What is the difference between DVD-R/DVD-RW, DVD+R/DVD+RW and DVD-RAM discs?
DVD-R and DVD-RW
These 2 disc types were created by the DVD Forum.
Both DVD-R and DVD-RW types generally come in the single-sided, single layer 4.7 GB capacity, which is roughly equal to 120-minutes of standard playing time.
You can also now find 9.4 GB double-sided discs entering the market, although there are no players which will automatically play both sides of the disc without ejecting it and turning it over. Eventually, there will be DVD-R discs available that will hold around 20 GB of data, recorded into two layers on each side of the disc. At this time, these 20gb discs are not yet available.
The most common DVD-R is a write-once 4.7gb disc that comes in two sub-types -- "general purpose" and "authoring". The general purpose discs are part of the industry's copy-protection scheme, which employ CES scrambling to protect movies and music and game discs from being copied. These discs can only be burned by general purpose type DVD writers such as the Pioneer DVR-A04/104/A03/103 machines, the Panasonic LF-D311 and D321, Apple Superdrive, etc. Such machines cannot copy the playback descrambling codes on DVD movies or game discs, so they cannot be easily copied. Authoring DVD-Rs must be burned by the Pioneer DVR-S201 DVD Writer, which produces non-copy protected discs for use in the industry for professional, retail DVD duplicators and distributors. Once recorded, either a general or authoring DVD-R can be played on most DVD players (if the player is DVD-R compatible).
By contrast to the write-once DVD-R types, the DVD-RW is fully re-writable or eraseable up to 1,000 times. However, unlike the older DVD-RAM format, these particular erasables are NOT "random access", meaning that you cannot erase bits and pieces of them. Instead, you have to completely erase the whole disc to reuse it. The DVD-RW can be played on many DVD players, but not quite as many as the DVD-Rs. Of course, DVD-RAM discs are playable on only a few types of DVD players.
Most DVD-R burners like the Pioneer DVR-104s and compatibles, can also burn DVD-RW discs. An exception is the popular Panasonic DVD burners, which burn only DVD-R and DVD-RAM. This drive is great for users who want both data storage and editing features from DVD-RAM, and DVD-R production capabilities for disc copying and distribution.
DVD-R is the most popular format for most Windows users, and is almost universally accepted by Mac users as their standard DVD recordable format.
DVD+R and DVD+RW
These two types were created and are backed by the DVD+RW Alliance. A few companies who back the DVD Forum (above) are also active in the DVD+RW Alliance, but the two standards are not compatible.
The oldest "plus type" DVD is the DVD+RW. It, like DVD-RW, is a rewriteable 4.7 GB DVD kind of disc. DVD+RW, does have a couple of technical advantages -- (1) lossless linking (which enables some editing after recording without a full erasure that DVD-RW requires), (2) up to 2.4X recording speeds on some burners, and (3) a special drag-and-drop file support on the desktop (otherwise known as DVD+MRW). Unfortunately, the DVD+R disc type does NOT even begin to compare with DVD-R as far as DVD playback compatibility. However, the actual level of DVD workability on players of DVD+RW is claimed to be about equal to DVD-RW. Of course, even so, neither the DVD+R nor the older DVD+RW discs are as popular as DVD-R and DVD-RW are.
The newer DVD+R write-once type disc is aimed at becoming more compatible with DVD players. However, the fact is that so far it is only about as compatible as DVD-R discs are. Also, the DVD+R discs are more expensive in today's market, and not burnable by "1st generation" plus-type burners, which were designed only for the DVD+RW rewritable discs. If you want to create +R discs, you'll need the newer "2nd generation" type burners, such as the Sony 120A, the Ricoh 5125A, and so on.
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