Re: [Dvdrtools-users] unable to write dvd-r with linux kernel 1.6

[Larry Siden]

Thank you very much for that info Bryan.  Sorry Volker has got you so
annoyed.  Nevertheless, some of your responses have been very
informative, and have helped me to make sense out of what before
seemed to me like an incomprehensible "mixed salad" of competing terms
and standards.

If I may summarize and perhaps somewhat simplify what you just told me:

1) The "-R" format (for both CD and DVD) is essentially a continuous
spiral, and a correctly written CD/DVD-R will resemble a CD/DVD-ROM
when read.  Almost all CD/DVD players including older ones can read
that format.

2) All other formats (+R, +/-RW, -RAM, etc.) are MO-based and resemble
a magnetic hard-disk in principle (if not literally).  Older CD/DVD
players are incapable of reading that format and there are still
comatibility issues with newer ones.

3) When burning music or video, the -R format will render the most
compatible output.  For this, cdrecord or dvdrecord is adequate.  (Q:
Does growisofs also know how to detect and write to this format, for
compatibility?  If that were the case, I would expect cd/dvdrecord to
become obsolete, but I'm in over my head here.)

4) When burning data for personal use (such as local backups), the MO
formats are optimal and probably safe, since any drive that can write
them can also read them (hopefully).  For this format, growisofs seems
like the ticket.

5) When burning MO media, one might need to be aware of the CAV/CLV
configuration of the drive if one plans to read the media on a
different drive than the one it was recorded on, but I'm not sure yet
exactly what the trade-offs and consequences of each choice are.

If there aren't any major mistakes or misconception in the above, then
that would be everything I need to know in a nutshell, as a consumer,
and it would give me a simple rule of thumb for what kind of media to
buy: CD-R or DVD-R for music/video, and +R for everything else.  (I
don't think I have any need for the RW formats right now, unless I
find out that there is a substantial cost savings over time by being
able to rewrite media for example by recycling backup disks, but as I
don't need to back up that often, I would expect it to take longer any
savings is realized).

Did I get all that right, Bryan?  If so, perhaps you could post it
somewhere, in your own words.

-- 
Larry Siden
http://umich.edu/~lsiden/