Quality DVD-RW / DVD+RW media

[markrb]

I want to get a few RW DVD's and since I am getting the Sony DRU500A I can use either format.

Is there a plus to one format over the other? My stand alones can play either.

I went to my local Best Buy and they sold Fuji are these any good?
A 5 pack of the DVD+RW was $30 is this an OK price?

They also sold the Memorex, but after my experience with their CDRW's I will never trust their stuff again.

Any other suggestions for a someone in the States?
For the RW's I am willing to spend a little more to get better quality and faster speeds.

Thanks,
Mark

[alexnoe]

Verbatim is always a good idea. No idea if Fuji makes their own media.

[EcchiNut]

the +format is much nicer for RE-writing. Instead of writing a whole disc for instance, to change maybe a re-encoded vob, you would just have to re-write that vob, instead of the whole disc. or something like that. Thats at least what the +RW Alliance Marketing department is churning out. I use a -format burner, so im probably not the right person to ask for sure.

[alexnoe]

The + format always uses packet writing, that's why you are made believe that what you describe is an advantage.
In fact, you can also use DVD-RW for packet writing and then do the very same...only the quick format is not yet available for DVD-RW, but that's a matter of time only.

[Reggatta Mondatta]

I have used nothing but Verbatim and Fuji DVD+RW/+R media with a hp dvd200e. Consistently burn at the full 2.4x. No failures/bad burns yet after 100+ burns.

Best Buy is current selling the Fuji DVD+R 25-pack for $39.99 ($1.60 per disk) after rebates. It appears they have some type of special at least every two weeks. I have yet to pay more than $1.70 per DVD+R disk (Verbatim and Fuji) thanks to their various specials.

Regards,

RM

[jsl]

Originally posted by alexnoe
The + format always uses packet writing, that's why you are made believe that what you describe is an advantage.
In fact, you can also use DVD-RW for packet writing and then do the very same...only the quick format is not yet available for DVD-RW, but that's a matter of time only.

But you can't make DVD-RW DVD-Video compatible if packet writing is used and I'm not sure I would say that DVD+RW always uses "packet writing", to quote http://fy.chalmers.se/~appro/linux/DVD+RW/:

Sometimes DVD+RW/+R recording strategy is referred to as packet writing. I myself am reluctant to call it so (or TAO/SAO/DAO) for the following reason. Despite the fact that DVD-R[W] provides for lossless linking (within a packet/extent only?), packets are still denoted by certain linking information which distinguishes it (recording mode in question) from e.g. Disk-at-once. Now the point is that written DVD+RW/+R media, rather its Data Zone, does not contain any linking information and is logically indistinguishable from one written in DVD-R[W] Disc-at-once mode (or DVD-ROM for that matter).

And if we are talking about "real" packet writing (like Mt. Rainer) DVD-RW is worse than DVD+RW for the following reason (quote from http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/tech/stream/DVD/DVDRW_support.asp)

Unlike DVD+R/RW technologies, DVD-RW currently requires writes in 32K chunks, aligned on 32K boundaries. Because the sector size of the media is 2K, this causes significant problems for Windows cache manager and file systems. Furthermore, to write to packet N on DVD-RW media, packet N-1 must be written to first. This means that data must be written sequentially to be space efficient.

Anyway if you own a DRU-500A why use the slower DVD-RW format? To answer the original question I would recommend Verbatim DVD+RW. Fuji might be ok too (probably made by Ricoh) but I prefer media made by MCC.

[victorfabulous]

best buy has Memorex dvd+r 50 pack for $69.99~they are flawless
also have tried the fugi & verbatium +r/rw but Memorex has the biggest spindle: less than a $1.50 per dvd~my burner is the hp 200i

[ux-3]

Only word of mouth: Don't bother with DVD-RW, Data securitry is supposed to be better on +

[markrb]

ux-3 said:
Only word of mouth: Don't bother with DVD-RW, Data securitry is supposed to be better on +
Why would I or should I care? Do you mean data integrity instead?
Not flaming, just confused.

Mark

[alexnoe]

OK, some *facts*:

The error correction sceme on DVDs uses chunks of 16 sectors of 2 kBytes. *Anything* which is DVD-ROM compliant has to use such chunks of 32 kBytes, nothing else. If DVD+RW indeed supports smaller pieces, then the drive either caches the data and stores it later (ridiculous, since a power loss would disrupt more data) or always rewrites the entire 32 kByte block. Both can be done on DVD-RW as well.

M$ is not interested in delivering information BTW. They just want you to buy their next OS.

