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Burning to CD-Rs, not DVD-Rs

d wade

d wade

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 27, 2006
1,046
2
Boca Raton, FL
ok.. i finally got my dvd burner to work.

i used a blank CD-R instead of DVD-R. why did it work when i used a CD and not DVD? should i return the brand new 50pack of DVD-R i just bought and get CD-R instead? or will there ever be a time when i need to burn onto the DVD-Rs?

they were bin/cue files that did not work with the DVD-R, but worked fine with the CD-R.

advice please
 
If you have a CD image, you need to burn it to a CD. Likewise, a DVD image would need to be put onto a DVD. That's all there is to it. The discs look the same, but they work rather differently.
 
will i always need CD-Rs? or will there ever be a time when i will need the DVD-Rs?

just trying to see if i need to return the blank DVDs and get more CDs or if i should keep the DVDs
 
iMeowbot said:
If you have a CD image, you need to burn it to a CD. Likewise, a DVD image would need to be put onto a DVD. That's all there is to it. The discs look the same, but they work rather differently.
Click to expand...

what sort of files would go to the DVD?

if bin/cue files go to CD.. what files go to DVD?
 
If you think that you might have content that needs to be put onto DVDs in the future, you will need blank DVDs to do that. If you know today that you will never, ever have to burn something to DVD, then by all means return them. There is no way that other users on a bulletin board can predict what files you will have in the future, so you won't be able to get a definitive answer.
 
yellow said:
Uh.. whatever you want.

A CD is 700MB and a DVD is 4.7GB.

Use appropriately.
Click to expand...

right.. i know that.

but when i tried burning to the blank DVD, it said the files were not supported.

but when i burned to the blank CD, it worked fine and plays in my DVD player.


thats what i am confused about.

what sort of files burn to DVD? avi? mpg? wmv? etc...

obviously, i have found out that bin/cue files go to a CD-R, but what files go to a DVD-R?
 
d wade said:
obviously, i have found out that bin/cue files go to a CD-R, but what f iles go to a DVD-R?
Click to expand...

Any files that are too large to fit on a CD?

If there's a disc image (or whatever) that is made for a DVD, meaning it's larger than 700MB, then it goes on a DVD.

Otherwise I guess I don't understand what you're asking.

The bin/cue files you had were for a VideoCD, meaning they were made to go on a CD. Therefore a CD is what you needed. Your DVD player clearly supports VideoCDs, which is why it works. If you had a (legal) DVD rip, then you'd have to put it on a DVD.

Seems pretty cut and dried.. I guess I'm just not grasping what you're asking.
 
yellow said:
Any files that are too large to fit on a CD?

If there's a disc image (or whatever) that is made for a DVD, meaning it's larger than 700MB, then it goes on a DVD.

The bin/cue files you had were for a VideoCD, meaning they were made to go on a CD. Therefore a CD is what you needed. Your DVD player clearly supports VideoCDs, which is why it works. If you had a (legal) DVD rip, then you'd have to put it on a DVD.

Seems pretty cut and dried.. I guess I'm just not grasping what you're asking.
Click to expand...

ok, i do get what you are saying. but let me try to make sense of what i was asking.

i downloaded a movie, and within the movie folder were .bin and .cue files. when i tried to burn them to a DVD-R, Toast said the files were unsupported.

i then inserted a CD-R, burned it, and it worked and played in my DVD player downstairs. the file was about 798MB, but still worked on the CD, and refused to burn to the DVD.

so what i am asking is... will blank CD-Rs always work when i want to burn movies? i have now successfully burned 2 movies onto CDs (both were bin/cue files) -- but are there any file types that will not work on a CD, and only work with a DVD?

i am asking this b/c i bought a 50pack of blank DVDs and they did not work. I want to return them and get blank CDs, because the CD is what worked.

i am trying to figure out if there are any other types of files (besides bin/cue) that would require using a DVD and not a CD. if there are, i will not return the blank DVDs, but if they all require using blank CDs, i will exchange the DVDs for CDs... thats what i am trying to find out here
 
Because the files you downloaded (legally, right?) were for VideoCDs. Hence, CD-Rs being needed.

Theoretically, you could download a "video-ts" folder that would need a DVD. They would require DVD-Rs.

It all depends on the size of the rip.

EDIT: fixed incorrect notion of DVD rip files.
 
yellow said:
Because the files you downloaded (legally, right?) were for VideoCDs. Hence, CD-Rs being needed.

Theoretically, you could download bin/cue files that would need a DVD. They would require DVD-Rs.

It all depends on the size of the rip.
Click to expand...

of course they were legal.

ok but i bought DVD-R and the bin/cue files said it was not supported. the sizes of them are all around 800mb, but still worked fine on the CD-R even though the CD says only 700mb.

when would i ever need the DVD-R?
 
Don't worry about the apprent size difference, there's a multitude of tecehnical reasons that I won't get into. Ultimately, You've got to get past the fact that your bin/cues wouldn't burn to a DVD. They weren't meant for a DVD, they were meant for a CD. End of story.

d wade said:
when would i ever need the DVD-R?
Click to expand...

If you downloaded a DVD rip and wanted to burn it to a disc.
Or if you wanted to back up and didn't want to spread your data over 5 CDs.
Or if you wanted to make a data DVD of your music.
Or you made a movie with iDVD.
Or or or..

iMeowbot said:
There is no way that other users on a bulletin board can predict what files you will have in the future, so you won't be able to get a definitive answer.
Click to expand...
 
Ok, heres as simple as it gets. The Bin/cue files are nothing more than a disc image (bin, or binary data) and a map of the disc (cue). It cant burn to dvd because the cue file says to put certain files into certain blocks on a cd that dont exist on dvds cause dvds are differnt than cds. What you have was a VCD or SVCD image, which are made to burn to cd. VCD info on a dvd will not work, even if you do manage to burn to dvd. Now if you have a dvd image, or a video-ts folder, then you need to burn to dvd. Most dvd players, if not all today, will not read dvd info on cd. I say have both cd-r and dvd-r discs and use them as needed.
 
ok.. thank you everyone (especially yellow) for the help. sorry for all the dumb questions.. i am just new to all of this. i appreciate it very much
 
so i went to best buy to return the 50pack of DVD-R.

i was taking to the guy there, and he helped explain alot of this dvd burning stuff. i have no experience ripping/burning DVDs, thats why i was so clueless here.

anyway, i ended up buying 25 DVD-R and 50 CD-Rs. it only cost about an extra $5 for that compared to the 50 DVDs. this way, now i have the best of both, and can use whichever i need when it is necessary
 
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