Differences

[the mask]

can someone tell me please what the difference is between a cd and dvd re-writer.
i mean can you burn movies with a cd re-writer and then play them on a dvd machine?

[Virtualbody1234]

CD writer writes to blank CD media: 700 MB
DVD writer writes to blank DVD media: 4.7 GB

[the mask]

i didnt fully understand the above, can you explain in thick peoples english please. what i mean to say is that can you burn movies and music using a cd writer?

[tesco]

there is a much smaller format of video called video cd (vcd for short) which is a lot lower quality than a dvd video. you can burn a movie with a cd-writer that will work on some dvd players which support vcd's. With a dvd player you burn real dvds with high quality video that will work on most dvd players that support dvd-r\+r (dvd -r or +r is a recordable dvd).

Storage wise, if you wanted to burn a disc with data on it (such as pictures\games etc) then a cd rewriter can burn 700mb of data (typically one game cd) while a dvd can burn 4.7gb\5828mb of data (typically around 8 game cds or 2000 mp3's )

if you cna afford to buy a dvd-writer. If you want help choosing one(if you decide to buy it that is) come back here and some people will help you choose one.

[TheFilePirater]

thats the most common myth with dvd burners, people think that you need a dvd-rw to make dvds, thats very untrue...there are several methods of "converting" videos (from kazaa, based on how you talk) into "dvd" format...

CD-RW, are the most common drives, they can read and write normal CD-R/W usally $50-100USD

ad:cheaper, and more common
dis:smaller amounts of data on cds

DVD-RW are newer and not so common, they can read and write normal CD-R/W and DVD-R/W, they go for $150-400USD

ad: hold larger amounts of data
dis:more expensive and slower write speeds

[the mask]

okay, now i understand , thank you all but just one last thing, what is a cd writer and dvd combo? i am assuming this is a cd writer and a dvd player only (not a dvd writer)

[tesco]

correct a combo drive can burn cd-r\rw's and also read regular dvd but not burn them. still good to have though if you want to watch dvds on your computer.

[TheFilePirater]

yep, cd-rw and dvd combo is a cd burner and dvd rom