Burnin' Both Ends Of The Night

Well, the new DVD burner is installed and burnin' like a charm. It was pretty simple, really, just a matter of unplugging my existing DVD drive and plopping the new one in, by way of the power and IDE cables. What's really important now is that all my media backups are going to be much, much easier. And I can make cool movies on real DVDs, as soon as I find an authoring program I like.

The next step in the great DVD+/-R quest, for me at least, is to find a reliable brand of media. I've already settled on a couple of pretty good brands for my burnt CD collection, but DVD's are a different beast. Much like CD-R's, one blank disc is not necessarily the same as another, and knowing which brands your computer and DVD player support could make the difference between losing all your files and having 10 brand new coasters. The difference lies mostly in the processes and dyes each manufacturer uses; so yes, it can matter what color the bottom of your disc is. Lucky for me and anyone else interested in having quality burnt discs, there's already a wealth of information on the Net. It never ceases to amaze me!

From all reports so far, I'll be looking to pick up some Ritek DVD-R's next to try them out. Speaking of which, that's another goofy thing: the DVD industry couldn't decide on one format, so now we get to pick which one we think is going to be around a while. Or you can do what I did, and buy a drive that supports both formats. It eliminates some of the worry from doing this type of thing.