Dvd-rw

[Parthiban]

I have put video on DVD before to play in a normal DVD player, but have only ever used DVD-R. I recently got some DVD-RWs and was wondering whether you just use exactly the same process but stick a DVD-RW in the drive rather than a DVD-R, and the drive will know its an RW and write it correctly?

Also, is it easy to erase once you've finished with what's on it? How would you go about doing it?

Thanks in advance for any help and sorry if its a really dumb question

[MrADeveci]

DVD-R is a once only "write"

DVD-RW you can read / write as many times as you like ............

You will find that most CD/DVD players will not read -RW discs!

[Parthiban]

DVD-R is a once only "write"

DVD-RW you can read / write as many times as you like ............

You will find that most CD/DVD players will not read -RW discs!

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Thanks for that, but those are the parts I already know :P

Sorry, think I didn't ask the question properly! Its ok, my DVD player can play DVD-RW, but I'm just not sure that when writing the disc, do I need to do anything different, or just stick it in the drive and click 'create' and everything will be fine :)

[Fargo]

as mr face says,, RW's are real problematic to playback in a stand alone player, - will play in 95% of players the + will play in PS2.

[MrADeveci]

Thanks for that, but those are the parts I already know  :P

Sorry, think I didn't ask the question properly! Its ok, my DVD player can play DVD-RW, but I'm just not sure that when writing the disc, do I need to do anything different, or just stick it in the drive and click 'create' and everything will be fine  :)

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Then I would imagine your player should be able to recognise the -RW Disc mate....

Wouldn't hurt to have a trundle through the options though .......... incase there is an option there ?

[Fargo]

your have to format the RW i believe first,,

[Kazi]

Check that you're player/recorder supports "All Write" if it does you should be fine.

DVD+R is the most common accepted format chosen by brands like Samsung, Sony and Toshiba. DVD+Rw is the same format as DVD+R, in the sense that it records in the same process but most players will not read the discs.

Erasing is easy to be honest, most DVD recorders have a guider mode which will literally guide you in any aspect of recording/erasing/editing etc. Well at least mine does anyway...... :P

[ColinBarber]

DVD+Rw is the same format as DVD+R, in the sense that it records in the same process but most players will not read the discs.

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My Philips recorder can do something freaky with +RW discs to make them more compatible. I've got an old Toshiba DVD player that will not read any recordable disc, -/+ R or -/+RW. But it can read ones changed by the Philips recorder, even ones that weren't orginally written by it :D

[Kazi]

Sounds like a good bit of kit you have. :)

[Parthiban]

Thanks for all the replies, just went ahead and tried it, but there was an error, which I think it was because there wasn't enough space on the hard drive rather than anything else

My Philips recorder can do something freaky with +RW discs to make them more compatible. I've got an old Toshiba DVD player that will not read any recordable disc, -/+ R or -/+RW. But it can read ones changed by the Philips recorder, even ones that weren't orginally written by it :D

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That does sound like a nice piece of kit, is that a set-top recorder or in your pc? Does it work with CDs too? We've got a Panasonic DVD player (one of the early ones) that says it won't play anything, but strangely plays DVD-R, haven't tried DVD-RW, but won't play CD-R or CD-RW. Really annoyed me until we got a Bose lifestyle that plays everything now :D

[Brettster]

Perhaps your Panasonic has a problem with region codes, and can play the dvd-r because the disc is region free?

ive seen this happen a few time with panasonic dvd players

the VR mode option on most DVD recorders will enable a DVD+ R/RW to work on 90% of dvd players it creates a custom TOC that tricks the players into thinking that its a Pressed disc (IIRC)

as for your original question

you should just be able to put in the RW disc and record it as you would a R disc

as long as your dvdwriter supports them of course

[ajp]

the VR mode option on most DVD recorders will enable a DVD+ R/RW to work on 90% of dvd players it creates a custom TOC that tricks the players into thinking that its a Pressed disc (IIRC)

There's a good article about bit setting here:

http://www.netfarer.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8

Gives you some nice background as to what this is all actually about :)

[mudzs]

sorry to go a bit off topic but if i buy a cd/dvd recorder machine can i then copy all of my camcorder tapes straight to dvd or is there another way of doing this

[Brettster]

There's a Few ways to do it

if your camcorder is a digital one with a Firewire or iLink socket then the best way would be to use that, either with a standalone dvd recorder with the same socket, or to buy a card with firewire for your pc (around £10)

if its just an analog camcorder then you could use any dvd recorder or a TV capture card for your PC

if you use the PC options then of course you can edit them and play around with titles etc and just burn them to DVDR once you have finished playing.

with a standalone DVD Recorder you are very limited to what you can do.

[mudzs]

thanks brettster i think i will buy one tomorrow ,that will keep me busy for a while.

[Gavin G]

There's a Few ways to do it

if your camcorder is a digital one with a Firewire or iLink socket then the best way would be to use that, either with a standalone dvd recorder with the same socket, or to buy a card with firewire for your pc (around £10)

if its just an analog camcorder then you could use any dvd recorder or a TV capture card for your PC

if you use the PC options then of course you can edit them and play around with titles etc and just burn them to DVDR once you have finished playing.

with a standalone DVD Recorder you are very limited to what you can do.

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Do they not have a USB 2.0 interface? If so this is faster than Firewire and most newish PC's all have USB 2.0 ports as standard without the need for adding a Firewire card

[Brettster]

Brand new camcorders might have USB2.0 but Ive not seen one yet

most have usb1 but are so slow, and some only let you transfer the digital still pics from the camera to pc, not the actual home recording via USB.

[ColinBarber]

most standalone DVD recorders that have a digital input (if not all of them) have firewire not usb.

Doesn't really matter if usb 2 or 3 is faster than some versions of firewire because the camcorder will only download at 1x speed which firewire can more than cope with.

Off-topic - Even though usb 2 appears faster on paper you normally get worse throughput due to the way the architecture works.

[Dodgy]

the VR mode option on most DVD recorders will enable a DVD+ R/RW to work on 90% of dvd players it creates a custom TOC that tricks the players into thinking that its a Pressed disc (IIRC)

There's a good article about bit setting here:

http://www.netfarer.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8

Gives you some nice background as to what this is all actually about :)

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i got lost after the second sentence

[Parthiban]

most standalone DVD recorders that have a digital input (if not all of them) have firewire not usb.

Doesn't really matter if usb 2 or 3 is faster than some versions of firewire because the camcorder will only download at 1x speed which firewire can more than cope with.

Off-topic - Even though usb 2 appears faster on paper you normally get worse throughput due to the way the architecture works.

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I agree, I think that the main point of firewire is that its a 'no loss' transfer of data, which I'm not sure that USB2.0 is