I'm finally upgrading my desktop and am considering a dual layer DVD-+RW. Is it that much better than the single layer drives? I was looking at the LaCie d2 8x but I've been using Plextor drives for the past few years and they've been great. Any suggestions on other brands I should be looking at? Thanks, shawna
NEC 3520 or 3540 or Pioneer 109... They are both great buys!!! Dual layer burners are about as cheap as single layer burners now. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ategory=0&minPrice=&maxPrice=&Go.x=13&Go.y=37 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ategory=0&minPrice=&maxPrice=&Go.x=12&Go.y=31
I've got 2 of these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ategory=0&minPrice=&maxPrice=&Go.x=15&Go.y=29 The booktyping of dvd plus format to dvd-rom makes my dvd backups near 100% compatable on the many different stand alone players/ps2/and pc drives i play them in! I haven't tried the dual layer media yet.I'm just a poor sap. There's a sale at Office depot on them so I will find out this weekend.The prices of dl media is falling now, finally! That's what has been holding many of us up. Plextor is said to be the best. Pioneer can't booktype,but maybe with a hacked fw. Nec 3520 and 3540 also great quality drives. Good Luck
I have a DL burner but if you check videohelp it seems that compatibility with DVD players is an issue. As Katmandoo pointed out though it come in useful later especially with backups (2 DVDs now 1).
The prices of dual layer media are falling. I just got some last week for $3.50 each at office depot. After my first backup on verbatim +2.4x dl, that 7.8 gig movie was near original! That dvd was adult oriented and had over an hour of bonus goodies on it.I didn't want to cut that out and I didn't want to compress it twice, LOL Destra: That is just a guide line. I've seen many players specs stating they plus certain formats and they don't and I have seen my players not being able to play certain formats and play beautifully.If you have a quality,book-typing dvd-rw like the plextor or benq,the compatability on many different stand alones are phenomenal. I have 5 pc drives and here's the difference among my own person drives that they are played on. 2 Benq 1620s, Booktyped dvd rom/dvd +/and dash- Play in both my pcs,dvd rom drive,tv home recorder,apex 1110 player,and sony dvp-ns325 player. Kypermedia +8x,Plus format only,worked on all drives but the I/O magic 16x and apex 1110.This had to go! I/O magic 16x:This burner sucked ass so bad-even booktyping didn't do help and it had the bit-setting capability. The dash played in all those drives, the booktyped dvd rom would only play in my sony! Totally sucked.My pc drives wouldn't recognize those backups except for the I/O drive itself. HP640C lightscribe: This burner didn't last long in my pc.After finding out my liteon 167t and both my benqs couldn't re-rip my backups,my benq 1620 with 1500+ burns replaced it. Notice my sony dvp-ns325 plays everything from all those burners,even my tv recorder in all the formats including dvd+r DL!The rest of my drives had a few problems with certain lower quality burners,even when I used Taiyo Yuden media and a 4x burn speed. When your backups play in all those drives I have and add another 30 or so including ps2's and other pc drives among my friends and family, it all comes down to quality and compatability. Quality for both burner and media is critical.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BLANK DL BURNERS PRICES MIGHT HAVE GONE DOWN BUT DL MEDIA PRICES ARE INSANE
Even 3 and a half bucks each is steep. I just wanted to bust my benqs cherry with a few of them.I also wanted to see how my players reacted to them and they passed my test.Sweet! A few months ago they were $10 a piece. They should go even cheaper with blu-ray coming out.
