OK, i''m buying a DVD writer but don''t know much about them. First whats this whole +- business about? And second, is this a good DVD Writer for £100?: "Panasonic DVD-R/-RW/DVD-ram & CD/RW IDE Burner - OEM" If not, which brand should I go for?

Wrong forum. I''d input my two cents, but well, it''d be more like stealing two cents of bandwidth wasting your time since I have no idea. .

well... still, could someone just answer it plz, I really need to order it within 4 hours or else I have to wait another 20 days for a restock. Its just a simple question. Whats the +- thing is the main one, I''ll take a gamble with the brand for now

quote:Original post by malpass
well... still, could someone just answer it plz, I really need to order it within 4 hours or else I have to wait another 20 days for a restock. Its just a simple question. Whats the +- thing is the main one, I''ll take a gamble with the brand for now

what''s the sudden huge rush? GDNet Lounge is what you want, preferably during daylight hours before the night of need.

Since you''re desperate sounding, I''ll go ahead and steal my two cents...a disection of the brand name thing:

Panasonic -- They''re an okay company I think
DVD-R -- It can read DVDs
-RW -- It can do DVD-RW disks (I think those are the burn once ones)
-RAM -- It can do DVD-RAM disks (I think those might be the multiple burn ones??? not sure...)
CD/RW -- Well, it can do CD''s also.
IDE -- It uses a large front bay using the same cables your HD does
Burner -- Duh
OEM -- They''re not reselling it... Original Equipment Manufacturer

Personally, I''d be paranoid about the fact that it has no speed statistics written?

I have no idea how much £100 is in $.

It is my (untested) belief that DVD burners can be bought for $100 ish, that would be decent. Depends on what you need it for.

I remember the +/- thing has some signifcance...what exactly I have no idea. How come you know it will be sold in 4 hours exactly? Oh no lemme guess...ebay...

>_>
<_<

*shrugs* ok enough stealing

no its not ebay, its just another site, there brand new, and have 2 in stock, and they WILL be gone in 4 hours max. They take 20 days to restock stuff.

After 8 pages of google I managed to get a tiny little bit of info on the +-, and I think its just what type of discs it can write. Apparently the + discs burn half the speed and are twice as dear. Now I presume theres a good point somewhere but I''ll just go for the - for now.

I can also get a Sony DWU-10A which in the reviews they say they are like goldust, anyone confirm?, they are £130 but might be worth it

+/- is a standards war. Think VHS vs Betamax. Some drives are DVD+R/RW and some are DVD-R/RW, and they can only burn their corresponding discs. Although, most drives should be able to *read* both types of discs.

However, the standards war will soon be over. Manufacturers are starting to offer drives that can burn both formats.

There's also DVD-RAM but that is rather old and you shouldn't worry about it.

[edited by - foofightr on August 10, 2003 5:41:51 AM]

Ok, here''s the deal: + and - are good... RAM you do NOT want unless your drive will be dedicated to backups (say for a web server with a database)...

If you have to get one or the other, get -. If you want both, they make drives that do both (and some stores sell 4x + but not 4x - (which pisses me off)). Personally, I have a Sony +/- drive because I figured I might as well be able to burn both kinds. I''ve only used - in it yet though.

quote:Original post by MaulingMonkey

quote:Original post by malpass
well... still, could someone just answer it plz, I really need to order it within 4 hours or else I have to wait another 20 days for a restock. Its just a simple question. Whats the +- thing is the main one, I''ll take a gamble with the brand for now

what''s the sudden huge rush? GDNet Lounge is what you want, preferably during daylight hours before the night of need.

Since you''re desperate sounding, I''ll go ahead and steal my two cents...a disection of the brand name thing:

Panasonic -- They''re an okay company I think
DVD-R -- It can read DVDs
-RW -- It can do DVD-RW disks (I think those are the burn once ones)
-RAM -- It can do DVD-RAM disks (I think those might be the multiple burn ones??? not sure...)
CD/RW -- Well, it can do CD''s also.
IDE -- It uses a large front bay using the same cables your HD does
Burner -- Duh
OEM -- They''re not reselling it... Original Equipment Manufacturer

No quite.

DVD-R: a single write DVD with a capacity of 4.6GB (per side). Once data is on the disk it can''t be erased. Readable on *most* standard dvd player.

DVD-RW: a rewriteable DVD with a capacity of 4.6GB (per side). If you want you can erase the contents and write something new on it. Can be erased and rewritten about 1000 times before it starts to wear out. Readable on *most* standard dvd player.

DVD+R: a newer version of DVD-R (put forward by Sony, HP, Compaw and a bunch of other big names). Advertised as being compatible with *all* standard DVD players/readers.

DVD+RW: a newer version of DVD-RW. Advertised as being compatible with *all* standard DVD players/readers.

DVD-RAM: Yet another format similar to DVD-RW. Can be found in both 2.6 and 4.9GB (per side) capacities, DVD-RAM offers the ability to do random read/write operations (basically you can treat it like a floppy disk, you don''t need to erase the entire DVD to write new information). Requires a DVD-RAM compatible reader (*cannot* be read on a standard DVD player/reader)

CD-RW: The CD equivelant of DVD-RW. Can be erased and rewritten many times. Not compatible with all CD-ROM readers and CD players.

IDE: A 40 pin low cost parallel cable connection that can support 2 devices on a single cable. The standard for most harddrives, CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs. Does not have any connection with size of bay used (some slimline and manufacturer specific drives can use IDE but have a different form factor). Most modern motherboards have 2 IDE connectors to allow for up to 4 harddrive/CD/DVD drives.

Burner: General phrase used to describe any CD/DVD drive that can write disks of some description.

OEM: Original Equipment Manufacturer. This is the opposite of boxed retail components. Normally OEM components are sold to people making computers and consist of just the hardware and any driver/software CDs, no fancy packaging and for components like CD/DVD drives, no manual (for instance an OEM DVD burner would likely be just the burner in bubble wrap with a software CD in a paper sleave, no screws, no cables). Many small shops will sell OEM parts to the public (OEM costs slightly less, and so they can be sold cheaper), mainly targeting people who already know a bit about what they are doing. There is also OEM software, though the EULA normally prohibits selling this to the public unless it is with a new PC system/matching hardware.

Google is your friend.

http://www.dvdrhelp.com/dvd
http://www.anandtech.com/guides/viewfaq.html?i=118
http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Articles/Specific.asp?ArticleHeadline=DVD%20Media%20Format%20Compatibility%20Tests

-HQ