Best type of dvd

[John Cambell]

I was wondering if there is a better type of dvd to get to make dvds with, such as -R, +R, -RW, and all those different types. Is there a better one that will give me better quality.

[Edward Carlson]

There is no video quality difference between the pluses, minuses, and R's and RW's. The difference comes in the quality of the media, and how reliable the burns are, and how long they will last. I have heard that Taiyo Yuden disks are the best, and they are in my experience. You can get them for about $35 for a spindle of 100. They come in silver and white inkjet printable.

[Tripp Woelfel]

As Edward said, DVDs just hold the digital bits and there will be no quality difference in those bits between the different "formats" and manufacturers.

What you should care about is compatibility. It's long been held that DVD-R has the best overall compatibility with DVD players, particularly older units. RW disks in either flavor are typically less compatible than either the -R or +R, and I've never used them for general distribution. I recollect reading that DVD+R had some minor compatibility advantage in one small segment, but I've taken the macro view and used -Rs for years with no compatibility issues.

T-Y's reputation has been top-notch for many years. I have great success with Verbatim hub-printable -R media. No coasters and no compatibility issues except for one disk that actually got cracked in shipping. I've also used TDK and Memorex media periodically without issues, so it seems the quality differences amongst the major media vendors appears to have shrunk to the point of being nearly insignificant, at least for me. That said, I want the best media I can get. I like to hedge my bets.

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Tripp Woelfel

T-Y's reputation has been top-notch for many years. I have great success with Verbatim hub-printable -R media.

My experience is that dvd+r has the best compatibility, I've had many problems with -R which refused to play.
Also I bought 100 tayo's last time and had nothing but problems with them, they're supposed to be the best but my sony dvd player makes those dvd skip and stutter about 50% of the time, now I exclusively work with much cheaper verbatims (printables) with hardly any problem so far. (knock on wood)

[Shaun Roemich]

I love m y T-Y -R's but had an 13% media recognition failure rate on my last spindle of 100. All previous spindles have been 100%.

[Victor Kellar]

I've had best success with Verbatim, I generally use - R burning with my Mac internal burners and that seems to work fine. I always have some + Rs laying around just in case. I have also had pretty good success (like 90%) with TDK white inkjet printables but I haven't used these in a couple of years so have no idea if the quality has changed. I once bought a 50 spindle of white printable Rydata discs that were all successful

Main reason I prefer -R is a Mac issue, althoug both my my puters will burn to +, traditonally Mac's prefer -R ... I don't think there is any quality difference between the two

[Chris Barcellos]

My Sony DVD players have been the hardest to please whether + or -. My latest VCR/DVD combo is still touchy. I think Sony might have real tight perameters in disks format and such, which may be tied to its digital rights concerns. In the early days, we used mostly -, as they were most compatible with most players. I seem to remember a Samsung that only liked + disks.

I also found that the cheapy off brand players actually were less touchy. Minitec, or something like that comes to mind. They even played CD videos, and displayed photos. to boot. I have a Philips uprezing player right now that seems to pay anything.

[Tripp Woelfel]

Originally Posted by Chris Barcellos

I think Sony might have real tight parameters in disks format and such, which may be tied to its digital rights concerns.

You may have something there since Sony is the only computer hardware company that owns a major Hollywood studio. Ya think that some of the hardware design parameters might be coming out of Culver City?

[Shaun Roemich]

Originally Posted by Tripp Woelfel

You may have something there since Sony is the only computer hardware company that owns a major Hollywood studio. Ya think that some of the hardware design parameters might be coming out of Culver City?

oh oh, careful Tripp or else CH might move this to Area 51... <laughs>

[Tripp Woelfel]

Originally Posted by Shaun Roemich

...CH might move this to Area 51... <laughs>

I've never been there. Is it fun? (grin)