DVDs - different types of disks?

[NeilF]

Went to Costco to buy some DVD / CD disks - just for music in the car, or sending out with photos on them.

Crikey - all sorts of specifications on the boxes!

DVD-R
16x
80x
gold
silver

What do these 'specifications' all mean? What's the basic recommendation for buying disks?
For example, I seem to remember I couldn't get an 80x disk to play in the car CD player.


Cheers,

Neil.

 

[wessie]

Remember the good old days with video recorders: VHS & Betamax. That's what we have with DVDs. Different manufacturers favouring a different "standard". Most decent DVD players made in the last few years support all formats: the Sony one in my PC certainly does, £20 Tesco Value ones may not.

There's a helpful FAQ at http://svp.co.uk/helpdesk/

SVP's prices are usually very good, especially if you go to http://svp.co.uk/hukd.php and register for the HUKD discount. Their service is excellent.

I'm a big fan of Ritek discs: they just work whereas I've made many a drinks coaster from various discount brands in the past.

 

[Ste@SSB]

If you are going to store just data then either will do ... if you are going to play it in a normal DVD player then I would stick to -R as I have 4 players in my house and only one will play +R DVDs...

As for CDRs ... anything will do ... best to stick to the big names but Tescos own are ok for data storage...

Bit confused with as to 80x ... they don't go that fast...

 

[Dickieboy]

Neil, if you just want to burn music to play on your car cd player use a bog standard CD R disc, they hold about 80mb of data and you should be able to get about 1 to 1 & 1/2hrs of music per disc. Remember when burning a disc to play on a car system you usualy have to 'Close' or 'Finish' the recording.
DVD's are for recording images, films etc and are more expensive than CD's but can store about 4 gig of data, so if your only going to send out a couple of dozen photos use the bog standard CD R it's cheaper.
If you want to copy a disc use like for like.
A CD RW or DVD RW is a disc you can use like the old floppies, you can store and erase data as many times as you like, again they're a bit more expensive and some car systems will not recognise them.
The speed issue 'ie 80x' will not effect the playability as it refers to the data transfer speed when the disc is being burned.

 

[xpi0t0s]

Went to Costco to buy some DVD / CD disks - just for music in the car, or sending out with photos on them.

Crikey - all sorts of specifications on the boxes!

DVD-R
16x
80x
gold
silver

What do these 'specifications' all mean? What's the basic recommendation for buying disks?
For example, I seem to remember I couldn't get an 80x disk to play in the car CD player.


Cheers,

Neil.

Well, some confusion here I think. Does your car player play DVDs? If not you should stick to CDs.

Either way you need to determine which type(s) your player plays, and which type your recorder writes, and how fast each of them will work.

You can't (necessarily) play CD-Rs at all in a CD player; they don't all work with them. You can't play a DVD+R in a DVD-R player or vice versa, but if the player supports DVD+R and DVD-R then you can use either type of disk. The same is true of CD+R and CD-R but unless it's a dead old player there's a good chance it'll support both.

If your computer only writes DVD+ and your player only plays DVD- then you're stuffed and you'll need to get a DVD- writer. (Ditto for CD; both + and - types exist although that difference was resolved years ago in the form of multiformat players.)

The speed of the disks is relevant in that the faster disks are subject to more stringent manufacturing requirements and are usually more expensive. If nothing will play over 4x, for example, and there are 4x and 16x in the shop with a significant price difference, you should get the 4x. If there's no price difference then you should go for the 16x as you can always play/record them in a 4x drive.

The "if this, if that, if the other" decision tree is large and confusing so I won't go any further. RTFM - for the computer and the car player, and determine exactly what disks they play and record - CD or DVD, + or -, speed, post that info and we can give you a specific recommendation.