R/W DVDs

This may have been covered before. If so, I missed it. Anyhow, I have
some shows saved on Tivo that I want to put on DVD.

About how many times do you find you can write to a R/W DVD before you
start to get errors? With plain DVDs under $0.30, a R/W DVD is not very
economical unless you can beat that. OTOH, after a while you will start
to get unrecoverable failures. I would rather pitch them before that,
but I don't want to do it too soon. I would hate to write a program to
DVD and find I can't recover it. It wouldn't really cost me that much
actual time. But it would be a royal pain to have to do it again.

Also, do you have any favorite R/W DVDs I should consider? I imagine
some are better than others on a write/dollar basis.

--
Robert B. Peirce, Venetia, PA 724-941-6883
bob AT peirce-family.com [Mac]
rbp AT cooksonpeirce.com [Office]

Robert Peirce

On Wed, 18 Oct 2006 22:56:44 +0000, Robert Peirce wrote:

> This may have been covered before. If so, I missed it. Anyhow, I have
> some shows saved on Tivo that I want to put on DVD.
>
> About how many times do you find you can write to a R/W DVD before you
> start to get errors? With plain DVDs under $0.30, a R/W DVD is not very
> economical unless you can beat that. OTOH, after a while you will start
> to get unrecoverable failures. I would rather pitch them before that, but
> I don't want to do it too soon. I would hate to write a program to DVD
> and find I can't recover it. It wouldn't really cost me that much actual
> time. But it would be a royal pain to have to do it again.

I have found that DVD RWs have a lifespan in writes that is far longer
than CD RWs. Don't know why, but I used to have up to half of my
CDRWs (of many manufacturers and different drives) that would refuse to
write after one or two sessions.

I bought a 30 stack of DVD RWs months ago (Memorex) to use like we used
to use VCR tapes. That is, in time shifting. So far I have only used 5
platters and they have been rewritten dozens of times each. Not one has
gone bad yet. Go figure.

That being said, I would never put anything important on a DVD RW for long
term storage.

RMK

RMK

On Wed, 18 Oct 2006 22:56:44 GMT, Robert Peirce
<> wrote:

>This may have been covered before. If so, I missed it. Anyhow, I have
>some shows saved on Tivo that I want to put on DVD.
>
>About how many times do you find you can write to a R/W DVD before you
>start to get errors? With plain DVDs under $0.30, a R/W DVD is not very
>economical unless you can beat that. OTOH, after a while you will start
>to get unrecoverable failures. I would rather pitch them before that,
>but I don't want to do it too soon. I would hate to write a program to
>DVD and find I can't recover it. It wouldn't really cost me that much
>actual time. But it would be a royal pain to have to do it again.
>
>Also, do you have any favorite R/W DVDs I should consider? I imagine
>some are better than others on a write/dollar basis.

The quality of DVD brands vary, so if you value your data buy the best
you can find. I buy Yaiyo Yuden and have far fewer errors than other
brands. How many times you can re-write to a R/W depends on several
factors, but I have heard 1000 re-writes is close to the limit. I
wonder how anyone can keep track of that unless you are doing
something like a re-write once a day. Another good question is how
long can I expect a write-once DVD to reliably keep data? Ten years?
If you are looking for cheap high-capacity storage, it is hard to beat
tape.

Phisherman

On Thu, 19 Oct 2006 11:57:20 GMT, Phisherman <> wrote:

>The quality of DVD brands vary, so if you value your data buy the best
>you can find.

It is amazing how so many people can ignore that simple fact of
reality.

>I buy Yaiyo Yuden and have far fewer errors than other brands.

There is a good reason for that. TY is made exclusively by TY in
Japan. All other +/-R discs are outsourced to Taiwanese manufacturers
who are notorious for crap, like CMC. Even Singapore and India are
crap.

>How many times you can re-write to a R/W depends on several
>factors,

Firstly +/-RWs are not made by TY. Mitsubishi Verbatim is the only
brand worth considering for RWs.

