Dual layer DVD?

Hi all,

I'm looking at getting a dvd burner. I've made do with cdr until now. I'm sure I want a dual layer burner, but I have some questions about them. First, what media types can they burn dual layers on? How expensive (on average) are those media? Second, how fast can you expect it to fill both sides of dual layer media at various burn speeds?

I'm mainly looking to this for backups, not for movies and stuff (though that would be nice too).

You need DVD-R DL media. The only one i have ever found is at Newegg and costs $15 a pop.

This DL media is 2.4x which IIRC is 3324KB/s so to write 8.5gb its about 45 Min

I got a dual-layer burner myself recently, its the NEC 2510. It supports dual layers at 2.4x... at that speed, i'm guessing it'll take more than 30min to burn a full dual layer dvd.

The last price i saw for a dual layer was $15, but i'm sure they'll get even cheaper as it gets more popular. Anyways i'm sticking with single layer, because they are sufficient enough for digitizing my old home videos.

For backup purposes, i would stick with single layer for now until dual layer gets cheaper.

Ok, thanks guys. I guess I'll hold off. I'm not in a hurry, I just figured dual layer would be good for backing stuff up. Not at $15 per disk though.

if you want to just back up your stuff, get regular DVD Rs they are around 50c each ( you can get some at a cheaper price around 35c each), they can hold up to 4.7gb of info. 2 disks would be the same as dual layer dvd and it is only fraction of what dual layer disks cost.

alien dork said:

if you want to just back up your stuff, get regular DVD Rs they are around 50c each ( you can get some at a cheaper price around 35c each), they can hold up to 4.7gb of info. 2 disks would be the same as dual layer dvd and it is only fraction of what dual layer disks cost.

Click to expand...

That's a very good point. I guess I could get a dual layer-capable drive, and just use single layer disks until dual layer disks come way down in price.