cd, cd-r, cdrw, dvd-rom, dvd ram, vcd, svcd

[elitehak]

Hey everyone,

I have been reading the archives, and sevral magazines, and i am now more confused than when i started , sometimes thats good :)

Need help in understanding the following 'drives' and their media.
I have a lof of questions, sorry and thanks for your patience

Difference between the media (not the drives, but the discs)

CD
cd-r
cd-rw
dvd-rom
dvd-ram
vcd
svcd

Difference between the drives:

Can a cd drive read all cd-r, all cd-rw, all vcds, all svcds, all dvds

Sometimes i have cdr that my friend passes me, i put it in my cd-rom (which is a 8x) and it does not read it, does it matter the speed at which it has been burned...

Is there a web site which explains in clear terms the difference between all those medias, and drives. What can be used in which drive, and which one can not

Thanks in advance as usual

Eli

[Budfred]

CD drives should be able to read CD media. This includes CDR, CDRW, VCD, and plain old CD. I haven't heard of SVCD, but the CD suggests that it should be able to read that too. However, some drives may not be able to read some media recorded on other CD drives for various reasons. The CD may not have been properly recorded, it may not have been closed out, the calibration between the 2 drives may have been different, and so on....

CD drives cannot play DVD. DVD is a more advanced and later technology that compresses the recording far more tightly that CD drives can handle. There are exception in the case of combination drives, usually CDRW/DVD.

DVD, DVDRAM, DVD+RW and DVD-RW can read CDs and I think the burners can even write CDRWs and CDRs...

DVD ROM is the same idea as CD ROM. ROM stands for Read Only Memory and you can only read, not write. RW is ReWrite meaning that you can record things on it many times. R is Record, meaning that you can only record once.

DVD+RW, DVD-RW and DVDRAM are competing technologies for DVD recorders. DVD+RW and DVD-RW are the likely winners and there are a couple of drives out there that do both formats. There will be a new technology available soon called Blue Laser that will again lead to a major jump in storage capacity, but I am not sure if it will be downward compatible. There is already a format war going on with that too.

I don't know if this clarifies anything for you, this is complicated and becoming more so....