I need to send home movies of baby to granparents back east. I can capture and edit my mini dv onto my hard drive. I need to buy a dvd burner but the only burner for my Dell laptop is a +R. I've been told cheap dvd players can only read -R discs. What is the best direction for me to take?
Thank you !!
dvd-r are a lot more compatible on set top dvd players so it would probibly be better to use -r discs. You can get and external burner that will conect by using your usb ports and most of them will be able to burn both +/- R
A lot of times the "cheap" players work better than the not so cheap players. Sometimes it also depends on how good of a media you are using. I use Ritek G04 and have yet to play in a player and it not work. (not to say they won't I just haven't had the prob yet) BTW one of the players I use all the time is an Apex the other used for the kids is a Mintek if that aint cheap I don't know what is. :O)
Quote:but the only burner for my Dell laptop is a +R.
Are you sure?..I'm, no expert on Dells, but that doesn't sound quite right. Most all the newer DVD burners burn both formats these days, as well as +/- RW formats. Is your laptop an older model? What are the specs? Does it have USB2 ports?.. etc.
Anyway, there is no sure way to tell beforehand if + media will play on their machine..especially without more information on what they have. How old is their player? As michigan said, even the cheap players these days play both formats. And I have an older (3 yrs and fairly cheap) Panasonic standalone that plays + discs beautifully, even tho the manual doesn't list that as a supported format...so ya never know.
It can't be stressed enough to use high quality blank media for dvd projects. Ritek G04 or Verbatim are recommended. Most of the problems with homemade dvd's and standalone players are due to cheap media being used, not +/- issues. For what it's worth, friends and family have borrowed my + disc movies and have had no problems watching them.
Hope this helps, Doohickey ;)
I have a Dell burner (just got it), and the cheapest dvd player there is. I burned my first dvd and it works beautifully on my cheapy dvd player as if it was the real thing, no skips, no jumps, no fuss. I'm in heaven. My burner can do both -/+R. I worked for 5 days and lots of money (got it all back) and the software that worked for me was for burning dvds was the freeware, amazing. I don't think I will ever buy software again. I would have known about the freeware if I hadn't of read all the posts at this site. Thank you all.
Oh yeah, I forgot, and I burn +s and they work wonderful. And as I said, my dell burner burns - and +. I think yout worrying too much. And there is always returns and refunds.
As the "DooMiester" alluded to already, if your laptop is USB2 capable then there are several models of external dual-format burners to choose from that work very well.
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This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 26. April 2004 @ 19:44
