Burning DVDs

[boofhead]

I bought a DVD burner for my computer which uses DVD-R/RW (vice DVD+R/RW).
I want to put my old VHS videos as well as new videos I take using both a digital camera and my old analog camera onto DVD disks. I was not happy with the old CD format either MPEG or WAV and hope the DVD format is better.
Have I bought the right format? Will I be able to play this format on regular home DVD players attached to a TV or am I only able to play them on a DVD player on a computer?
Anybody been there before me?

[Nightrider]

I went through this myself, also my system burns only the +R and +RW types. Some PC DVD units can only read / write the + versions, others only the - versions. I have learnt that all the - type versions are firmware rstricted to the + versions, while the + types cannot read / write the - versions at all.
You may find very soon firmware upgrades on the net which can convert your burner to read / write both, the + and the - versions.
The standalone players do not differentiate between these types (again...as I am told.)
Burning a DVD is a long process. You need to first download the movie and then convert into the DVD format. From there you can burn them. The rendering process, depending on what type of format you are starting of with, can take around 12 hours for a 1,5 hrs project. The burning itself is not so bad at all.
I found out that the PC does not want to be used with anything else during rendering, otherwise you see problems on the movie.

[gofer]

click here (http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,104702,00.asp)

This is only days old and describes the DVD Format problems as well as the future workarounds - that are hitting the shops in the states last week.;) ;) ;)

[msmorley]

www.vcdhelp.com (http://www.vcdhelp.com) is an excellent resource for everything relating to this subject. You might like to check out the DVD player compatibility chart which will give you an idea of what you can expect your standalone player to put up with in the way of -R/-RWs etc.

HTH,

m.;)