[CentOS] OT: DVD and other things

[Bryan J. Smith]

On Thu, 2005-07-28 at 22:31 -0500, Paul wrote:
> OK same tech as the Panasonic PD drives that stored 650MB/side ...

Yes, hence why DVD-RAM support in Linux was almost since day 1.

> of course I'm starting to wonder about my memory now.  Either way you
> can't stick them in a normal DVD drive and read them.

Some drives you can, but yes, they are limited to Masushita/Panasonic
data drive licenses.  A lot of that has to do with the advanced error
correction and MO design, things that are _not_ in CD-RW, DVD-RW and DVD
+RW.  The error rates are much lower in comparison, hence why I still
recommend DVD-RAM.

FYI, +R/+RW compatibility wasn't very good until recently, especially on
consumer players.  Yes, better than -RAM, but -RAM was designed for
optical archiving and longevity, and it does it well.  People forget
that +R/+RW/-RW do _not_ physically look like -ROM/-R at all, so there
are compatibility issues as well.

And yes, -R is the ultimately compatible format when written in Disc-At-
Once (DaO) mode, which requires byte-by-byte (character) record.  And
since DVD-R(G) came out, I adopted it as well.  But for prior archiving,
as well as some archiving since, DVD-RAM gets the call.

I avoid DVD+RW/-RW like I did CD-RW (and CAV/zone-CLV CD-RW, or what I
retroactively call CD+RW).  The error rates are too high.  DVD+R isn't
like DVD-R either, so I avoid it, especially with the fact that it
wasn't until late 2003 that even Sony/Philips players/licenses weren't
always DVD+R compatible.


-- 
Bryan J. Smith                                     b.j.smith at ieee.org 
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