Re-Recordable Dvd Discs

[megfitz]

How many times can you rerecord on +RW discs without corruption in picture or sound. I buy discs from Supermarkets not the expensive Curry/PC world ones.

[Buenchico]

Quote:
"As is the case with other optical storage media using phase-change technology there is a limit to the number of times the recording layer in a DVD-RW, DVD+RW and DVD-RAM disc can be reliably switched between its crystalline and amorphous states. It is estimated that a DVD-RW or DVD+RW disc can be rewritten approximately 1000 times and a DVD-RAM 100,000 times. In addition, these formats (under certain circumstances) employ defect management schemes to actively verify data and skip over or relocate problems to a spare area of the disc."

Source:
http://www.osta.org/technology/dvdqa/dvdqa11.htm

Even as you get close to the end of a disc's life you're unlikely to detect any worsening of sound or video quality. Digital technologies generally either work or they don't, with no middle ground.

[Old_Jim]

It is claimed that +RW disks are reliable for up to 1,000 re-recordings and that DVD RAM 100,000. Since these are remarkably round numbers, I suspect someone plucked them out of the air. However, they are good for quite a few recordings.

The big difference is how long a recording lasts. The manufacturers of the expensive ones claim that theirs last for a lot longer than the cheap ones. (But to quote Mandy Rice-Davies - they would say that wouldn't they?) I've found that videos recorded on DVD+RW can confuse a DVD player after a couple of years, but they can be read and re-recorded on a computer.