DVD+/- R !?!?

[templar165]

It took me a while to notice that there are difference between DVDs. Some are written as DVD+R and some as DVD-R. I spoke about this to my friend and all he did was added to my confusion, he mentioned a DVD+/- R (plus or minus, as in math).
What's the difference between each of these?

 

[VaultDweller]

These days, mostly nothing. When recordable DVDs were new, there were a few competing standards: DVD+R, DVD-R, and DVD-RAM.

DVD-RAM was the oldest, but has mostly disappeared. DVD-R was introduced in 1997. DVD+R came along in 2002, and introduced new features like bitsetting. Both +R and -R both kept going and co-exist pretty peacefully.

For practical purposes, you can consider both to be the same. DVD-R has been around for longer so ostensibly it could be better supported, but you'd have to go back probably at least five or six years to find a burner that doesn't support both formats.

 

[imported_wired247]

Some older DVD players (for your TV for example) will probably only support DVD-R, since it's the older standard. as Vault mentioned.


But for any electronics built after in the last 5 years or so, there is no noticeable difference.

In short, buy whatever media is cheaper / higher quality in the store that day.

 

[techmanc]

You should try CD Freaks the have a lot of good info on just about any CD/DVD info

http://www.cdfreaks.com/

 

[templar165]

Okay, so by looks of it, I don't really have to bother about the technical difference since I've got a nice DVD Dual Layer Capable Writer(n player, of course)

@techman - Thanks for the link, the site does give a little info on what it's about...looks like there's been some war between the two formats, as said by CDFreaks. Interesting! And apparently, thare are a few advantages of + over the - format. Cool.

 

[techmanc]

Well as far as that goes I have always used DVD+R as it seem to a better format and never had problem burning it. I just use burners that can change the booktype to DVD-ROM when burning movie DVDs for DVD player compatibility. You can see my current burners in my rig link.

 

[Blain]

My impression is that DVD-R are a bit more compatible with older players and DVD+R has a bit longer life span.

 

[techmanc]

DVD-R is the older format so older DVD players that were made prior to DVD+R being available don't recognize the format and wil have problems playing the media or more likely cant play it at all. However when you use DVD+R format you can change the booktype to fool the player into thinks is a normal DVD-ROM and it will be able to play it. Heres a link to explain it..............

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booktype

 

[templar165]

Oh I see,
Probably that's the reason some DVD's don't seem to work in my DVD Player attached to the TV. Yeah, its about 5 years old.
Nevermind, I watch most of the movies on my system.

 

[Blain]

Things you can do to help compatibility with older players are...
* Use high quality DVD-R media
* Burn at a lower speed than the media is rated for... slow...

 

[techmanc]

You can burn a copy of the problem DVDs with DVD+R if your drive supports the booktype function or You can copy then with DVD-R and the copies should work if that all that was wrong with the original.

 

[templar165]

thank you, I'll try that.

 

[techmanc]

Your Welcome.

 

[nyker96]

I use mostly +Rs they are the same price as -Rs and seems to have the most features.