But you can't make DVD-RW DVD-Video compatible if packet writing is used and I'm not sure I would say that DVD+RW always uses "packet writing", I've taken this info from the author of cdrtools (which also support DVD recording, and I hope that the author of a free DVD recording software knows which write modes each format supports)
Only word of mouth: Don't bother with DVD-RW, Data securitry is supposed to be better on +DVD+RW can use defect management (as you know it from hard discs). If you write to a scratched area, it can be remapped to somewhere else and the disc can still be used.
However, no drive currently supports that as to my information...but not sure about that.
A badly scratched DVD-RW disc is trash indeed.

[markrb]

Best Buy is current selling the Fuji DVD+R 25-pack for $39.99 ($1.60 per disk) after rebates. It appears they have some type of special at least every two weeks. I have yet to pay more than $1.70 per DVD+R disk (Verbatim and Fuji) thanks to their various specials.
Thanks for the heads up. It worked out really well since I had a coupon that if I spent $100 at BB I got a $25 gift card by mail and I was $45 short and Since these discs are $47 before MIR I qualified.

Now the sad part is that I won't be able to play with the drive until after the 5th of January because of a trip.

Mark

[2COOL]

It's hard sometimes to tell what IS the best media brand to get as what you think is a successful errorless burn might not play on your specific standalone. In my case, I bought Memorex DVD+Rs and it work for me for a while on my Sony DVP-S300 standalone but more frequently, I have had a lot of stuttering and crashes in the middle of my movies. It plays fine on my friends' standalones ranging from Apex, JVC, Panasonic, and Toshiba. I like to blame it on the media but really I like to blame it more on my Sony as it the laser doesn't like Memorex. I also bought Phillips DVD+R and so far 50 out of 50 work great for me and my Sony.

We shouldn't be too concern about what's the best media or best bang for the buck but what's experience others had on your EXACT DVD player's make and model. I could just go and buy an Apex DVD player and as far as I've heard, it plays close to any brands without problems. So if I had an Apex, I could really post and say all these brands I buy work flawlessly on my player so these are the best brands you should buy.

Not all DVD players are built the same.

[The Norwegian]

I purchased a Sony DRU-500a and upgraded to the new 1.0f firmware.
I use PRINCO DVD-R which cost me in Euro 16.85,- (10 pcs.)
The Sony works perfect with these Princo DVD's and i have a very
cheap provision DVD player in my home which plays the princo's without any problem. The only thing is that the loading time is a
bit longer in my provision player.

Software used is the DVD X copy v1.22

I normaly test a copy to 2 DVD+RW's and also to 2 DVD-RW's when i make a backup en when it works write it to final Princo DVD's.

Good luck !!!!

[Kennyshin]

It appears that 2.4x DVD+R media price has already fallen to nearly $1 in some parts of the world. At least one manufacturer quotes 10,000 unit price of about $1. 4.0x DVD+R media price will initially start from about $1.2 in quantity of 10,000 units.

[TOPPERVEGA]

I M NOT SURE IF THE INITIAL QUESTION WAS PRICE OR DVD+ VS DVD-.
AS FAR AS + VS - I USE ALOT OF - BECAUSE THE PRICE SEEMS TO B CHEAPER, BUT THE + WRITES FASTER & ERASES FASTER. I TOO HAVE A SONY DRU 500A AND LOVE THE FLEXABILITY. AS FAR AS PRICE UNLESS U R DESPERATE DON'T BUY AT BEST BUY, STAPLES, ETC. THEY RIP U OFF. I BUY ONLINE AND I M NOT GOING TO SUGGEST 1 SITE OVER ANOTHER BUT WHATEVER SITE U PICK IT WILL B A 100 TIMES CHEAPER THAN BB OR STAPLES. THE ONLY STORE I GOT A SEMI GOOD DEAL IN WAS SAM'S CLUB. I GOT 12 VERBATIM 2.4X SPEED DVD+R FOR 23.95. BUT THE NEXT TIME I WENT BACK FOR MORE THEY WERE GONE.
PEACE.

[alexnoe]

your shift- or caps-lock key is broken :scared:

[TOPPERVEGA]

didn't even realize i was in uppercase...

[rauly31]

If the question was regarding price versus quality, BestBuy.com is listing a 50-pack spindel of Verbatim DVD+R and DVD-R for $99.99 plus free shipping. That's a steal for Tier-1 Media. I've had almost 99% success rate with this brand (I f**ked up a few when I was first learning). My brother bought me a pack of 5 Fuji brand media to back up some DVDs for him and they worked just fine. I personally don't use them but they worked fine for my bro.