Dual, Double Layer DVDs & DVD Recorders

Hi Folks!

A DVD recorder/player (in this case for a home theatre system - not
computer) must be specifically manufactured to play and record to
double-sided /dual-layer DVDs - right?

Background to the question:

I'm finally getting around to 'retiring' our trusty ol' VCR and buying a DVD
player/recorder for the lounge - but just as I'm about to flash the ol'
credit card at the local department store, the boffins start making
double-sided and dual-layer discs. "The way of the future!" they shout with
glee.

OK. Sounds finger-lickin' good to me. But I guess it means that nice
expensive Sony RDRHX900 with its 160Gb hard drive, the ads of which I've
been slavering over lately, will have to be foregone in favour of the next
model - or some other manufacturer's offering - which will have the
capability to play and record to dual and double discs. After all, if one is
going to fork out that much dosh for a new toy, common-sense suggests one
might as well get something that will embrace the new media innovations.

I had a look at the RDRHX900's specs on Sony's web site, but nothing is
mentioned regarding its ability to accomodate double-sided/dual-layer discs.
Damn nice recorder all the same.

Of course, this time next year, the boffins will probably come out with
triple-layer discs.... sigh...

Any advice, ideas, observations or ruminations welcome.


Cheers, Tony McKee

--

---
I am a part of all that I have met... yet all experience is but an arch
Wherethro' gleams that untravel'd world whose margins fade
Forever and forever... 'ere I move.

===-- Ulysses --===

Tony McKee

"Tony McKee" <> wrote in message
news:rXw0e.12436$...
> Hi Folks!
>
> A DVD recorder/player (in this case for a home theatre system - not
> computer) must be specifically manufactured to play and record to
> double-sided /dual-layer DVDs - right?

You should get a DVD recorder capable of recording dual-layer discs.
Although the discs are expensive now they eventually should come down in
price.

Any DVD recorder or player should *play* dual-layer discs as they conform to
the DVD9 specification (many commercially pressed movies are DVD9
dual-layer).

I know of no "dual sided" recorders. There are dual-sided discs but you
simply take them out and flip them over to play the other side. (like vinyl
records, if anyone remembers those).

> Of course, this time next year, the boffins will probably come out with
> triple-layer discs.... sigh...
>
High Definition DVD recorders and players are next up on the horizon.
There's always something better around the corner....

Steve

Steven de Mena

On Thu, 24 Mar 2005 22:48:32 +1200, "Tony McKee" <>
wrote:

>OK. Sounds finger-lickin' good to me. But I guess it means that nice
>expensive Sony RDRHX900 with its 160Gb hard drive, the ads of which I've
>been slavering over lately, will have to be foregone in favour of the next
>model - or some other manufacturer's offering - which will have the
>capability to play and record to dual and double discs.

Correct. In fact, you cannot actually buy a HX900 in thhe UK anymore -
Sony have declared it obsolete after only four months!

The replacement (in the UK at least) is supposed to be the HX910,
which is out already in some other European countries and apparently
sports a 250Gb HDD and dual-layer writing. An announcement is
imminent.

Steve


The Doctor Who Restoration Team Website
http://www.restoration-team.co.uk

Steve Roberts

"Steve Roberts" <> wrote in message
news:...
> On Thu, 24 Mar 2005 22:48:32 +1200, "Tony McKee" <>
> wrote:
>
> >OK. Sounds finger-lickin' good to me. But I guess it means that nice
> >expensive Sony RDRHX900 with its 160Gb hard drive, the ads of which I've
> >been slavering over lately, will have to be foregone in favour of the
next
> >model - or some other manufacturer's offering - which will have the
> >capability to play and record to dual and double discs.
>
> Correct. In fact, you cannot actually buy a HX900 in thhe UK anymore -
> Sony have declared it obsolete after only four months!

'Great Scot!' - as the Doc used to say. Four months, down the hatch, - and
back to the future already! I'm in New Zealand and the HX900 has only just
become available here.

> The replacement (in the UK at least) is supposed to be the HX910,
> which is out already in some other European countries and apparently
> sports a 250Gb HDD and dual-layer writing. An announcement is
> imminent.

Goody goody gumdrops. Will look forward to that one. Will sheath the credit
card and slaver a little longer.


Cheers, Tony McKee

--

---
I am a part of all that I have met... yet all experience is but an arch
Wherethro' gleams that untravel'd world whose margins fade
Forever and forever... 'ere I move.

===-- Ulysses --===

Tony McKee

"Steven de Mena" <> wrote in message
news:lpednUGaP8ZHA9_fRVn-...

