I saw that they have the new Double-Density (DDR) disks and recorders out now which can hold up to 1.3 gig. of info. I was thinking of getting one, but wanted to know if anyone has one and whether or not those disks would work in a normal DVD player.

-- Curious (sdtran3280@msn.com), December 09, 2001

Answers

The discs won't work in anything but a drive that understands DDR. I'm not aware of any current DVD players that understand the format. A better option right now is to use the non-standard 90 or 99 minute CD-Rs because DVD players that support CD-R tend to play these without any problems. I have read up on DDR in the past and I'm not sold on the format. Sony built it so that it can't be used for audio CD making. While home video enthusiasts might be interested in it because of it's greater storage, if no DVD players ever support it, it won't be of any use to us. I would advise you not to buy one unless you want to make VCD/SVCD discs that can only be played on a PC. You might as well save the money and just make DivX discs if you are willing to have something you can only play on a PC. I think that this is a format that is doomed to failure. The inability to make audio CDs with it will kill it. Other manufacturers aren't likely to support it with DVD available now as a superior alternative and likely to get more affordable every year.

-- Jason (Jason.Shumate@equant.com), December 10, 2001.