I am soooooo new to this so forgive me if this seems a daft question.
I just bought the NEC ND3500A dual-layer burner and Im wondering what the difference is between dvd-r and dvd+r? Also which media do you experienced mates use for burning copies of your fav movies?
I hear that Verbatim is best or Ritek, but do I buy the 2X? the 4X? the 8X ?
The 2x/4x/8x denominations indicate at what speed the media can be burned: 2x - 30 minutes, 4x - 15 minutes, 8x - 8 minutes (rough estimates). Slower media tends to be cheaper, obviously, so it's really a question of how much your time is worth...
What media you should choose depends on how much you're willing to spend and how much you care about whether the disks will still be readable later on. That's not to say that all cheap media is completely unreliable, just that there's plenty of examples of (very) cheap media going bad.
There's plenty of good media out there. Verbatim is certainly quite good (that's what I use for my 3500a at the moment), but there's also Taiyo Yuden and several others. If you live in the US, you can get a very good price for Taiyo Yudens at rima.com - I certainly wish I could get them at that price.
Opinions about Ritek are mixed, especially about their new 8x media, but their 4x media is generally very well thought of. If you do decide to go with them, make sure that it's branded by either Ridata or Traxdata (they're the in-house brands of Ritek).
We were all new at this at one point (some of us not too long ago). If you are new, point your browser to www.nomorecoasters.com and read the FAQ that appears on the front page. That will get you on the ball. It's eye opening to know that the media can be branded the same but *very* different where it counts.
Quote:We were all new at this at one point (some of us not too long ago). If you are new, point your browser to www.nomorecoasters.com and read the FAQ that appears on the front page. That will get you on the ball. It's eye opening to know that the media can be branded the same but *very* different where it counts.
Well, I would agree that many brands can't be trusted, but simply relying on media codes instead isn't much of an alternative. In fact, one might even do worse that way.
Going for specific combinations of brands AND media codes is - in my opinion - the best approach for the time being. There are also some brands that still delivers decent quality most of the time (Verbatim, Maxell, Taiyo Yuden, etc).
When it comes to choosing DVD-R or DVD+R you first need to know which type your burner will accept. It may burn either type. Secondly, you need to know which type your DVD player will read. It also may read both types. Whichever type of DVD you use I would suggest that you always burn one speed slower than the rated speed of the DVD and you will have greater success backing up movies. I have burned many DVD's, both -R and +R. Personally, I prefer +R. I have a Plextor 712A. It will burn some DVD+r 8X rated DVD's at 12X.
DVD-R was the first format to come out. It is not a minus but a dash. Just like CD-R. Philips (if i'm not mistaken) decided to come up with their own format so they wouldn't have to pay for the right to use -R. They probably named it +R for a marketing ploy. Now most people think That dash R is minus R and that maybe they should use +R.
Most older DVD Players play -R. Most new DVD players play both. Very few only play +R.
On my burner +R discs will burn faster up to 16x but I don't care because I burn slowly for quality. DVD-R is less expensive and will work on more DVD players so that is what I use.
