This is something I've never been sure about. Here are my spec:-

Pioneer 106
2 x 120 gb drives, 1 x 40 gb drive
Athlon 2600
1gb ddr 400 ram
radeon 9600 xt

The kind of things I am talking about are playing games, browsing the internet etc whilst burning dvds? The media I use is either Ritek or Datawrite yellow. Is it likely to affect the quality of my dvd?

Also, what about burning on the fly? Is that ok to do, or is it as dodgy as it was with cdr?

Thanks in advance.

I've had the ocasional error whilst doing other things but non-intensive stuff like browsing I'm usually 99% ok with. My specs are very slightly lower than yours, I also try and avoid things like using winrar etc whilst burning cdr or dvdr.

They are supposed to have protection so you can do other things & not effect the write. Why not try it & use Verify ?

You should be ok with those specs mine are simular. I burn while surfing and downloading 3 or 4 torrents at the same time, none of which have affected the burn in any way. Thats what burnproof is for. I have even burned while converting an mpeg to dvd format using DVD author and still no probs. As long as you have DMA enabled you should be fine. I wouldn't try games as many use the cdrom to play from and that would cause problems if on same ide channel. Give it a go with a RW and see what happens. Nothing ventured nothing gained.

I tried playing Pro Evolution soccer 3 while burning a dvd, and it seems to be fine. Dunno if this was a one off or not though? Soon see if I start getting a load of coasters!

Given your specs I think you should be okay. For me personally I shut down everything as my PC (at the moment) is VERY weak and the slightest extra task can screw things up.

as long as you dont play music or films whilst burning you will be fine