Dual layer Discs Grrr!

Gene M · 03-13-2004, 11:52 AM

Hello I'm new to this group. does dual layer dics really bother you? oh man! I really hate them. when you buy a movie that has wide and standered versions. and the disc is dual layer, It's a pain in the a$$ to remove the disc without getting fingerprint smudges on your disc. sometimes you find light scrathes on the discs. very annoying. When I bought Gilligan's Island season1 when I opened the box Auggh! the discs was dual layered. I bought other tv shows on season boxed sets like Sanford & Son, Lost In Space, it has single layer disc's. What other tv show's season box sets that you bought has dual layer disc's that you don't like?? I was wondering if gilligan's island is not the only one that has dual layer disc's? Why can't the studio's make single layer disc only, if they want to put wide & standered versions movie why don't they just put 2 disc's in the box just like one studio did for Rambo movies series, disc1 wide screen and disc2 standered version. and NEVER put tv shows season sets on dual layer discs. I think I will Keep sending e-mails to the studios telling them no more dual layer discs!! then again they don't care, no matter how many e-mail messages you send them. I just want to put my opinion in this group. Thanx! Gene!

Mark Oates · 03-13-2004, 12:24 PM

You mean double-sided, not dual layer. Most discs are single-side, double-layer (having a label on one side and the playing surface on the other), as that offers the best capacity for the price. Double-sided discs have two playing surfaces on either side and a narrow hub-ring label for identification. The thing is these discs have twice the capacity of the single-side, double-layer discs but (shouldn't) cost twice as much to produce. You have to ask yourself would you rather have more discs in a disc set and subsequently pay more for them? The Gilligan set would have easily cost twice what it did if it had been on SSDL discs rather than DSDL.

Of course, if cost is no consideration for you, I'd take your point

Patrick McCart · 03-13-2004, 02:20 PM

You could just handle the discs on the edge and the center hole.

Gene M · 03-13-2004, 06:43 PM

Thanks for correcting me mark.. got a little mixed up between these two. just a question for single sided disc, what's the running time for the disc?? I was wondering if they could cram 36 ep. on 3 single discs? As for the center hole not all DVD cases has the easy push the button thingy center hole, some have teeth looking thing around the center hole, not as easy trying to take it out without forcing the disc out, risking of cracking or breaking it in two. I always get those AOL disc in the DVD case that you get from the mail. since it have the easy push button thingy, I throw out the AOL disc out and label and take the DVD and label from the DVD movie case that has the annoying center hole and swap it with the AOL DVD case.. that make things alot easier.

Mark Oates · 03-13-2004, 08:49 PM

Technically, you can cram up to four hours* on to a single-sided, single-layer disc (like a DVD recordable), but the quality goes completely down the pan. A single-side, double-layer can carry four hours (four episodes) in very decent quality, so 36 hour-long episodes would take nine discs. 36 half-hours would therefore take five discs.

The problem is more the terrible cases some Studios insist on using for packaging. Here in the UK, Columbia Tristar frequently insist on using an abomination called a Scanavo case which has an inflexible spindle. You can crack a disc trying to wrestle it out of one of those, and a double-sider may be thicker than a standard disc but it's more fragile.

*Note: Eight hours if you compromise the resolution of the picture - before anybody butts in to contradict.

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