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Blank DVDs - Blank DVD R MediaThe digital entertainment revolution began with the Compact Disc (CD) a few decades ago. It took many years before the capabilities for recording your own CD were available for home use. It wan't until the CD drive became standard that the necessary software and media became cheap enough for mainstream use. Now blank CDs cost only pennies, and every PC has a CD-R unit built into it. DVDs have evolved even faster that CDs. DVD recorders started showing up in PCs just a few years after the release of the DVD format. Recordable DVDs are the ultimate in permanent file storage and backup. Single sided blank DVDs can hold 4.7GB of data, whether files, photos, music, or video. The newer dual layer DVDs (DL) store data on both sides, for a total of 8.5GB. Most commercial movie DVDs are dual sided - you can sometimes even see the slight pause or jump in the film as the player begins reading the second side.
Recordable DVDs FormatsIf you need to buy blank DVDs or DVD-R Media for your DVD burner, first check out your PC and see what kind of drive you have. Most drives support the various formats of DVD: DVD-R stands for DVD Recordable; DVD-RW stands for DVD Rewriteable. DVD-R was the first format released and and it works on over 90% of all DVD players and recorders. It is also referred to as the DVD-5 format. DVD-RW works with about 80% of players and recorders - don't buy these blank formats if you drive does not support them. DVD-R DL is dual layer, and is also referred to as DVD-9 format. You'll likely also find the DVD+R and DVD+RW disks, which work on 80-90% of all the drives out there. The next thing you'll see is the record/write speed offered by the blank DVDs - 2X, 4X, 8X, etc. If your drive can only write at 4X speeds, it doesn't matter if you feed it 8X DVD blank media - it will still write at just 4X speed. So your goal is to buy the highest speed available for your drive to minimize burning time - when in doubt, buy a middle range speed.Buying Blank DVD Media onlineYou can buy blank DVDs at mose electronic stores and office supply stores. When buying in bulk, you should be able to find DVD media for about 25-35 cents each - ie, a 100 pack of blank DVDs should cost about $25-$35 if you shop around. You can pay more for premium DVDs, but we've never had a problem with the cheap DVDs from the big makers - Fuji, Sony, Memorex, etc. If you have serious archiving needs, you may want to spend a little more and buy the archive DVD media that is guaranteed to last for 50 years or whatever. Some of the big online stores that specialize in blank DVD media are SuperMediaStore.com, Meritline.com, and Shop4Tech.com. They all carry the major DVD brands - Fuji, HP, Maxell, Memorex, Panasonic, pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sony, Taiyo Yuden, TDK, and Verbatim. Meritline offers free ground shipping on most order - like 50 Pack Taiyo Yuden 8X DVD-R Media 4.7GB for $17.50, or 35 cents per disk. Shop4Tech offers the Ridata DVD+RW 8X blank media for about $1 each - you'll find the RW disks are always more than the R disks. If you want blank DVD-R media, check out their special on Sonic 4X DVD+R 4.7GB bulk packages, 1000 DVDs at just 21 cents each ($210).In our opinion, if you are a fairly normal user of DVDs, meaning you burn 2-20 per month, you are equally well served by shopping at a computer or office store and buying a 100 pack of standard DVD R blank media for $35 or whatever - buying from a specialty web vendor won't save you much or get you anything extra. If you are consuming more than 100 DVDs a month, you might be better off buying in bulk quantities from an Internet vendor to get the best price and quality.
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