> but I have heard 1000 re-writes is close to the limit.

I would not count on that. Some people claim they don't get more than
5 rewrites. I have found that burning Verbatim 4x +RWs at 2.4x can
increase reliability considerably.


--

"Nothing in the world can take the place of perseverence. Talent
will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education
will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and
determination alone are omnipotent."
--Calvin Coolidge

Citizen Bob

On Thu, 19 Oct 2006 11:57:20 GMT, Phisherman <> wrote:

>On Wed, 18 Oct 2006 22:56:44 GMT, Robert Peirce
><> wrote:
>
>>This may have been covered before. If so, I missed it. Anyhow, I have
>>some shows saved on Tivo that I want to put on DVD.
>>
>>About how many times do you find you can write to a R/W DVD before you
>>start to get errors? With plain DVDs under $0.30, a R/W DVD is not very
>>economical unless you can beat that. OTOH, after a while you will start
>>to get unrecoverable failures. I would rather pitch them before that,
>>but I don't want to do it too soon. I would hate to write a program to
>>DVD and find I can't recover it. It wouldn't really cost me that much
>>actual time. But it would be a royal pain to have to do it again.
>>
>>Also, do you have any favorite R/W DVDs I should consider? I imagine
>>some are better than others on a write/dollar basis.
>
>The quality of DVD brands vary, so if you value your data buy the best
>you can find. I buy Yaiyo Yuden and have far fewer errors than other
>brands. How many times you can re-write to a R/W depends on several
>factors, but I have heard 1000 re-writes is close to the limit. I
>wonder how anyone can keep track of that unless you are doing
>something like a re-write once a day. Another good question is how
>long can I expect a write-once DVD to reliably keep data? Ten years?
>If you are looking for cheap high-capacity storage, it is hard to beat
>tape.


I have generally been buying DVD+RW's on the cheap for the past couple
of years. We tend not to watch a lot of 'live' T.V. and record the
stuff we really want to watch at our convenience. I was finding that
after a while, I was getting 'Freezes' quite frequently. Sometimes
you get by them, other times, that was it. In March I bought a five
pack of Sony Accucore DVD+RW's to use for recording; out of curiosity,
I put labels on the case with numbers printed from 1-50 and ticked off
every time they were used. I got a high of 31 and a low of 25.
Interesting enough, I called Sony and after a couple of discussions
and one call back, I was told that 'that sounds just about right' in
regards usage. I don't know if there are brands that will last
longer, but at today's prices, it probably isn't worth it pay much of
a premium.

E. Barry Bruyea

In article <>,
E. Barry Bruyea <damnsummerhas > wrote:

> I have generally been buying DVD+RW's on the cheap for the past couple
> of years. We tend not to watch a lot of 'live' T.V. and record the
> stuff we really want to watch at our convenience. I was finding that
> after a while, I was getting 'Freezes' quite frequently. Sometimes
> you get by them, other times, that was it. In March I bought a five
> pack of Sony Accucore DVD+RW's to use for recording; out of curiosity,
> I put labels on the case with numbers printed from 1-50 and ticked off
> every time they were used. I got a high of 31 and a low of 25.
> Interesting enough, I called Sony and after a couple of discussions
> and one call back, I was told that 'that sounds just about right' in
> regards usage. I don't know if there are brands that will last
> longer, but at today's prices, it probably isn't worth it pay much of
> a premium.

Great advice. Thanks. I found a spindle of 15 Fuji DVD-RWs at BestBuy
for under $20. At that price I will be ahead of the game if I can just
do five writes. 25-30 would just be gravy.

I forgot to mention in my original post that some of the shows I want to
record are movies. I need to transfer them to my computer, edit them
and write them back out to DVD-R. That means the original write is sort
of wasted, which is why I wanted to use -RW instead of -R.

