what to look for in a DVD Recorder?

[skidooosl]

I am about to buy a DVD burner, other than speed what should i look for? is a 2mb buffer good or should i try to find a 8mb buffer? any other formats other than + and -? i was thinking about this drive

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=27-106-952&DEPA=0

what is Double Layer? and is liteon a good brand?

 

[skidooosl]

bump, i need help!

 

[steeven_steeven]

thats a good drive the only thing i see its missin is DVD-RAM

8mb cache would be better but its not really need since theres buffer underun and stuff

 

[unreal]

yeah sincec buffer underun protectino the buffer shouldnt make a diff with the pc's of today, lite-on is one of the cheaper dvd burners, i still read that the + are better than - but really its simply 2 japanese companies fighting over whats standard.

 

[skidooosl]

what would be a better burner? maybe i should wait till the plextor 12x come down in price some.... what is DVD-RAM?

i can move up to this for $145 but that is quite a bit of money and i still dont see some of the features listed with the lite-on.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=27-131-327&depa=1

What other brands are good as far as quality?

 

[Bios24]

There are 2 types of dvd media, single layer and dual layer. dvd's you purchase are 9.4gb dual layer. current dvd burners are 4.7gb single layer, current dual burners are only 8.5gb. (The explanation I was givin is that they don't want us to make 1-to-1 dvd copies, that's why dual layer burners can only burn 8.5gb. I'm hoping this will change very soon)

I just got done doing the research, and I've narrowed it down to a few options:

8x/12x DVD+R: Most popular brands can do either 8x +R or 12x +R (notice 12x -R is currently not possible) If you don't care about dual layer, get a 12x +R burner, they aren't too much more than the 8x's. On the other hand, if your short on cash, 8x will do just fine.

2.4x DVD-DL: I couldn't find a brand in my price range that could do both 12x +R and dual layer. So it's currently one or the other. 2.4x dual layer will be slow (up to an hour to burn) And media is currently really expensive and scarce, but if you want the capability to burn dual layer, this is it.

Wait: We're right on the brink of an upgrade in options. Before January (as early as october/november) we'll see 16x dvd burners, as well as 4x or higher dual layer burners. dual layer and faster media should also keep dropping in price.

With that said I just got done buying a Lite-on Dvd burner. It does 12x DVD+R 8x DVD-R and 4x DVD+-RW. It's only $85 shipped through newegg.com. Lite-on is a cheaper brand, but I've had good luck with my Lite-on dvd and cd-rw, so I'm sticking with it. NEC is also a very popular brand. Plextor is one of the best optical brands, but obviously you pay for that. If I had the extra money to burn, I might buy one. 8mb cache would be nice, but it's just an extra feature, not neccesarily needed.

Anything I miss?

 

[skidooosl]

THANKS!! thats great! so is that how they can fit some movies that are about 2.5 hours long onto one disk? i noticed that many movies are over the length of what blank disks say they can hold.... so i cant duplicate a dvd exactly? 1:1??? i thought u could, will it still have the menu's and everything? i like to keep a orignial of a movie safe so it wont get all scratched up when i loan it to a friend or something... nothing is worse than half way through a movie having to get up to clean the disk or try to get past a skip. what do DVD players use? + or -?? can they read both?

 

[autoMATTic]

I believe the - format is more compatible with the older dvd players. But most of the newer dvd players will usually play both the - and + formats.

 

[Mr.Guvernment]

try to wait and get the plextor 12x SERIAL ATA dvd burner - talk about future proofing yourself

on that note Aopen and others already previewed their 16x dvd burners.

 

[skidooosl]

i dont think the plextor will support DL though im so confused! is this something i will need?

 

[Mr.Guvernment]

well dual layer will burn @

2.4x the first layer and 1x the second layer - you really want to wait 2 hours for a dvd to burn? and havea good chance the data may not be good - some test i saw stated the last few 100mb of the dvd were usually rendered useless.

i think dual layer technology is still to new to jump on the band wagon

 

[Recursion]

i say go the Dual layer, it is a jump towars new technology, either you can get a 12x dvd+r or a 8xdvd+r with dual layer. I sont think the difference between 8x and 12x are that big. I would go woith the Dual layer Lite on

I just ordered this one http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=27-106-952&depa=0

It comes with nero and PowerDvd 5 seems like a good deal over the Necs to me