> Any DVD recorder or player should *play* dual-layer discs as they conform
to
> the DVD9 specification (many commercially pressed movies are DVD9
> dual-layer).
>
> I know of no "dual sided" recorders. There are dual-sided discs but you
> simply take them out and flip them over to play the other side. (like
vinyl
> records, if anyone remembers those).

I didn't know that. Ta muchlee for the info.

> > Of course, this time next year, the boffins will probably come out with
> > triple-layer discs.... sigh...
> >
> High Definition DVD recorders and players are next up on the horizon.
> There's always something better around the corner....

Life is so short... and so many corners... but sooner or later one has to
draw the credit-card.


Cheers, Tony McKee

--

---
I am a part of all that I have met... yet all experience is but an arch
Wherethro' gleams that untravel'd world whose margins fade
Forever and forever... 'ere I move.

===-- Ulysses --===

Tony McKee

"Tony McKee" <> wrote:

>Hi Folks!
>
>A DVD recorder/player (in this case for a home theatre system - not
>computer) must be specifically manufactured to play and record to
>double-sided /dual-layer DVDs - right?
>
>Background to the question:
>
>I'm finally getting around to 'retiring' our trusty ol' VCR and buying a DVD
>player/recorder for the lounge - but just as I'm about to flash the ol'
>credit card at the local department store, the boffins start making
>double-sided and dual-layer discs. "The way of the future!" they shout with
>glee.
>
>OK. Sounds finger-lickin' good to me. But I guess it means that nice
>expensive Sony RDRHX900 with its 160Gb hard drive, the ads of which I've
>been slavering over lately, will have to be foregone in favour of the next
>model - or some other manufacturer's offering - which will have the
>capability to play and record to dual and double discs. After all, if one is
>going to fork out that much dosh for a new toy, common-sense suggests one
>might as well get something that will embrace the new media innovations.
>
>I had a look at the RDRHX900's specs on Sony's web site, but nothing is
>mentioned regarding its ability to accomodate double-sided/dual-layer discs.
>Damn nice recorder all the same.
>
>Of course, this time next year, the boffins will probably come out with
>triple-layer discs.... sigh...
>
>Any advice, ideas, observations or ruminations welcome.
>
>
>Cheers, Tony McKee
In the technology world there will always be better equipment. The
computer is a good example. Look how far the computer has developed.
At the moment you can get 2 hour of good quality video on a DVD which
satisfies most people. I've heard nothing about duel layered DVD
recorders. There is some development in blue wave recording that
claims to fit more video on a DVD at the same high quality.
What ever you buy today can be sold later on.
DVD's are likely to be around for a long time with the many DVD
players in the world.

The Sony has a few missing things.
If you record a movie that's over 2 hours long that you plan on
putting on to a DVD then you have to record it in the LP 3 hour mode
(it might be 4 hour mode) which causes the quality to drop. Some DVD
recorders allow you to record at slight below SP (tandard speed) eg 2
hours 10 minutes, so you don't lose so much quality. The Pioneer has
32 different recording qualitys.
The other problem and one that many don't like is that if you record
conitinously on the hard drive for more than 2 hours and want to break
up the recording so you can put the recording on two DVD's (2 hours
per DVD) there is no function on thr Sony recorder for doing this.

There are some of the reasons why I returned my Sony RDRHX900 and
brought a Pioneer 720 DVD recorder.

take a look at www.dvdrhelp.com

Regards Brian

Brian

On Thu, 24 Mar 2005 22:48:32 +1200, "Tony McKee" <>
wrote:

>Hi Folks!
>
>A DVD recorder/player (in this case for a home theatre system - not
>computer) must be specifically manufactured to play and record to
>double-sided /dual-layer DVDs - right?
>
>Background to the question:
>
>I'm finally getting around to 'retiring' our trusty ol' VCR and buying a DVD
>player/recorder for the lounge - but just as I'm about to flash the ol'
>credit card at the local department store, the boffins start making
>double-sided and dual-layer discs. "The way of the future!" they shout with
>glee.

A Dual-Layer disc has to have exactly the same amount of information
on each layer, so that one is always under the other. There is no way
to predict how much data needs to be recorded before the layer change
if it is being done "On the Fly," It has to be set during authoring;
therefore there ARE no dual layer DVD-recorders. Maybe, MAYBE, a unit
with a Hard Drive might include the ability to properly subsequently
record to a dual-layer DVD from the HD, but I haven't heard of that
yet.


All DVD players can play dual-layer, though some have trouble with
home-authored dual-layer DVDrs.

