> Is the A04 considered by most to be the best dvd writer?
In my opinion: yes.
In DVD+guys' opinion: no, they prefer philips dvdrw228.
It's completely your own decision if you take DVD+RW or DVD-RW. No one can predict what format will win or even if any format will win (maybe they fight this silly war till we all have blue ray disc writers).
If you want to make Data-DVDs (with divX-movies e.g), use
Nero:
DVD-Authoring: Even
DVDIt (costs about $500) is crap IMHO...slow, buggy, bad encoder, writes crap sometimes, doesn't seem to support burn proof...). SpruceUp is said to be good, but it isn't sold anymore

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Asus P4C800E-Deluxe, Win XP, P4/2800 HT, 2048 MB RAM, 600 GB HDD, Plextor PX712/716/755/Premium, LG 4120B, Pioneer A08, Pioneer A09, NEC ND-3540A/4550A
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If at first you don't succeed, redefine success!
How a troll wants to force users of Linux to buy Windows just to make use of Plextor DVD writer unique functions
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PxScan/PxView (compatible to Premium, PX-712, PX-714, PX-716), now with built-in picture file output
Bitsetting via Autostart
My Blog about DADVSI (new french copyright)