Today’s million dollar question is whether or not you should buy the double-layer 8.5 GB DVDs yet. I believe you should wait and judging from what Tom’s Hardware review has turned up, it appears that they concur.

DVDs burners are getting better fast on two fronts. First, devices offering a 16x write speed are becoming available. Second, the first devices that can write two recording layers to DVDs are appearing in the stores. These are called double-layer burners.

However, speed kills. Unfortunately, the gains afforded by a 16x write speed also mean there are risks that a successful burn has been made, which can cause data to be lost. So, as before, you should stick with a maximum 4x write speed if you are burning a DVD for archiving purposes.