I want to get my wife a DVD burner for her desk top computer. She has a digital video camera and she like editing the movies. Currently she has to burn SVCD's. I do not understand the -R +R stuff. She needs to burn DVD's that will play in the DVD player on our home theater system and hopefully on the DVD players of the rest of the family. Anybody have any advice to offer? Internal versus external? Brands? Formats? Thanks, Rookie
Internal, combo drives(uses both +/- formats) Stick with a good name brand...Sony, Plextor, NEC. I only have a NEC 4X DVD+R burner, but it works great and I havent found a player yet that wont play what I burn. Some will same one format is better than the other...but I dont thin it matters. The argument used to center on which one had cheaper media...but the media for both formats is the same price these days...
I suggest getting a combo DVD burner also (+/-). blank dvd's for -R is cheaper than +R. And I assume internal is a lot cheaper and faster than external. I don't remember exactly the percentages of DVD players that support the - versus the +. I believe it was 80 something percent of dvd players support the + and 90 something percent supports the - format. It could be the other way around. But if you have a new DVD player, it should support both.
1st) not true anymore. go into your local electronics/office supply store and look. the prices for the DVD spindles are exactly the same. 2nd) Last I heard, the + format had the larger support among standalone dvd players...but that very well could have changed since I last checked. it really doesnt matter that much anymore, since the combo drive prices have come down. there is no reason not to go combo if you are buying today.
Avoid HP, has crashed my Win 2000 and Win XP several times. Check out this link for advice on any electronics.... http://shopper.cnet.com/?tag=cnetfd.sb then when you want to find the lowest price, do a search by brand name and name of player at this link... www.pricewatch.com
I suggest waiting until they decide on a definite standard. The current crop of dvd burners will probably be useless in under 2 years.
I dont agree Dan. the whole reasoning behind releasing combo drives was so you are covered no matter what the standard ends up being...btw, I dont think they will ever agree...by the time they do, Blue-laser dvd burning will be within the reach of the average home user. and blue-laser will be backward compatible by all accounts I have read.
dang no edit... I couldnt remember the technical name for the blue laser technology when I hit submit, and then it came to me. it is Blu-Ray...and will be capable of burning 27GB to a disc
