I'm relatively familiar with DVD burning, but I'm looking to buy a new burner for my PC and I know nothing about the dual-layer burners out there now. So I have a good number of questions and would appreciate any help: 1) I don't understand how dual-layer works for DVD Video versus a data disc. For example, I assume that if I burn a movie in DVD Video format with my dual layer drive, it should work okay in most DVD players. However, what I usually do is burn a data disc with XVID/DIVX videos to play in my Samsung DVD-R135 DVD recorder. So I burn the discs on my PC and then play them on my home theater system with the Samsung unit. Will I be able to burn dual-layer data discs that my Sammy can read? I'd like to be able to get twice as many xvid videos on a disc so I don't have to burn as many. But I'm not even sure if the Samsung would read it? If not, are there any other DIVX/XVID players out there that would read the dual-layer discs (not the PC drives, I'm talking DVD players/recorders)? 2) Can you give any recommendatons on a good dual-layer burners? And of course, dual-layer media as well. Thanks in advance.
I'm not up on my standalone players, but I can give you some advice on the burner and media... BenQ DW 1650/1655 can be had for around $40 and is one of the best burners on the market. NEC 3550 solid burner for about the same price. Pioneer 111D solid burner for about the same price. Lite-On make good quality burners as well. If price is no object the Plextor PX-716 is arguably the best burner on the market, but you can buy 2-3 of the other burner which are also solid performers for the same price. As for SL media: Verbatim - Made in Japan, Singapore or Taiwan. Taiyo Yuden - Only made in Japan and available online Fuji - Made in Japan only Maxell - Made in Japan only Sony - Made in Japan only For DL stick with Verbatim as the rest of the crew hasn't caught up with the game quality wise. Also only get +R DL media and booktype it to DVD-ROM for highest compatability. All the drives listed above are capable of bitsetting.
As I understand it (have not tried this yet), you can't burn a DL as a DVD-ROM and get straightforward, good results. The problem is that the two layers act like two separate discs that just so happen to share the same side, but without some way for the DVD reader to know where the last layer left off and where the next begins, you may have problems. With DVD-Video, navigation data within the VOBs tell the player where the layer break will be so that the player can continue reading after the break. The burning software also sets a layer-break flag to let the player know. This won't happen, AFAIK, with data burned to a DL disc. I'm not even sure a computer DVD reader will read such a disc correctly.
Yes you can and it is recommended that you booktype them dvd-rom for greater compatability. Set top players are even more finicky with dvd+r DL media not booktyped dvd-rom than they are with dvd+r SL media not booktyped dvd-rom. In other words, your set top player may play dvd+r media not booktyped dvd-rom but still not play dvd+r DL media unless it is booktyped dvd-rom.
I'm not talking about booktyping, I'm talking about the much more fundamental issue of whether or not data spread across the two layers will be contiguous absent some method of telling a DVD reader/player where the layer break is and where to look for data after it. On a Video DVD that's easy enough because you have Navpacks within the VOB files to tell you where everything is, but on a data DVD it's not so straightforward. How does the reader know where layer 1 ends and layer 2 begins? You're correct that booktyping any +R to DVD-ROM is a good idea for compatibility reasons, but booktyping is a gimmick used to trick DVD players into thinking it's dealing with a pressed disc; unfortunately, it has no bearing on the data-handling capability of the discs themselves. If you or anyone else here has personally burned a DVD-ROM on a DL then great, and please share the details of what you used to burn it: it's important to know if DL can be used for data purposes as readily as it can be for video.
As to the issue of burning a dvd-dl video disc and the layerbreak. In the settings menu of ImgBurn under the "write" tab their a few options for this issue. One is ImgBurn can calculate the optimal layer break/transition for you when burning OR if your using DVD-R DL it has a feature called "Layer Jump Recording" which I can only assumes tells the dvd player to focus its layer on the other layer. And I am pretty sure that most standalone dvd players need to say they support DVD-/+R DL to actually play them, im not certain on this but it may be something you may want to check on before buying dl discs.
How about the use of TDK as a media for burning? I have had better luck with it than with any other brands.
It's garbage. Are you sure you've tried all the brands Locoeng mentioned? What problems have you had?
Okay guys, I almost forgot to post back with my results but here I am! So here's the details: I'm using an LG GSA-H10L burner on my PC and a Samsung DVD-R135 dvd recorder with my home theater setup. I bought a pack of Verbatim DVD+R DL discs and did indeed successfully burn several discs with DVD-ROM material (in this case, Xvid movie files). I used Imageburn to burn the discs and booktyped them to DVD-ROM like suggested. All of the Xvid movies that I burned to the DL disc show up in the contents on my DVD recorder's menu and I am able to jump to any of the movies without problems. I haven't watched all of the movies on each disc yet to see how it actually handles the layer change, however. I'm not sure if it only puts full movies on each layer or if it breaks one of them up. Anyway, I suspect it shouldn't have a problem but I'll report back if it does. Thanks again for the help.
I am looking for a repalcement DVD burner and, in searching for the BenQ 1650, find the 16[bold]7[/bold]0 available. As was previously mentioned there's not much info on the BenQ website - does anyone know if this is a newer (or older) model? Thanks, Wardzone
Some folks have criticized it for not using the same basic chipset and components of the tried-and-true 1650/1655. But none of those folks AFAIK have tried it. Videohelp has one user comment: http://www.videohelp.com/dvdwriters...ame&hits=50&Search=Search#featuresandcomments
I don't have a 1670 but as stated by Dunker, it uses a matsushita chipset as opposed to the phillips/benq chipset the 1620, 1640, 1650, and 1655 use. It is not compatable with qsuite and although it is bitset capable, it will not work with the benq booktype management utility or the booktype utility incorperated in qsuite. I consider these disadvantages and would recommend the 1650, 1655, or even the 1640 over the 1670.
Thanks to you both for your responses. I have found a firmware update for my LG burner, so I will install and try that. If I do not begin to get good burns again I will try to locate the 1650. Thanks again, Wardzone
