Hello everyone,

I am looking for some thougths and opinions regarding DVD Dual Layer discs.

1) why are DVD+R DL discs more common than DVD-R DL discs?

2) are there differences between the two beside the obivious that you can't burn one that doesn't work in a particular burner?

3) are there playback issues with either type of disc?

4) if your stand along DVD player plays DVD-R's, generally will it play DVD-R DL discs?

Thanks in advance; hope you don't mind share and shedding the light regarding this topic to a newbie.

Cheers to all!!

The DVD-R DL standard just came out.
DVD+R DL discs can be bit set to DVD-ROM. I do not know if the same can be said of DVD-R DL.
Yes. Some players do not play burned discs, as you know.
Who knows? Probably not because it is so new.

I'd go for DVD+RL for the reasons Emre listed. I like the faster burning rates available for the DVD+R DL and DVD+RW media.

I'm actually burning at 6x on a Plextor PX-755A. A major downside for me is burning reliability on DVD+R DL. There are too many coasters from various DL media on my burners (Plextor PX-755A and BenQ1655) with DL, regardless of the burning speed. I am not totally sure if the media (TDK, Verbatim, Maxell), the burner or the system are at fault, but I would REALLY like to see a DVD+RW DL even at $25-50.

>4) if your stand along DVD player plays DVD-R's, generally will it play DVD-R >DL discs?

I've never burned DVD-R DL disks, so I can only comment on DVD+RL . While most play, my Sony DVD player (NC-DVP665P) freaks out after the layer break often enough.

Overall, DVD+R DL works, but it's not as solid as its DVD+R or DVD-R older brothers.

A major downside for me is burning reliability on DVD+R DL. There are too many coasters from various DL media on my burners (Plextor PX-755A and BenQ1655) with DL, regardless of the burning speed. I am not totally sure if the media (TDK, Verbatim, Maxell), the burner or the system are at fault, but I would REALLY like to see a DVD+RW DL even at $25-50.
I have settled on Verbatim DVD+R DL discs burned at 2.4x/4x with my BenQ DW1640. Nero gives me scores of over 90, so I think the burns are okay. I do not use any other brand.

I'm shooting for 100% perfect scores on DVD+R DL. For DVD-Video "backups", a few errors are ok for me. The Plextor and BenQ deliver that no problem. For data, it's gotta be 100%. I wish there were an easier way to add redundancy to your image. WinRAR and SmartPAR are great, but all of the extra steps bother me. I'd like to be able to setup a DVD image with raw files, push "Start" and have Nero take care of all of that for me. Baby-sitting my computer during frequent backup tasks is not my idea of fun.

I have never seen a 100% score on any media, including single layer! I think we are referring to different things. I am talking about PI/PIE scores from Nero's CD/DVD speed tool. Note that a sub-100% score does not mean that the DVD does not work properly. It is a measure of how soon one can expect the DVD to fail.

Thanks to all those who have enlightened me...I understand a little more than I started.

Cheers!

Emre,

I didn't understand where you gathered the Nero scores until your last post. I'm just counting errors from the Verify after burning. Usually, I get no errors for single layer and one or more errors on dual layer.