I'm sure this question has come up a lot. I was using +RW with great
success, but now my new burner can handle several formats.

Thanks for all input
Sailor

This is oversimplified, but in general:

-- Use +R for best compatibility with PC drives made in the last
3 years.

-- Use -R for best compatibility with PC drives older than 3
years, and with standalone DVD players.

-- If broad compatibility is required, stay away from all flavors
of RW.

Sailor wrote:
Yes, in fact it came up two threads ago in mine. Can't help but wonder
how you missed that.

Gary Eickmeier

Sailor wrote:
For your own personal use it doesn't matter as much as if you're
sending something out. Then you have to deal with the wide variety of
players that other people own which introduces a large number of
variables.

Recent vintage players are usually capable of handling all formats but
to be sure, you might ask the recipient to check his machine.

Rewriteable overall will have far lower compatibility than write-once
and you don't usually want to send those out anyway as they could
accidentally be erased and they are more expensive.

-R and +R both have pretty high compatibility percentages now, although
what works in one machine may not work in another.  The good news now
is that you can offer a alternative if the first one doesn't work.

Overall  -R is more popular in the U.S. so I'd start with that.

Craig

http://www.pro-tape.com

Also if both -R and +R doesn't play on their machine try sending them a +R
burned as a DVD-ROM
using the software to change the bitsetting during burning to DVD-ROM rather
than DVD-VIDEO, this has been
known to make even more older machines able to read burned dvd's by tricking
them into thinking they are ROM
dvd's and thus allowing them to try and read them rather than reject them
cause of firmware programming in the player.

This way you have 3 options to send them, although I start with the DVD-Rom
formatted +R first. :)

AnthonyR.

Show quoteHide quote

Also, don't use too high a bitrate.  Remember that the bitrate you set
is for video, and the audio goes on top of that.  Some settop boxes
won't read a very high bitrate.

Example, most of the time a VBR or CBR of 6,000 is very adequate, even
down to 4,800 is good.  Only fast moving scenes may require higher
bitrates.

Never go over 8,000, infact, probably 7,000 should be max because the
audio adds more.

Again, use -R for most compatibility with non-computer DVD players.
And the brand can make a large difference.  Some brands like Memorex
are very inconsistent, buying the cheapest they can from different
vendors each month or so.  This makes for inconsistent results.
Generally Ritek and Ridata are very good.  Taiyo Yuden is excellent,
but sometimes bootleg versions aren't the real deal.  They're also more
expensive.  I use them almost exclusively now, with occasional use of
Ritek and Ridata.  I burn about 500 a year and give most of them away,
so compatibility is a big issue for me.

Jim McGauhey
Washington State




Sailor wrote:
Show quoteHide quote

Hello Sailor!

DVD-R is the most compatible by a long chalk. I sell hundreds of DV
every week to all over the World. The ONLY format I would use is DVD-R.

I spent a lot of time and money learning that little lesson!

Hope that has been of some help to you,

Pete

http://www.trade-secrets.org/dvdworkshop
10 DVD Library Set revealing everything you need to know to create,
produce, shoot, edit, author, design and market you own How-To &
Instructional DVDs. Presented by Bill Myers.

The DVD Workshop wrote:

Show quoteHide quoteThanks Pete, xyzzy!

DVD-R #1 in general.

  But depends on your player - see compatibility with discs in the
videohelp.com -> DVD Players -> your dvd player specifications.  It'll
ist what others have found to be true.

----

Besides type, brand and make also matter.

eg. Maxell DVD-R Made in Japan or Verbatim DVD+R 16x discs tend to burn
with very low PI/PO error rates on most good burners, and they tend to
playback on most players better than others (see prior DV magazine, and
emediamagazine reports).

     Cheaper discs tend to have poorer error performance, and playback
deteriorates due to that.

     Sites such as cdrinfo.com and http://homepage2.nifty.com/yss/ and
http://dvd-r.jpn.org/ do very extensive tests of PI/PO error rates
across many burners across many media and are highly recommended as the
starting point for your study.

     If you just want a simply recommendation, Pioneer 111 series,
Plextor 716/760 series burning to Maxell/Verbatim stated above will
generall produce excellent results that'll play across most players.
(Plextor 716/760 recommended because they come with PI/PO error rate
scanning software for free and allow you to check all discs you burn for
high error/bad burns.)

     ---

     If you've bought a 'bad' burner that produces burns with high PI/PO
error rates across a variety of discs, then you're $#@$#@$.  Can't make
a great burn on a bad burner, so upgrade first!

     Even the Pioneer is going for <$50 today at www.newegg.com, so it
doesn't hurt to make sure you've got a solid burner first before
wondering why your player doesn't play a single disc.

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