--
Robert B. Peirce, Venetia, PA 724-941-6883
bob AT peirce-family.com [Mac]
rbp AT cooksonpeirce.com [Office]

Robert Peirce

On Sat, 21 Oct 2006 13:59:24 GMT, Robert Peirce
<> wrote:

>I found a spindle of 15 Fuji DVD-RWs at BestBuy
>for under $20. At that price I will be ahead of the game if I can just
>do five writes. 25-30 would just be gravy.

What is the MID?

I got 30 Mitsubishi Verbatim 4x +RWs at Sam's Club for under $30. That
was over a year ago. The same discs are at rima.com for $22. Shipping
pays for tax and gasoline, so they are a wash.

http://tinyurl.com/y3glcb/

Your -RWs in Verbatim 4x are 15 for $15 at rima.

http://tinyurl.com/yy9n5p/

I mention this because from just about everyone I hear that Mitsubishi
Verbatim is the best in rewritable media. Of course, Taiyo Yuden is
the absolute best in write-once media but they do not make a RW disc.

Check out CDfreaks.


--

"Nothing in the world can take the place of perseverence. Talent
will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education
will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and
determination alone are omnipotent."
--Calvin Coolidge

Citizen Bob

In article <>,
E. Barry Bruyea <damnsummerhas > wrote:
>On Thu, 19 Oct 2006 11:57:20 GMT, Phisherman <> wrote:
>
>>On Wed, 18 Oct 2006 22:56:44 GMT, Robert Peirce
>><> wrote:
>>
>>>This may have been covered before. If so, I missed it. Anyhow, I have
>>>some shows saved on Tivo that I want to put on DVD.
>>>
>>>About how many times do you find you can write to a R/W DVD before you
>>>start to get errors? With plain DVDs under $0.30, a R/W DVD is not very
>>>economical unless you can beat that. OTOH, after a while you will start
>>>to get unrecoverable failures. I would rather pitch them before that,
>>>but I don't want to do it too soon. I would hate to write a program to
>>>DVD and find I can't recover it. It wouldn't really cost me that much
>>>actual time. But it would be a royal pain to have to do it again.
>>>
>>>Also, do you have any favorite R/W DVDs I should consider? I imagine
>>>some are better than others on a write/dollar basis.
>>
>>The quality of DVD brands vary, so if you value your data buy the best
>>you can find. I buy Yaiyo Yuden and have far fewer errors than other
>>brands. How many times you can re-write to a R/W depends on several
>>factors, but I have heard 1000 re-writes is close to the limit. I
>>wonder how anyone can keep track of that unless you are doing
>>something like a re-write once a day. Another good question is how
>>long can I expect a write-once DVD to reliably keep data? Ten years?
>>If you are looking for cheap high-capacity storage, it is hard to beat
>>tape.
>
>
>I have generally been buying DVD+RW's on the cheap for the past couple
>of years. We tend not to watch a lot of 'live' T.V. and record the
>stuff we really want to watch at our convenience. I was finding that
>after a while, I was getting 'Freezes' quite frequently. Sometimes
>you get by them, other times, that was it. In March I bought a five
>pack of Sony Accucore DVD+RW's to use for recording; out of curiosity,
>I put labels on the case with numbers printed from 1-50 and ticked off
>every time they were used. I got a high of 31 and a low of 25.
>Interesting enough, I called Sony and after a couple of discussions
>and one call back, I was told that 'that sounds just about right' in
>regards usage. I don't know if there are brands that will last
>longer, but at today's prices, it probably isn't worth it pay much of
>a premium.

I user RWs in a DVR that does not have an HD. Then for the ones
I want to save I copy them out, use TDA to make menus, etc., and
burn to a permanent disk.

I had some optodisk ?? - that really only liked about 4 or 5
rewrites. So I figure it cost me 5-10 cents more per final disk
including, but I had decent menus and navigation by doing it that
way. I don't know the maximum number I've gotten but a few cents
doesn't compare to my time making the final disk

Bill


--
Bill Vermillion - bv @ wjv . com

Bill Vermillion