I'm totally new to the DVD world and I have 2 simple quesitions?

1) Does the standard DVD drive that come with the G5 computers burn dual sided DVDs?

2) If so, who sells the blank DVD and what are they called? (I'm guessing it's not just the standard DVD-R)

Thanks,
Suz

Any DVD burner will support 2-sided DVDs. All you have to do is flip to write to either side.

Just search for "2 sided DVD-R" and you should have no problem finding a store that sells them.

Okay... I actually wasn't expecting that response. But I'm thrilled to hear it. Now comes the nitty, gritty part:

I'm new to DVD SP and I want to burn a DVD that's 3 hours long, so I have to split it up. Either with 2 DVD's or a dual sided (which now looks like it's a possibility).

So, keeping on track with the dual sided option, how does one author the DVD to automatically "flip" to the other side? I know it will create a pause at the end of one of my cuts.

Thanks,
Suz

Maybe I'm wrong here, but my understanding is that a two sided DVD is just the same as two DVDs but on one disc. Except there's nowhere to put a label:)

So you just need to make two DVDs with the split where you want it and a screen explaining what the viewer has to do next.

Julian

Yes... actually making the DVD shouldn't be too much trouble. But I'm wanting to find out how to have the DVD automatically go from side A to side B. I don't want the viewer to have to do anything special. I'm authoring this in DVD SP.

Thanks again,
Suz

Oh, you're talking about Dual LAYER DVD perhaps? That's the only kind of DVD that automatically jumps to the next layer. A 2-sided DVD has to be flipped by the viewer. Treat it exactly as two DVD-Rs, just burn, flip, and burn side 2 like disc 2.

If you want dual layer discs, i.e. 8.5 GB that doesn't need to be flipped, you need to get them professionally manufactured.

Yeah. I was hoping that they were available to the consumer market, but I guess not. I've heard rumors that they might become available towards the end of the year. I guess I have to stick with 2 seperate DVDs for the moment. I just don't have the demand to have them professionally manufactured.

Thanks for the reply.
Suz

Sony is coming out with the DRU700 sometime this summer, but I don't know if it'll work with a Mac. Also I don't know if the Mac software will support dual layer DVD-R.