DVD-RAM drive=DVD recorder?

[thepete]

Hi, Can anyone clue me in on how I can burn DVDs from my PC and roughly how much it will cost? I understand I need a card and a DVD-RAM drive, but how can I be sure I buy the right drive/card/software? A person can burn his or her own DVDs right?

[RJ]

Hello thepete,

no I have to disappoint you. A DVD RAM drive is not a DVD recorder.

The DVD-RAM is a different medium than the other DVDs. DVD-RAM drives only can read and write from and to DVD-RAMs.

For DVD-R, there are only a few burners on the market, but it has to delevop more.
All burners are not capable of burning dual layered DVDs, and besides that today's DVD-Rs are only DVD-5 (that means DVD with single layer, one side => 4,7 GB).

DVD-drives can't read DVD-RAM, they're not compatible.

Also the final DVD formats are not specified yet. DVD-RW and DVD-RAM are fighting, no one knows what will win (I personally think the RW. . .), also there are DVD+RW (more rewritable), and so on.

Well, you can burn your own dvd, if you're satisfied with the DVD-5. That means you can't copy entire movies to your own dvd, since they're normally DVD-9 or DVD-10 (9,4 GB).

Besides that, a DVD-r costs around $25, and a burner is very expensive, too.

So as you see, the DVD burning market has still to develop.

RJ