD players out there support DVD-R, less than 30% support DVD+R"

+R is the standard that is supported by Microsoft

-D

...and - Dell, Hewlett-Packard Company, MCC/Verbatim, Philips Electronics, Ricoh Company Ltd., Sony Corporation, Thomson Multimedia and Yamaha Corporation.


More +R/+RW information - Probably biased