first off my monitor has recently gone very "fuzzy", when i turn my computer on, it seems fine, then gradually it seems to get more and more fuzzy.. or "out of contrast" or "blurred".. i've been told this by pretty much every person whos used my computer.. and now its getting really bad, i have to squint to get a proper focus on things on the screen, i've swapped graphics cards, between (ge-force 2 - 9200) to check that it wasnt my card, which it isnt... its defo the monitor.. is there anyway of fixing this? or is it just because my monitor is slowly ending its life? the monitor is a: AOC 17" 7VLR Second of all, i'm very interested in buying a DVD-RW, but i don't know much about them.. I've looked around and have heard alot of very good reviews on the: NEC ND2500 8x, and have also been breifly told that if i get a DVD-RW i want to get one that does both - and +, could someone explain to me about this? as i want a DVD-RW that can do burn/copy pretty much any DVD and work.. (i have a dvd player that plays: DIVX / SVCD / KVCD & most formats)
For your first question, it's pretty clear that your monitor is rapidly dying. Unless you are a monitor technician, just replace it. Monitors are difficult and dangerous to service for the untrained. For the money, I like the Samsung SyncMaster 955DF, or any viewsonic Q-series. Those are both monitors which have beautiful pictures and last a very long time. The 955DF is actually cheaper and better, but Viewsonic has a better reputation. To answer your second question, no matter what DVD-RW you purchase, they will *not* be able to make bit-for-bit copies of your DVDs. DVD-R discs have a capacity of 4.7GB, and your average movie is 7-9GB. Until multi-layer DVD-RW drives are available, the only way to copy a DVD is to either rip it and re-encode it in a lower bitrate (time-consuming), or use special software to span it across two discs (cheesy). If I was you, I'd just hold off on the DVD-RW, as they're not incredibly useful just yet. But hey, it's your money.
AT pretty much summed it up. If I hadn't gotten the deal I did on my Sony Trinitron monitors, I'd have picked up a Samsung flat-screen CRT monitor in a heartbeat. Unless you're doing some heavy backup/archiving, DVD burners aren't something I'd blow my money on just yet.
surely there must be "Multi-Layer DVD-RW" hardware and software out their otherwise DVD's wouldn't be 7 - 9GB? how long till this type of hardware is available?
Yes, but nothing that you'd really be able to afford. AFAIK, the process for making the CD's and DVD's you buy doesn't involve burning to the disc. Instead it's basically stamping the pits in, and the machines to do this aren't really available to the general public. I'm sure you could get one, but certainly not for any price you'd be willing to pay (think $30,000 and up). The next DVD technology is BlueRay DVD's which will increase the capacity, but this will require new drives.
dual layer dvd should be coming out soon! I think prob a month or two or even less, from what I have read. There is no way of making 1:1 copy of any DVD cuz like Mr B said they currently dont have enough space to make exact copies of the dvd, however soon you should be able to when dual layer dvd writers come out! BlueRay DVD's would be different as you should be able to copy a number of dvd's on onc blue ray disc as they can hold 25GB+ data!
wow sounds cool, i've invested my money in a new monitor which should be arriving this friday yay a: Samsung 19" CRT Syncmaster 957P got it for £128. a 19" monitor wahooo! used to having a 17".. lol i'll wait till the duals come out.. later
http://www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductInfo.aspx?ProductID=6374&GroupID=0 its a sony Dual Layer but dont know if theres any media you can buy for it.
Instead of paying ~$300 for a dual-layer DVD-R, you can get this Nu-Global DVD-RW for $73 at Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=27-154-003&depa=0 While that particular drive is only single-layer, Nu just released new firmware which makes it dual-layer. If you want 8.4GB burners right now (for less than a third of market value), this is the best deal out there. The only hard part is finding the blank dual-layer DVD-Rs...
