How do you respond to Philips' +RW format? It's 2.4X - the A03 only does 1X.

AB

>>How do you respond to Philips' +RW format? It's 2.4X - the A03 only does 1X

I don't :) :) :)

Actually, since I only burn about 1 DVD a week, the speed isn't important to me. When I bought my system, the most important thing was compatibility with set-top players, and at that time DVD-R was the most compatible. Being able to burn DVD-RW for use on computers is a bonus.

Being an "early adopter", I may find that I will replace the DVD burner in a year or two (just like I replaced my BETA vcr with a VHS one so many years ago...). Until then, I'm enjoying the 103.

I was reading today that in a little while, the groups that are building DVD+R's are going to incorporate DVD-R as well as DVD+R capability into one unit. I would wait awhile till a new genereation comes out. Price will probably drop also. I read the article on PCworld.com.

dave

What is the URL for this article, summersond?

ab

DVD-RW is 1x, while DVD-R is 2x on the A03. Most people won't notice this (like myself), because I only burn one or two DVDs a week. The DVD- format is also a lot easier to get blank media for. I've been buying blank DVD-Rs on ebay for about $3 a disk. Pretty good deal considering the amount of stuff you can squeeze on a DVD.

Here it is: http://www.pcworld.com/resource/browse/0,cat,105,sortIdx,1,00.asp. Hope this helps,
dave

Like you, I spent a large amount of time researching the two media's and tried to decide which one would be best. I ended up a bit confused. However here is how I finally made my decision. I looked at what was available in stores like Bestbuy, Circuit City, CompUSA etc. From my experience, it looks loke DVD+RW is winning. It appears that the sheer number of products based on +RW technology is beating out -R / -RW. The price of the disks are coming down fast, based on CDR technology and the big guys seem to be backing the + technology. It may be the two formats merge into one. Who knows. but when I see five +RW drives and one lowly pioneer, well that may be a hint. BTW the +RW does not work on my older panasonic x410 (divx) player but runs just fine on my apex 600a. I went with the +RW. Good luck!

Well, RonC, while I respect your decision to go with +RW, I must disagree with you.

The DVD-R is the de facto industry standard optimized for video applications. +RW is more geared for people who need to do backup, I.e., data... The DVD+RW is not very compatible with DVD players, and you will be very upset when you give a +RW to a client, only for them to call you back and say "Hey, this doesn't work on my DVD! I want my money back!"

I do find it very interesting why majority of companies are going with +RW.

Any thoughts?

abshazam202

Things may change for +RW once +R is available. However, for now, media is far cheaper and easier to find for -RW and -R. And, the -R media has run in just about every player I've tossed it into. So far I haven't sent a DVD-R to anyone who has had a problem playing it. Basically, it's too early to tell which standard will be the better one. By the end of this year, it should be pretty clear which way the industry will go. :)

It seems that alot of people are jumping on the bandwagon for DVD+RW for the fact that it is backed by Dell also but have you read any reviews on the +RW drives yet? Maximum PC was brutal on the HP drive & a little more favorable to the new Sony drive which was reviewed in the current issue but even they feel DVD+RW is more for data as even the new Sony drive lacks capatibility in set top DVD players. So far I've been very pleased with the success & capatibility of the A03.

I see your points, but as I was at Bestbuy this afternoon to swap my HP for a phillips drive (which is supposed to support the +R with a firmware update), I found that they had reduced the price of the A03 by $20 or so. The salesman told me they were dropping the A03 but did not know what was going to be put in it's place. You all make good points but as far as I can tell the +R will be compatible with more DVD players than the +RW. If I understand correctly the reflectivity of the +R will be higher than +RW thus improving it's playability. This looks like the old Beta v. VHS all over again. Remember the inferior product won... sigh.

So here is (however flawed as it may be) my reasoning. If the big box stores are supporting +RW/R then it is likely that most DVD players will also support it. DVD's still have a way to go before they saturate the market as has VHS so it still is a toss up as to who wins. I can tell you this, not many people know the difference between -R and +R. I watched as a guy bought a pack of +R's for his A03 when I mentioned to him the difference. He did not believe me so he bought both -R and +R to test them out. Of course I could be full of of it as I just remembered DIVX and how it crashed and burned...

Ron

I have the HP DVD+RW and I love it.

I got second HP 100i today. The first one would not close the door or recognize inserted media, this one will not format DVD. Got all the new firmware, updates - still no game after all these re-installations and patching. Spent whole day tweaking this sucker, because I thought it must be me... In addition, it takes the software over an hour to prepare the audio track from Vegas-generated 1 hour mpg.

I think I should have gotten the hint when the HP-100i software automatically unistalled my Roxio CD burning software - by far superior to the stuff that comes with HP-100i. Says it can't live with it on the same system!

I'm switching to Phillips tomorrow. If you're happy with HP DVD-100i, good for you. But from where I stand right now, it seems like you're pretty lucky fellow.

My only worries are that Phillips supposedly comes with the same DVD burning software like HP - the Sonic thing, that is...

Are there any alternatives available out there? This Sonic stuff scares me :)

The Philips drive is excellent. The Sonic Software is fine. MyDVD is very limited though. I use Sonic's DVDit SE and I have not had any trouble. Your results my vary. Tax tag and title due at signing.


K

Why do you like Philips so much? They make the worst DVD players, and besides, you won't be able to use DVD+R.

I have been reading your other posts in other areas. You clearly are against the +RW drives so I do not understand your reason for continuing this. It sounds like you just want to poke at it to feel good.

The Philips drive is solid hardware. I have a lot of hours on it and it has out performed previous hardware. No one burns +R yet and it is still an outstanding issue at this momnet. I did not buy the drive for +R use. +RW works just fine for my needs. That is the true test of a product. Does it fill your needs. Everyone has different needs, so there will be better products for other people.

As I have said before, if you have a specific application that you are looking to perform and you want a reccommendation from folks then it can be given. As for wanting to argue about a product, I have no need to do so.

I am considering getting one for myself when things get to a more common ground, and I will use it mainly for burning DVD's only one time, so DVD+R or DVD-R would be what would interest me the most. Any ideas on which platform will probably work the best? I have read in the posts that most newer DVD units will read most anything. I would hope though, that the writing speeds will pick up a little.

dave

kkolbo: I am happy for you if you are satisfied with your Philips drive. What DVD authoring product do you use?

asafb

Sonic DVDit SE. Not the best, but about 6 months ago there were not many choices. REEL DVD is a better option. When SpruceUp was taken off the market we lost the best low cost option.

Sorry to hear that you have been having problems. I guess I have been lucky. Let me know how the Phillips unit works and the software that comes with it. Also, I had a problem with Roxio and the software tha came with the HP Drive. Someday, I'll get the software issues worked out.

HP has some new updates on their web site. Specifically a firmware update to the HP DVD100i drive (1.37) and a utility that will change a mode setting of the drive and/or DVD disk to help compatibility with some DVD players. I've done the firmware update on my HP DVD 100i drive without any problem. The update now shows my drive as a DVD100j in Windows XP. I asked HP about this and they said it was normal. However, I have not seen any improvements with my Sony DVP330 player which won't read my DVD+RW disks from the HP drive. Tonight I plan on trying the utility HP released to see if it helps my Sony read the DVD disks.

Ron

Thanks, I'll upgrade my drive tonight.