What You NEED to Know About Buying Blank DVDs

Video streaming is quickly bypassing DVDs as folks' choice for watching movies, documentaries, and other video files.

Services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Acorn-TV provide the ability to watch online and no longer buy DVDs.

However, there is still a core of folks that want their favorite television shows or movies on a physical medium, and want to be able to record certain television shows or movies from cable, satellite, or over-the-air transmission.

In addition, although you may purchase TV shows and movies on streaming websites, there is no guarantee these videos are yours to keep forever. When contracts change between the copyright holder and video streaming service, you lose your video!

You can also still buy DVD recorders on which to record shows and movies, but it is getting harder to record for personal use due to movie studios and television stations adding copy-protection schemes to their broadcasts. Well, for those that persevere, here is what you need to know about purchasing DVDs for recording, data backup, or copying.

There are several different kinds of blank DVD discs. The most common formats are DVD-R and DVD-RW, and DVD+R and DVD+RW. The "R" stands for recordable, and the "W" stands for writeable.

DVD-RAM is an older format and is quickly becoming obsolete. Therefore, don't buy a DVD recorder that relies on DVD-RAM technology and do not purchase DVD-RAM discs to record upon. Even if your current DVD player supports DVD-RAM discs, your friends' DVD players may not, nor will your future DVD player.

A DVD-R or DVD+R blank disc can only be written to one time. A DVD-RW or DVD+RW blank disc can be written to countless times and, as such, are more expensive. You can even erase files from a RW disc.

However, DVD-RW or DVD+RW discs should only be used for data storage as DVD players often have trouble playing them. DVD-R or DVD+R discs should be used for recording movies, or for copying files to give to a friend.

Years ago, the - and + formats were in competition. There are differences in the technology used for burning, but most modern computers and DVD players support both types and this will probably not change in the future. However, read the manual that came with your DVD player. And if you have a DVD recorder, read the manual to understand which types of DVDs are supported for recording purposes.

Also, before purchasing blank discs, consider the brand name. Cheap DVDs are often unreliable, and if you are going to go to the trouble of burning a DVD, it makes sense to send a little more money on good quality discs. We have used Verbatim for years and have had only a handful of "coasters." We usually find them reasonably priced on amazon.com. Other high-quality discs are Taiyo Yuden, Ricoh, and Ritek.

There are also different DVD formats depending on where you live. DVD players in the U.S. usually only support NTSC format. PAL is the format commonly used in Europe.

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