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DVD-9 vs. DVD-5 question

Discussion in 'DVDR' started by Kurgan, Sep 6, 2003.

  1. Kurgan

    Kurgan Guest


    I looked around and found lots of How-To answers here on Afterdawn, but I couldn't find anything that explained "Why" some of these problems exist, and I would very much like to understand that.

    I attempted to make a copy of a DVD today, and discovered for the first time the fact that DVD-R discs are too small to copy a full DVD. I was stunned. I had no idea that a store-bought disc is what I now understand to be called a DVD-9, whereas the media we buy to record with is only DVD-5. The only thing I found commenting on this said that "it is impossible to create blank media that is dual layered." Well, obviously that's not true, since the DVDs in the stores exist and, I'm sure, didn't start out with the movies on them. So, I suppose the real question is, why can't WE do it? Why *can't* our burners (I have a Pioneer DVR-106) burn to them? What burners DO burn them? What do the people that make the original movies use?

    This goes beyond the ability to copy DVDs. I simply want to be able to have the greater storage capacity for backing up my files. I've got stacks of CDs that I'm tired of storing and/or lugging around, and being able to transfer all the data over to DVD-9s (or larger) would be a God-send. Will we ever be able to do this?

    Kurgan



     
  2. Pariah

    Pariah Regular member

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    DVD-9's aren't even as big as they get. Some DVDs are DVD-18's with twice as much storage as a DVD-9. As for systems that will let you copy to a 9 or 18, you can probably get one on the internet (maybe even Ebay) if you have a few thousand dollars to burn. The salt in the wound would be trying to find the blank DVDs of that length, which would probably be harder to obtain than a system capable of recording to it. CD-Rs eventually grew in capacity for the public from 74 to 80 (and now 99min) as manufactures won over time against the music industry. Wait a few years and we will probably get the systems and the disks available commercially...but don't hold your breath on it.
     
  3. Kurgan

    Kurgan Guest


    Well, I wasn't counting the DVD-18s simply because they are just variations on the same theme, in this case a double-sided DVD-9. If you could write to a 9, you could write to an 18.

    As for the larger CD media, that's not entirely true. 700 mb is actually the largest true size on the market. The so-called larger media (800+ megs) are actually the same physical size as the 700s, but they are supposedly rated to be capable of overburning or using the traditionally reserved space on the media for indices, etc. I know that's not the best way to word it, and will give a false impression, but it's close enough to give the correct idea. The way they make use of the space is different, and you will end up with a disc that is probably faulty, or will become so soon enough, and that's not counting the probablility of damaging the hardware. Anyway, that turned out to be a real disappointment, as I was looking forward to them a lot.

    As for the original question, am I to assume then that, as you imply, the problem is strictly the two points of A) the hardware is too expensive for the consumer market, and B) the media is only sold to "official" sources, eg. people that make retail DVD releases? I don't like it, but at least that would explain it.


    Kurgan


     
  4. Pariah

    Pariah Regular member

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    Yep, that pretty much sums it up. I'm sure there are unofficial channels by which you can get both the DVD-9 blanks and the hardware (ie an authorized facility buys it "for their use", but really resells it for profit).
     
  5. sly_61019

    sly_61019 Senior member

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    The reason why we cant burn dvd-9 dvds is because these discs are pressed with a machine, not burned.
     
  6. koola

    koola Guest

    Didn't know DVD9 discs were pressed, always thought they were burned(lol). If you could get the machine to press DVD9 disc's, it would be so expensive!
    It is probs not worth it as you can backup DVD9 to DVD5 with good quality now.
     

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