Does anyone know of a place to buy a half decent Dual layer DVD rewriter. The only real must is it needs to be internal and 4x DL or over.

PC world had one for

Rob Mawer got me mine but I'm not sure if he's still able to get them.....

Chris

Only a half decent one?

16x dual-format dual-layer ones are less than

PC world had one for

Only a half decent one?

16x dual-format dual-layer ones are less than

Dual layer disks are still hideously expensive at the mo.

A pioneer or NEC dual layer drive is under 50 quid from www.svp.co.uk

Dual layer disks are still hideously expensive at the mo.

A pioneer or NEC dual layer drive is under 50 quid from www.svp.co.uk

Whats your thoughts on the old +R/-R format question. I know that many drives do both formats now, but I am rather ****ed of that a recent Dell PC purchased for my microscope only does +R disks which as far as I can see have no +ves over -R (ie same capacity and price etc) but do have negatives points (ie not true DVD format and less compatible with DVD video players etc.

But they only write 16x in single layer. There are a few I have not looked at there so I will give them a try.

Well, they will - the Liteon 1653S is around the low

Jeff, a PC based 4x burner will burn a full single-layered DVD in under 15 minutes. And remember, jumping from 2x to 4x doesn't half the write time. Likewise, the new 8x writers won't write a full single-layer disk in 7 minutes. It's a kind of logarythmic scale.

In terms of buying the burner, I'd highly recommend www.blankdiscshop.co.uk

Their blank media is dirt cheap too

I've just bought an LG GSA4163B DVD +-R/RW/RAM 16X DL writer.

Whats your thoughts on the old +R/-R format question. I know that many drives do both formats now, but I am rather ****ed of that a recent Dell PC purchased for my microscope only does +R disks which as far as I can see have no +ves over -R (ie same capacity and price etc) but do have negatives points (ie not true DVD format and less compatible with DVD video players etc.

When they originally came out, the -R discs were significantly more expensive than the +R's and I jumped on the +R bandwagon I've not found a DVD player which wouldn't play them and according to here the compatibility seems to be similar. I now have a dual-format drive, but still buy the +R's as I have a cheap supplier

Chris

My Samsung DVD player plays -Rs written in my parent-in-laws emachine PC, but will not recognise disks written in the Dell +R drive in work. My newer Philips plays just about anything.

I get all my CD-Rs (don't own a DVD recorder) in Lidls supermarket as they sell branded disks with cases for similar in price to branded spindled disks elsewhere. I notice that their DVD R disks are same price for both -R and +R.

Whats your thoughts on the old +R/-R format question. I know that many drives do both formats now, but I am rather ****ed of that a recent Dell PC purchased for my microscope only does +R disks which as far as I can see have no +ves over -R (ie same capacity and price etc) but do have negatives points (ie not true DVD format and less compatible with DVD video players etc.

+R works better for some games consoles , with -R tending to be slightly better for home DVD players.

All PC drives should have no problems with either , and the differences in compatibility are only slight anyway

Dual layer disks are still hideously expensive at the mo.

A pioneer or NEC dual layer drive is under 50 quid from www.svp.co.uk

I've now had three drives from them an original Pioneer 107 which is now in sons PC and two Pioneer 108's for myself and a colleague all excellent prices and service. Some great deals on Disks as well.

I use DVD-R media because my home dvd player and my laptop cannot read +R media. Strange thing though, they can both read +RW disks.

I got a Sony DRU-700A dual layer drive not long after they came out, cost a fortune back then.

Anyone care to explain what dual layer, single layer means, also +R -R?

I got a disc from a film company who came and filmed our big 928 meet last Easter. In my PC it would play with no sound. Wouldn't play in my player at all - but I'm not sure that supports any kind of writeable media. How can I test it? Don't have access to a DVD writer anywhere at present.

Anyone care to explain what dual layer' date=' single layer means, also +R -R?

I got a disc from a film company who came and filmed our big 928 meet last Easter. In my PC it would play with no sound. Wouldn't play in my player at all - but I'm not sure that supports any kind of writeable media. How can I test it? Don't have access to a DVD writer anywhere at present.[/quote']

Check out www.dvdrhelp.com and select DVD from the list on the left. Explains it much better than I ever could

Chris

DVD was designed to increase data storage by allowing data to be stored at 2 different layers on the disk rather than just on the surface as is the case with a CD. On long films with some players you will get a freeze when the player is moving from layer 1 to layer 2. +R and -R and just rival formats much like Betamax and VHS in the 80s.

The Pioneer 108 is pretty much the best quality DVD writer out there at the moment and is great if you mainly burn DVDs. It does have flaws though, as it only supports bitsetting on +DL media (rewriting the media information to hide the fact its a recordable disc - this allows more standalone DVD players to read them). Also, the main problem I find is that the CD writing speed is pretty slow.

Since I write a lot of CDs, I went for the NEC 3500. It comes a very close second to the Pioneer in terms of DVD writing quality, but has a bit better media compatibility and allows bitsetting on all types of media. The best thing for me though is that it is also one of the best drives around for writing CDs, able to do 40x full CAV (basically, it means its fast and good quality).

In the next month or so the Pioneer 109 will be around, which does fast CD writing and very high speed dual layer writing. But it only does bitsetting on +DL media like the 108. This probably doesn't matter unless you are burning movies anyway.

I think the NEC is the best drive at the moment. Its cheap too. Also, a nice side effect is that its quiet; some of the others sound like they are going to take off.

Anyone care to explain what dual layer, single layer

Both use a single-sided disk, but single layer has a capacity of 4.7Gb, dual layer has a capacity of 8.5Gb - not really sure how it works, but I suspect it's do with angles/offsets to get two layers on it...

+R -R?

Two different formats...don't think there's much difference between them really...

all - but I'm not sure that supports any kind of writeable media. How can I test it? Don't have access to a DVD writer anywhere at present.

Try it in a DVD player which will play any kind of format? Prices start at

That's a great site, Chris - learnt I may be able to hack my player, and that it should have played the disc OK, apparently (I think).

Try it in a DVD player which will play any kind of format? Prices start at

will only do half the things a 20? quid (really? :eek: ) player will do. Sigh.....

Well, the cheapest from other retailers I've seen are about

I know Amazon have a 29.99 one - probably about 15 quid for delivery though ...

So should I throw it away and buy a new one. Decisions ..... :scared: