dvd burner

Are you confused over which dvd burner to get?

Let us give you the simple facts for you to understand.

Currently, there are 3 dvd burner formats.

	DVD-R/RW
	DVD+R/RW
	DVD-RAM

Which format to get?

There are a few factors to consider.

DVD burner compatibility issue

Ideally speaking, you want a disc that can play in all existing dvd players and dvd-rom drives.

DVD-R and DVD+R formats means you can write once only to the DVD. It is similar to the DVD movies you buy from the shop to play on your DVD players. After recording, it is permanent. You can read it but you cannot write on it again.

DVD-R is the most compatible DVD format available. DVD-R can be played on almost all ( 96 %) DVD players ,DVD-drives and other play- back devices. DVD+R however, can be played on 87 % of all DVD players and DVD drives according to CDR-Info. As for DVD+RW and DVD-RW they are less compatible due to their lower reflectivity and can only be played on some and not all ( about 70%) DVD players and DVD-ROMs.

I have also found out that DVD-R/DVD-RW format is the dominant format and accounted for 62% of global market share last year(2002).

For those scratching their heads on which format to support , fret not. There are drives that support both plus and minus format. I understand Sony and Pioneer have come out with such burners and have been well received.

DVD-RAM unfortunately ,cannot be played on home DVD players.

DVD burner speed

The maximum speed for DVD-RW and DVD-RAM have a maximum speed of 2X while DVD+RW has a maximum write speed of 4X.

In other words, if speed is important to you, when choosing between DVD-RW , DVD+RW and DVD-RAM, you might want to go for the DVD+RW with write speed of 4X.

For DVD-R and DVD+R, the maximum write speed is 4X

DVD Formating

DVD+RW can format disks very quickly when compared to DVD-RW.

DVD-RW requires formatting software to format the disk. Depending on the software and the version, formatting the disk can take as long as an hour.

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