School me on DVD burners, please.

[Spanko]

Ok so I dont know jack about burning dvds, dvd burners or anything. And I bought this from newegg (but in black) http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=27-152-033&depa=1

So anywho it seemed like a good deal and good specs, now I have it and everything and I dont have a clue where to start or how to burn dvds. It came with roxio cd creator i think but I dont want to use that software. I was thinking about buying nero 6, as I had an oem nero for my old cd burner and that program was very easy to use and always worked.

So on to the questions! First off, what is everones reccomendation for software? Secondly, whats the difference between dvd -r, +r, -rw, +rw (i know RW stands for re-writebale, im not THAT dumb lol). Also this is a dual layer drive so explain what that means please. And what kind of discs should I buy? Is there a certain "best" brand? At the store I saw - and + discs which do I get? Also apparently there are different sizes? HELP!

[Needitcooler]

All your questions can be answered by checking out the following site.

http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/mpg/dvdburn.htm

[Spanko]

K they talks about burning dvds using nero. But it doesnt answer all my questons... like aside from burning movie dvds, if i jus want to burn data to a dvd which discs do i buy? - or +?

[saltytheseagull]

For data it doesn't really matter as long as the drive your burning them with supports the format you buy.

[Labotomy Jack]

Essentially the -r format is slightly older than +r so if you have an older dvd player there's a chance it may only play -r and not +r. For instance I use my PS2, which is I think is over 4 years old, as my dvd player and it will only play dvd-r's. Generally though all dvd players today can play either equally well and there is really no practical difference between the formats. As for burning a data disc, as was stated above it doesn't matter which format you use.

As for dual layer discs I would say you probably want to wait till the price for blank media comes down. A single layer disc holds 4.7GB, a dual layer has just that, two layers of data so it holds twice as much, 8.4GB. Just about any movie dvd released now is on a dual layer disc and any dvd player that can read single layer can read dual layer. Only recently have dual layered burners come out, which is why the media is still too expensive to really make it worth it imo.

[SnP2k]

I have a Pioneer DVR-108. 16x DVD+/-R/RW/DVD+RDL 32x CD-R/RW; I love it. No problems, burns and plays movies flawlessly. Pioneer once again is the man. I have a pioneer head unit in my car, I love that too...although that one doesn't burn dvds :burn:

[shrinkydinx]

Essentially the -r format is slightly older than +r so if you have an older dvd player there's a chance it may only play -r and not +r. For instance I use my PS2, which is I think is over 4 years old, as my dvd player and it will only play dvd-r's. Generally though all dvd players today can play either equally well and there is really no practical difference between the formats. As for burning a data disc, as was stated above it doesn't matter which format you use.

As for dual layer discs I would say you probably want to wait till the price for blank media comes down. A single layer disc holds 4.7GB, a dual layer has just that, two layers of data so it holds twice as much, 8.4GB. Just about any movie dvd released now is on a dual layer disc and any dvd player that can read single layer can read dual layer. Only recently have dual layered burners come out, which is why the media is still too expensive to really make it worth it imo.

mine plays +r....