which is the correct blank disk?

guzzbuzz

Hi i want to burn some movie files from my pc to dvd disk

But i went to the shop and there are so many different types?!

DVD - R
DVD + R
DVD + RW
DVD - RW

Which one do i need, i just want to burn it once really, don't need the disk to be used again. Thanks.

EssexExile

Any of those will work it's just that the RW can be re-written, the R only written once. Check your pc will work with both - & +, I would've thought most would.

kwikbreaks

The RWs are rewriteable and will cost more than the plain old Rs.

Virtually all DVD writers will work with any of those formats but the -R is the older standard.

Don't expect the movies to play on all standard DVD players you need what is sometimes called a Divx player. That said it's quite commonly supported these days. Even then not all formats will play. Of course you'd still be able to play them on the PC/laptop.

guzzbuzz

EssexExile wrote: »

Any of those will work it's just that the RW can be re-written, the R only written once. Check your pc will work with both - & +, I would've thought most would.

Thanks..how can i check this on my pc please?

guzzbuzz

kwikbreaks wrote: »

The RWs are rewriteable and will cost more than the plain old Rs.

Virtually all DVD writers will work with any of those formats but the -R is the older standard.

Don't expect the movies to play on all standard DVD players you need what is sometimes called a Divx player. That said it's quite commonly supported these days. Even then not all formats will play. Of course you'd still be able to play them on the PC/laptop.

Thanks

I have done this before and they worked ok...i cant remember what i did but perhaps i converted the files first and then burnt them because i know for sure that once i burned the disks they worked fine in dvd players/ps3 etc?

One of the files is .avi
one of the files is .mkv

kwikbreaks

You'll need some sort of media player for the mkv - possibly the PS3 can handle them but I doubt any DVD player will.

With the avi it depends on the codecs used, the resolution, and the DVD player.

All you can do is try it.

Regarding what blanks your PC will support - as we both said probably any of those but if in doubt I'd go for DVD-R

EssexExile

guzzbuzz wrote: »

Thanks..how can i check this on my pc please?

It'll be in the specifications, wherever they are!

Why do R Write once & RW ReWrite? Surely it should be W for Write once? Just a thought.

kwikbreaks

I expect it was originally R for Recordable. Then some bright spark came up with a way to make them rewriteable later. There is little logic in marketing.

arriva

Go for DVD-R discs, they are more compatible.

Also, by experience the RW (re-writeable types) tend to appear blank after a couple of years, no more data on them or corrupted data. This happened to me quite often when storing movie files on them. I used Verbatim and TDK RW dvd and it looked like the data has been "washed off".

dogmaryxx

Dvd-R and trial version of ConvertXtoDVD

You have 7 days to use before videos will be watermarked.

bluesnake

some dvd stand-alone tv units do not like rewritable disks.

The rewritable disk are often far more expensive (but I have not recently checked). Often it is cheaper to burn a new disk and throw the old one away, than use rewritable ones. Also if you are only going to write to it only once, then it is a waste.