Posted by Jan B on 03/31/06 04:50

On Thu, 30 Mar 2006 14:54:54 -0800, David Chien <chiendh@uci.edu>
wrote:

>It a downside to DVD recorders - you must erase a RW disc before writing
>over pre-recorded information. It's not like a VCR where new recordings
>go right over what was there w/o having to do anything besides press RECORD.
>
>The main reason is because the DVD makers didn't invent a recordable
>format that allows for this to be done easily to video that has been
>recorded on the disc. As a result, we're stuck having to press ERASE
>first before RECORD.

I believe that is true with DVD-RW.
It is not true with DVD+RW. At least a Philips +RW recorder starts
recording wherever you set the pointer and continues to overwrite the
old content as long as it records. Any left over material is still
there if the recording stops before the end of the old Title.

A title can be edited or erased in the middle of a disc, but it
resembles a VCR in the way, that it does not jump around to use free
space when recording.

(You need DVD-RAM to do that.)

To create DVDs to play on a regular DVD-Player on a DVD Recorder
without HDD, the DVD+RW has an advantage.

The OP:s need to record for 6h is however not fulfilled (with a decent
quality). I record maximum 2.5 hours (on a single layer disc). The
better choices would be either a Digital TV-receiver with built in HDD
(in combination with a DVD+RW recorder) or if that is not possible
(because of analogue signals etc.) choose an HDD-(/DVD) -Recorder
instead.

For transfer to a PC, the +RW format still has some advantage over
-RW.
/Jan

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