Time for a dual layer DVD burner

[ZepSinger]

CP tech heads-

I'm thinking about upgrading to a dual layer DVD burner. Any advice on brands, prices, reliability, etc? I want to get a drive that reduces DVD skipping as much as possible(plus I have a project coming up that's going to run 3 hours in length, and I don't wanna compress it that much to make it fit on a 2 hour disc).

Thanks in advance-

Z

[dirk digler]

I got a NEC 3520 and it works great.

Here is the NEC 3550 and man it is cheap.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827152060

[ZepSinger]

Originally Posted by dirk digler

I got a NEC 3520 and it works great.

Here is the NEC 3550 and man it is cheap.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827152060

Next question- where can you get affordable dual layer blank discs? I found some Verbatims on Newegg, but they were $25 for a 10 pack.

I took 72 orders for a 3 hour dance recital I taped last week. You see my concern for pricing...

[BigMeatballDave]

The drives are dirt cheap. I bought a Lite-On from Newegg for $40, 6 months ago. Works great. The media, however, is still way over priced. It has come down a bit recently...

[ZepSinger]

Originally Posted by BigChiefDave

The drives are dirt cheap. I bought a Lite-On from Newegg for $40, 6 months ago. Works great. The media, however, is still way over priced. It has come down a bit recently...

Is there a different process to burning dual layer discs? If I burn a 3.5 hour video onto it, is it any different than a single layer?

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by ZepSinger

Is there a different process to burning dual layer discs? If I burn a 3.5 hour video onto it, is it any different than a single layer?

Depends on source material.
A dual layer hold twice as much info.
So you can write videos that are;
twice as long, or
twice the bitrate, or
twice the resolution.
If your source material isn't high resolution or bitrate to start with, you won't see much difference between the dual layer and single layer copies. But if you go scrunching high resolution, high bitrate, material that is originally larger than the 4.7Gb that a single layer holds, you're eventually gonna see picture softness, pixellation, or transition effects cropping up.