Burnt DVD's

[injen]

Can someone help me here. I have a HP200i DVD Burner that burns in + only. I have copied quite a few movies and all play in my stand alone household DVD players. A friend of mine bought a - burner as he was told that that is the best format. He burnt a movie but it won't play in his household DVD player or mine. Why is it that retailers are pushing people to buy the - burners and saying that they are the new format and the + are the old format, and that the - will play in all DVD players when is actual fact they won't.
Can someone please help me to understand this reasoning. I have never found a stand alone DVD player that one of my burnt DVD+R won't play in. And these range from the cheapy ones to the more expensive ones including the Sony PS2.
Thanks

 

[SaigonK]

In a recent test at cdrworld.com they found that DVD-R was MORE compatible with a range of set-top players than DVD+R.
A few reasons OEM;s are pushing towards DVD-R.

1. Cheaper drives mean more sales. (Most DVD-R drives are significantly cheaper than +R drives)
2. Chepaer media - DVD-R media is ALLOT cheaper than DVD+R - especially if you are buying 4xmedia.

 

[injen]

That maybe so....but the thing is the -R don't seem to work in the set top players. Well not in anyones that I know of.....so why push something that doesn't work. I know there are a lot of angry people out there who have bought the -R burners and when they go to play them on their household players it is a no go.

 

[HiTek21]

I didn't know which format was better + or - R so I got a dual format writer and so far I copied a couple of movies with -R discs and tested them out on various dvd players and so far no problems with playing them.

CD-R Info's DVD R Compatibility Tests

 

[SaigonK]

That maybe so....but the thing is the -R don't seem to work in the set top players. Well not in anyones that I know of.....so why push something that doesn't work. I know there are a lot of angry people out there who have bought the -R burners and when they go to play them on their household players it is a no go.


I bought an $80 Phillips DVD set-top player and it plays DVD-R/DVD-RW/DVD+R/DVD+R
Again, they tested on a TOn of set tops, all of which were able to play DVD-R and NOT able to play all DVD+R

 

[Belzer]

Originally posted by: SaigonK
In a recent test at cdrworld.com they found that DVD-R was MORE compatible with a range of set-top players than DVD+R.
A few reasons OEM;s are pushing towards DVD-R.

1. Cheaper drives mean more sales. (Most DVD-R drives are significantly cheaper than +R drives)
2. Chepaer media - DVD-R media is ALLOT cheaper than DVD+R - especially if you are buying 4xmedia.

Not true at all. On the contrary manufacturers push towards DVD+R/RW. Even Pioneer has gave up single format DVD-R/RW drives. All fairly new drives are DVD±R/RW drives or single format DVD+R/RW drives.

Crappy Princo DVD-R might be cheaper than DVD+R media but good quality media usually cost the same. As a matter of fact in the UK you can buy 4x Ritek DVD+Rs cheaper than 4x Ritek DVD-Rs and in the US there are usually more deals on DVD+R media than on DVD-R media in stores like Bestbuy. DVD+R media is actually cheaper to produce than DVD-R media, check out the 31/7 news at doom9.org for example.

CDRInfo's compatibility test is a joke. To few players tested, strange selection of players and test method, weird results and CDRInfo is not a very trustworthy site. Note for example that the DVD+Rs from the HP300i played on all tested stand alone DVD players. There were only one old Pioneer DVD-ROM, one TEAC DVD-ROM (a rebadged Pioneer) and one Waitec DVD+RW writer that didn't read them. And I really doubt that a Waitec DVD+RW writer wouldn't read its own format especially since its a rebadged Ricoh and that didn't have any problems reading them...

DV Magazine has made a compatibility test too and their result i probably closer to the truth, ie compability for DVD+R and DVD-R is more or less the same.

 

[Mday]

DVD-R was the first writable DVD format out. It came out shortly before DVD-RAM, and was what ppl used to master DVDs. DVD+R is new. it was designed to be MORE compatible, that is, readable by readers. whether or not a DVD will play on a player is dependent on the player, and how you burn it.

 

[Belzer]

Originally posted by: Mday
DVD-R was the first writable DVD format out. It came out shortly before DVD-RAM, and was what ppl used to master DVDs.

That's DVD-R Authoring and not the consumer format, DVD-R General.

 

[injen]

I still don't understand why the -R's aren't working.......I am using the program called DVDXcopy Xpress to copy my movies on the +R disks and all work. What book type are you people that using that are burning with the -R disks????

 

[Challenger]

Do the -Rs play in the PC DVD player?

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: injen
That maybe so....but the thing is the -R don't seem to work in the set top players. Well not in anyones that I know of.....so why push something that doesn't work. I know there are a lot of angry people out there who have bought the -R burners and when they go to play them on their household players it is a no go.

I've got a sort of "old" Panasonic set-top player that will not play burned CD's - CD-R or -RW - but it does read DVD-R and DVD-RW just fine.

 

[injen]

yes they do.....just not in the stand alone DVD players

 

[LethalWolfe]

For DVD players made during the past 2-3 years -/+ compatibility is just about dead even (some "studies" say + is better while others say "-" is better). The thing to keep in mind is that making DVD's at home is not an exact science and made at home DVD's, at the very, very best, will play in about 85% of the set top DVD players out there. Some DVD medie yields better compatibility and some DVD set top players read burned DVDs better tha others.

I've burned dozens of DVD-R's and never had a play back problem, but like I said, even in a best case scenario only about 85% of the set top players out there will play the DVDs you burn.


Lethal

 

[mosco]

never had a problem with -r discs from my pioneer dvd drive and panasonic dvd player.

 

[injen]

Lethal.
So are you saying that it could depend on the blank media that is being used?
I use a program called dvdinfo available at http://www.nicsoft.com.au/download/dvdinfo2.zip
this program is free to download and when you put a burnt DVD in your DVD drive it will tell you what brand of media it is and what the booktype is.
Can someone that is burning DVD-R let me know what booktype they are burning at?
Thanks

 

[LethalWolfe]

Originally posted by: injen
Lethal.
So are you saying that it could depend on the blank media that is being used?
I use a program called dvdinfo available at http://www.nicsoft.com.au/download/dvdinfo2.zip
this program is free to download and when you put a burnt DVD in your DVD drive it will tell you what brand of media it is and what the booktype is.
Can someone that is burning DVD-R let me know what booktype they are burning at?
Thanks

The media can make a huge difference. It has to do w/physical characterists of the media though. For example, cheaper media will use lower quality dye that is less reflective (thus harder for drives/players to read) and is also less stable so it can breakdown in just a couple of years (making your DVD a coaster).

Even if you use good quality, name brand media it's no guarantee. Why? I have no idea. Maybe the laser used by DVD maker Y doesn't like the dye used by Brand X. Heck even commercial DVDs that you buy won't work in every DVD player. They probably work 99.9% of the time but I know they fall short of perfect.

I downloaded the program and the booktype is "DVD-R"


Lethal

 

[injen]

I am using blank DVD's from Taiwan that I am getting for $2.70AU each....they are +R a no name brand but are apparently Ricoh.....they are burning with the booktype DVD-Rom.