BenQ DW830A DL Recorder - page 6

- Conclusion

Overall we can say that we have mixed feelings about the way DVD+R DL works.

The DW830A worked perfectly, even at engineering stage, with the Mitsubishi Chemicals DVD+R DL media. There is a major compatibility issue with DVD writers & combo drives, however DVD-ROMs and DVD players seem to playback the DVD+R DL discs just fine. The official announcement of BenQ states, "disc compatibility with DVD video players and DVD-ROM drives", doesn't mention anywhere DVD writers, so we can say the statement is more or less correct.

For sure, the increased 7.96GB will become handy to all those who wish to make 1:1 backups of DVD9 movies or even store two DVD movies at one disc (with the proper software). Users who wish just to store data, might find the DL solution not so good due to high incompatibility with DVD Writers ( & in general DVD readers for PC/MAC).

We don't know if the compatibility issues can be solved with firmware update or its just a media problem. We assume you wouldn't want to have a disc that can be read only by few drives, especially when includes 7.96GB of important data..

DL writers are expected to cost slightly higher than nowadays DVD recorders, the main question is how soon the prices will drop, especially concerning media. Everyday a new media manufacturer, besides Mitsubishi Chemicals, announces support for DVD+R DL format, but we will have to wait until we see the media at local stores and at which price range.

By that time more DL recorders will have arrived to our labs and more information will have become known about this new and exciting technology. Stay tuned!