Author:
D. Scott Salveson
Published: 20/12/01
AFFORDABLE,
RECORDABLE DVD
Competing Formats Threaten Our Sanity
Author’s
note: This is a significantly revised version of an article posted on Dec.
22, 2001.
With DVD recorder prices
dipping below the $500 mark and expected to decrease steadily in the coming
year, DVD is finally a viable option for convenient storage of up to 9.4 Gigs
of data on a single (double-sided) disc.
This makes DVD storage
attractive for a variety of tasks, from storing video to making convenient
backups of entire partitions. You know you want one. But – which one? Differences
between individual drives from competing manufacturers notwithstanding, there
are currently four different types of drives available, offering differing
degrees of compatibility and features. And if that’s not confusing enough,
there are even more different types of DVD discs.
Which Format Suits Your
Needs?
The four different types
of DVD recordable drives for the PC fall into three major categories: DVD-RAM,
DVD-R/-RW, and DVD+RW. Note that all are competing formats promoted by competing
groups of manufacturers, not entirely unlike the Beta vs. VHS competition
of the 1980s. All things considered, the major point of contention is whether
you are willing to give up speed and some other significant features for the
ability to play the discs you create in a wider range of drives and set-top
video DVD players. And with multi-format (DVD-RAM/DVD-R) drives beginning
to appear, it seems that no such compromise may be necessary – you will simply
have to decide which if this combination of formats meets your needs better
than the competing +RW format. Or perhaps more accurately, which format will
not be abandoned in favor of another in the future.
A
Note on Standalone Video DVD-R Components
Many people interested
in recordable DVD for their PCs will be wondering about compatibility with
DVD hardware found in home entertainment systems. Successful playback of DVD-R
discs is quite likely, with DVD-RW and DVD+RW discs following second and third.
DVD-RAM video playback on a standalone DVD machine is possible on a limited
selection of DVD video units (both players and standalone video recorders)
manufactured by supporters of the DVD-RAM format on the PC.
But what about the other
way around? Can you edit a disc made on a standalone DVD video recorder using
your PCs DVD-RW drive? That’s a good question, as these same formats are duking
it out in the home entertainment market, with different pieces of hardware
offering broader support coming out constantly.
The only useful rules
of thumb I was able to uncover in this area:
- If you want to produce
discs with video content intended for playback in the broadest possible
range of DVD players (both DVD Video and PC drives) -- choose a drive that
will record to DVD-R write once media.
This includes DVD-RW and some DVD-RAM drives, as well as the DVD-R only
units. Drives supporting the “old” 3.95 Gigabyte DVD-R discs will produce
the most compatible discs possible. Expect 90-95% of existing DVD video
players and drives to read these discs successfully, with the older, first
generation units dropping out when 4.7 Gig discs are used. Experience says
don’t assume anything – the Toshiba DVD player in my home theater system
won’t even play a CD-R.
- If you are not planning
to use the drive for video – just computer file storage – put DVD-R/-RW
at the bottom of your list
Plus… Minus… Dash? RAM?
Industry spokesmen are
quick to point out that while people pronounce D-V-D plus R-W out loud,
DVD-RW is not to be pronounced D-V-D minus R-W. That’s a clever bit
of marketing, I assume, by the DVD+RW Alliance, spinning an innocently silent
hyphen into a potentially interpreted negative. Should you think that’s just
a bit of coincidence, look at their site’s URL: www.dvdrw.com. Note the conspicuous absence
of the word “plus.” (The “+” symbol is an illegal character in a URL. www.DVDplusRW.com (and .org) is an unofficial
DVD+RW resource site.)
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