Tell me about DVD burners

Do they burn both CD and DVD's? What's a good affordable burner and where do I get it? How much are the DVD blanks?

most burn both .if i was you id wait a bit there is a new technlgy about to come out it is out kinda now but it is still expensive and the media is hard to find .the new tech i speak of is duallayer it has twice the capacity of curent dvd blanks it is 9 gigs per dvd. ilike lite on burners

tkl,
Are you refering to a stand-alone recorder, or an internal unit for the computer?

[ QUOTE ]
Fitz said:
tkl,
Are you refering to a stand-alone recorder, or an internal unit for the computer?

[/ QUOTE ] For my cpu, I guess. Not familiar with any of them.

I'll have to echo what raggie said, I have two lite-on burners (DVD) and they have thusfar performed flawlessly. I like them the best. The only other two that I have experience with, an NEC 1300A and a Philips, both have limitations, albeit small, that do not suit my needs.

Abbie

What's this new technology?

What does the plus and minus mean? There are DVD-R, DVD+R, and DVD+-R. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

there formats it used to be a big deal but id just get a dual format burner now

Well, in that case I would recommend an NEC 2500A for the price. I have one and haven't had any problems with it. Another one to check out is the Lite-On SOHW 812S, though it costs a bit more. Both are available in black or beige, and are 8X DVD-R and DVD+R. Blanks are around a buck a piece right now for decent stuff, but are getting cheaper. I buy most all of my stuff from Newegg.com. Highly recommended!

NEC 2500A

Lite-On SOHW-812S

DVD-R/W was the first DVD recording format released that was compatible with standalone DVD Players.
DVD-R is a non-rewriteable format and it is compatible with about 91% of all DVD Players and most DVD-ROMs.
DVD-RW is a rewriteable format and it is compatible with about 74% of all DVD Players and most DVD-ROMs.
DVD-R/W supports single side 4.7 GB* DVDs(called DVD-5) and double side 9.4 GB* DVDs(called DVD-10).

DVD+R/W has some better features than DVD-R/W such as lossless linking and both CAV and CLV writing.
DVD+R is a non-rewritable format and it is compatible with about 86% of all DVD Players and most DVD-ROMs.
DVD+RW is a rewritable format and is compatible with about 74% of all DVD Players and most DVD-ROMs.
DVD+R/W supports single side 4.7 GB* DVDs(called DVD-5) and double side 9.4 GB* DVDs(called DVD-10).

http://www.videohelp.com/dvd

pssst there is work on a hack to make the 812 dual layer. lite on burners are fun to hack mine is hacked from a lite on 401 to a 811

Here's a two part guide to CD/DVD burners and media- It should answer a lot of questions about the subject:

pcstats.com

DVD may end up being the 8-Track-Tape of the 21st century. They have much in common. 8-tracks were everywhere, too, for a while. 8-track was a rotten recording medium but it had something that DVDs will never have -- any 8-Track cartridge would play in any 8-Track deck. The DVD people have squandered years and years that they could have spent conditioning users to use their media for archiving. When the cheap DVD burners finally did come out, there were three different standards. Now they have a crappy burning system with no solid compatibility between disks burnt on different drives. As an archiving medium it has never matured in all of these years. For this reason alone, DVD will be replaced with newer technology. IMO it is doomed.

8-Tracks were really popular -- in spite of their incredibly poor design.

32 GB capacity on one Blu-Ray disk, recordable and affordable right from the get-go will be the death knell of the DVD.

Blu-Ray or the enhanced-DVD drives will still play your old DVD disks.

using a lite-on 8x dvd burner. Oh, don't forget about software. Throw away whatever software comes with it(unless it's Nero) and get Nero 6. This is by far the best burning software I've come across yet. Just my opinion though.

All I know about burners is that my dad had a CD Burner in his computer. Decided he needed a DVD Drive so he goes out and buys a DVD burner! What's wrong with this??

Quite some time ago we purchased 2 spindles of blank CDs, 100 CD-Rs each. When I got a burner in my computer one of the half used spindles moved down to my room. That spindle is almost gone now, and the other one--still in it's shrink-wrap. I got my burner 6 months ago.

What am I saying? He's never even burned a CD. I'm just shaking my head on this one.

Just bought one last Saturday (6-5-2004). It's a Lite-On. Only burned a CD with some pictures on it though.
Most of these new drives are Dual format (mine included) so they should be compataible now.

I had been waiting a long time for DVD burners ever since they were big large external drives that cost several hundred dollars. Now, the price has dropped to my affordable level (I bought mine for just $110) and the newer features make them easier to use.

From what I had heard, burning a DVD should be like burning a CD, only it takes longer

They work fine, I use one for data. A waste of time though to use them for copying a movie DVD. You can do it, there are copy programs that work but it takes a long time and considering that I can buy an original for $15.00 or so, it's not worth the effort.

Al