You can expect rewriteable DVDs to be less stable than than write once (DVD R) media. If you're archiving something, buy solid quality write once media and keep them away from heat and light, before and after you burn.

Plus, write once is cheaper, if you don't plan to rewrite, no need to pay for that.

This thread has been helpful to me but I gotta tell ya....some of it is l SO confusing to someone who isn't a 'technology person'....

EXAMPLE...
"Making DVD videos is a great distribution method... putting your video after editing onto a DVD to share with family and friends. Otherwise, if you left it in the computer then it could only be viewed with that computer! Or, you could dump it onto a DATA DVD, which would not play in a stand alone player and only hold 20 minutes of the full quality (unencoded, not lossily compressed) video. I'd consider this "data DVD" a backup of your work. Also, after editing you could send the video back to the camorder and record on a (new, additional) MiniDV tape for a tape backup at the full quality. A data DVD holds 4.7GB, and a MiniDV tape holds 13GB.

I'd make these data storage (MiniDV tape or data DVD) before the lossy compression encoding step (which is required to get the MPEG2 which is required for making a VIDEO DVD).

You can make the Video DVD several ways. DaveC has had frustration with doing the MPEG2 encoding on a computer, then authoring (laying out menus, etc.) then burning a DVD with a computer based DVD recorder. This is the most flexible, but takes some time and a powerful computer. An alternative is to use a DVD recording appliance. Feed it the edited DV (over Firewire if the recording unit has Firewire input) and the standalone DVD recorder will do the MPEG2 encoding "live" and make the DVD for you this way. (And once you have a good DVD this way, duplicating it with the PC and a DVD burner in the PC is easy)."

WHAT????? This is like a foreign language! An example of what this is like for those of us who aren't real up on technology....(for those of you who are not working in the medical field at least)..

"· Use the finder needle to locate the vein as described in the following sections on specific IV sites.

· Once venous blood is aspirated with the finder needle, insert the large bore needle at the same site and at the same angle.

· Once venous blood is aspirated, grasp the hub of the needle with your non-dominant hand and brace that hand against the patient.

· Lower the needle to the angle parallel to the vein and aspirate to reconfirm flow. If in doubt, confirm that the blood is venous by transducing. Remove the syringe while holding the needle in place and quickly feed the guidewire into the needle watching out for ectopy.

· Remove the needle over the guidewire and hold it in place with gauze (never let go of the wire!).

· Use scalpel to make a 3-4 mm stab through skin and fascia (sharp end away from guidewire).

· Pass dilator 3-4 cm over guidewire to dilate subcutaneous tissue.

· Pass catheter over guidewire which should exit out of the brown port (if using a triple lumen)."

You probably understand parts of that or at least certain terms but don't actually 'get' it and lots of the terms are 'foreign'. This is what it's like for those of us out here trying to figure this out for the first time! Anyway... thanks for all of your help on here... just had to throw this in there for fun and so you could see how some of us get SO confused!

There are a lot of opinions, methods, budgets. Technology has brought us a lot of choices. It's up to you to ultimately decide which way you wish to go. If you have never had or used a camcorder just about anything on the market would be fine. Any video is better than no video and any photograph is better than no photograph....


Rich
Who can remember when the decision was black and white or color film....