My wife is interested in a DVD burner. I have been reading up on them and here is what I have found:
The DVD-R/-RW format works on a wider variety of DVD readers (PC and set-top) than the DVD+R/+RW format
DVD software included with DVD burners can be a mixed bag of useful / useless components
Maximum PC has been recommending the Pioneer burners that use the DVD-R/-RW format for the last few months.
Sony has just released a DVD burner that supports both major formats but I am unsure of the quality of the software included.
Here are my questions:
What would I lose by not being able to burn DVDs in the DVD+ format?
The primary use of the burner will be data backup. How safe is the DVD media and does either DVD format have any advantages/disadvantages for this type of use?
I know WinXP Pro can burn to CD-Rs through explorer. Can it manage DVD burners also or do I need a seperate software package?
If so, what is some good DVD burner software?
I know there are some knowledgeable folks in Qt3land, so any advice would be appreciated.
I have a Pioneer DVD-A03 and I’m very happy with it. The A05 just came out, with 4X DVD writing.
The Sony sounds interesting, but I haven’t tried it. The Pioneer’s rock-solid, and has great software support.
Absolutely nothing. The only “danger” to one format winning out over the others is that a decade from now you might have problems finding new blank discs. Not a big deal. The -R format is the most compatible with set-top DVD players.
The primary use of the burner will be data backup. How safe is the DVD media and does either DVD format have any advantages/disadvantages for this type of use?
Apparently DVD+RW has something in its format that makes it work a bit more like a fixed disk when you’re using it as a rewriteable disc. Not owning a + writer, though, I’ve never looked into this in detail. With a -RW disc, you just treat it like you would a CD-RW – either erase it and burn a new backup, or use multisession to add updated stuff.
I know WinXP Pro can burn to CD-Rs through explorer. Can it manage DVD burners also or do I need a seperate software package?
You need CD Burner software. Most DVD-writeable drives include burner software. I use Nero, and I’m very happy with that for data.
If so, what is some good DVD burner software?
Nero’s good for data discs, but to create video DVDs, you’ll need a video-oriented program. I’ve found Ulead’s DVD Workshop is the best, but it’s about $250. Ulead’s DVD MovieFactory is far more basic, but also works well, and I think it’s under $50. Pinnacle’s software isn’t as good as Ulead’s for DVD burning.
Many burners include various versions of MyDVD. It’s decent.
If you do go with the Pioneer, use DVD-RW for prototyping video DVDs and your changing data backups… Use DVD-R for discs you’re actually giving to people, and for permanent data backups.
If you have Nero you can get the new Mediavision software from http://www.ahead.de which does DVDs. I think you have to buy their MPEG2 encoder plugin if you want to convert files to that codec for Video DVDs. I’m told it’s nice, but I haven’t tried it myself.
I just bought a Memorex DVD+RW a few days ago ($299 at Fry’s Electronics). I haven’t done much with it, so it’s to early to give a full review. However, Denny is correct. It comes with a utility that formats a DVD+RW into “a big floppy disk”. Once you’ve formatted it, you just drag and drop files onto it just as you would with a hard disk or a floppy disk. I believe without running the utility the DVD+RW works similar to a CD-RW. You mark one or more files to copy over, and then you need to explicitly tell it to copy them. Probably not a big deal, as the CD-RW/DVD-RW process only takes a few extra clicks of the mouse, but the DVD+RW “big floppy approach” does seem to make more sense and is easier to deal with.
When I went into Fry’s, I wasn’t quite sure which version I was going to buy. (I originally read up on the formats at AnandTech before heading to Fry’s). However, when I got to Fry’s, I discovered most of the DVD drives they had available were DVD+RW’s, so I took that as a sign that perhaps the DVD-RW format was being phased out. However, in contrast to the DVD drives which were mostly DVD+RW’s, the actual disks available were mostly DVD-R’s and DVD-RW’s with only a handful of DVD+RW disks available.
Just as an extra piece of information, the whole Memorex DVD+RW doesn’t seem very well integrated into the Windows System. There are several different utility programs that you need to run for different tasks–if you want to back up your files temporarily you use one program, if you want to backup your files permanently there is another program, there’s a different program for working with video files and DVDs, and a fourth program to work with audio files. I think some of them are just standard audio and video utility programs. But in any case there is a large confusing chart in the manual listing about 20 different tasks you might want to do and the 4-5 programs you need to run in each case. I’m not sure if this is a Memorex problem, a DVD+RW problem, or is exactly the same as what’s needed for DVD-RWs and CD-RWs (I seem to recall using a CD-RW wasn’t as easy as I thought it should have been). So far I’ve only used the utility mentioned above which turns the whole thing into a big floppy disk and it seems to run fine.
