Do you use DVD-DL discs?

[RA40]

The current cost is still putting me off from buying them since a typical 4.7G disc can cost about $.20 each. Sometimes, I think the convenience would be nicer only having one disc but to me price wins out. (Darn penny pinchy side. )

??

 

[raggie33]

i think ill skip dl and go to bluray disk

 

[IsaacHayes]

If you shrink your movies to make them fit and then gets a high def TV you'll want to start using DL, and get an upconvert dvd player as well. They are around 1.20 each at some places.

 

[jtr1962]

The only real use for DL disks is when a DVD movie won't fit on a standard disk. If you drop all the extra crap and some sound tracks, you can often make the movie fit with minimal, or no, compression. I might buy a pack of DL disks just for those rare times I want to keep an entire DVD intact. However, as a general rule their price is still too high, and their utility still too limited.

 

[PhantomPhoton]

I don't use DVDs for actually watching DVD movies, just for data storage in superior compression formts. So when I'm trying to archive a whole season of a TV show or something It would be nice to have more storage space, and less disks to take up room, but in the end the double capacity doesn't make up for the quadruple cost. I haven't yet used a DL.
I'm still not very sold on Blu Ray or the now all but doomed HD DVD. I am hoping I can stick with DVDs until something newer comes along, or at least wait until Blu Rays are well under $100 for a burner. I know I can make it another couple years on DVDs.

 

[RA40]

The cost of DL media hasn't dropped as much as I thought it would, I've been waiting and waiting... There doesn't seem to be a range of manufacturers producing it. It's sad...the technology is there but it's not quiet at the affordable prices we see CD-R and 4.7 DVDs.

 

[raggie33]

im sure it will be replaced by bluray unless they drop the price quickly

 

[axolotls]

I occasionally use DL discs, but they are tricky and if you screw up it can become expensive.

I feel that most of the DL discs on the market are all defective.

Taiyo-Yuden DL are the only ones proven (to me) to work 99% of the time.

Be careful +DL's are not the same as -DL's... My writer can't even read a +DL disc (in fact I never knew they existed till I bought some on the cheap).

 

[Copperplate]

Not only is making a DL coaster expensive, but you also waste one or more hours copying and burning the DVD. I found that to minimize bad copies, there are at least three factors to consider.

1. The brand: there are a few excellent brands. Many people recommend Verbatim 2.4x DVD+R DL.
2. The write speed: I read that the slower the write speed, the better the copy. The speed 2.4x is recommended for DL.
3. The burner software: some programs burn to DL better than others and offer a variety of features, so search for the one that meets your requirements.

I'm not an expert in this field, so I'm sure there are many other considerations (hardware, source DVD, computer settings, etc.). Two excellent internet resources for DVD basics, product reviews, and free downloads are http://videohelp.com and http://doom9.org .

 

[monkeyboy]

I bought one of the first DVD DL external drives for my laptop. I had it for a couple of years but ended up never burning a single dvd dl. I think there were a few reasons for this:

1) I never needed more space than a single layer DVD provided.
2) DL discs were MUCH more expensive (at the time anyway) and with the cheap DVD movies you can get these days, you might as well just buy the movie.
3) DL is less reliable
4) Slower recording speeds.

Things might have changed since then.