... Steve ..
>
>OK. Sounds finger-lickin' good to me. But I guess it means that nice
>expensive Sony RDRHX900 with its 160Gb hard drive, the ads of which I've
>been slavering over lately, will have to be foregone in favour of the next
>model - or some other manufacturer's offering - which will have the
>capability to play and record to dual and double discs. After all, if one is
>going to fork out that much dosh for a new toy, common-sense suggests one
>might as well get something that will embrace the new media innovations.
>
>I had a look at the RDRHX900's specs on Sony's web site, but nothing is
>mentioned regarding its ability to accomodate double-sided/dual-layer discs.
>Damn nice recorder all the same.
>
>Of course, this time next year, the boffins will probably come out with
>triple-layer discs.... sigh...
>
>Any advice, ideas, observations or ruminations welcome.
>
>
>Cheers, Tony McKee

Steve(JazzHunter)

Right, so why not wait till the media comes down in price,the player will
come down in price too.
"Tony McKee" <> wrote in message
news:VPy0e.12473$...
> "Steven de Mena" <> wrote in message
> news:lpednUGaP8ZHA9_fRVn-...
>
> > Any DVD recorder or player should *play* dual-layer discs as they
conform
> to
> > the DVD9 specification (many commercially pressed movies are DVD9
> > dual-layer).
> >
> > I know of no "dual sided" recorders. There are dual-sided discs but you
> > simply take them out and flip them over to play the other side. (like
> vinyl
> > records, if anyone remembers those).
>
> I didn't know that. Ta muchlee for the info.
>
> > > Of course, this time next year, the boffins will probably come out
with
> > > triple-layer discs.... sigh...
> > >
> > High Definition DVD recorders and players are next up on the horizon.
> > There's always something better around the corner....
>
> Life is so short... and so many corners... but sooner or later one has to
> draw the credit-card.
>
>
> Cheers, Tony McKee
>
> --
>
> ---
> I am a part of all that I have met... yet all experience is but an arch
> Wherethro' gleams that untravel'd world whose margins fade
> Forever and forever... 'ere I move.
>
> ===-- Ulysses --===
>
>

pertnoy

On Thu, 24 Mar 2005 09:16:28 -0500, "Steve(JazzHunter)"
<> wrote:

>A Dual-Layer disc has to have exactly the same amount of information
>on each layer, so that one is always under the other. There is no way
>to predict how much data needs to be recorded before the layer change
>if it is being done "On the Fly," It has to be set during authoring;
>therefore there ARE no dual layer DVD-recorders. Maybe, MAYBE, a unit
>with a Hard Drive might include the ability to properly subsequently
>record to a dual-layer DVD from the HD, but I haven't heard of that
>yet.

I can't help but think that you are wrong! For starters, dual-layer
discs don't have equal data areas on each layer in any case - one is
4.7Gb, the other is 4.3Gb.

Dual-layer DVD burners for PCs have been around for at least a year
and there are dual-layer DVD recorders on the market already, such as
the Sony HX910 and HX510. The former does have a hard drive, but the
latter does not... therefore it MUST be able to record on the fly onto
both layers.

Steve


The Doctor Who Restoration Team Website
http://www.restoration-team.co.uk

Steve Roberts

Steve Roberts wrote:
> On Thu, 24 Mar 2005 09:16:28 -0500, "Steve(JazzHunter)"
> <> wrote:
>
>
>>A Dual-Layer disc has to have exactly the same amount of information
>>on each layer, so that one is always under the other. There is no way
>>to predict how much data needs to be recorded before the layer change
>>if it is being done "On the Fly," It has to be set during authoring;
>>therefore there ARE no dual layer DVD-recorders. Maybe, MAYBE, a unit
>>with a Hard Drive might include the ability to properly subsequently
>>record to a dual-layer DVD from the HD, but I haven't heard of that
>>yet.
>
>
> I can't help but think that you are wrong! For starters, dual-layer
> discs don't have equal data areas on each layer in any case - one is
> 4.7Gb, the other is 4.3Gb.
>
> Dual-layer DVD burners for PCs have been around for at least a year
> and there are dual-layer DVD recorders on the market already, such as
> the Sony HX910 and HX510. The former does have a hard drive, but the
> latter does not... therefore it MUST be able to record on the fly onto
> both layers.
>
>

Are you sure of that? Both of those recorders have a hard drive, but
regardless of that I can not find anything to indicate they can record
dual layer. Perhaps you could post a link?

--
Cheers
Oldus Fartus

Oldus Fartus