Double-sided DVDs - how they record and play (1 Viewer)

[MarkSherm]

I have a panasonic E50 DVD-R and DVD-Ram recorder. I want to record decent pic quality movies 2+ hrs long and am thinking about using two-sided DVDs (which may, at this time, be cost-prohibitive - but i am hopeful that costs will drop!). A two-sided DVD-Ram will give me about 4 hrs of standard PQ compared with the single-sided 2 hrs.
Anyway, just curious as to how the double-sided discs work:
1) When recording, will I have to "flip" the disc over to record on the other side.
2) When playing back, it is my understanding that i will have to flip the disc - am i correct in this assumption?

Also, do you guys think a good quality dvd will come out that will allow 2+ hrs of recording on ONE side?

Finally, for those of you in the market for blank one-sided DVDs......Office Max came out today with an add for 50 DVD-Rs (i am not sure of +Rs) for $10 after rebates.

Thanks for your help.

 

[JeremySt]

The answer to both of your questions is yes. Considering you would have to get up to flip the disc, why not just stick with single sided discs, which are much cheaper?

 

[KathyBeck]

I think what Marksherm is referring to when he asks about a single side of a disc holding 2 hours plus, is a dual layered recordable disc. I am curious about this myself. Is that what the dvd companies use to hold a long, feature-laden film and still offer it on one disc? If so,is this technology available to the consumer? If anyone knows, please respond.

 

[ThomasL]

Kathy,

I don't believe dual-layered discs are available and if they are, your dvd recorder would have to know how to record to them which none of the current crop that I am aware of know how to.

Double-sided discs are different and are available but more expensive than normal one-sided discs. As mentioned, you'll need to flip it over to record and also when playing. The easiest way to think of it is as two one sided discs glued together I believe the advantage here is if you have an event - such as the Superbowl or something else - that you wanted to keep on dvd-r, you'd have to compromise somewhat on quality to fit the entire recording onto one single sided dvd. But, for example in the case of a football game, if you had a double-sided dvd-r, you could put the 1st half on one side and the 2nd half on the second side and have better recording quality overall.

hope this helps,


--tom