How old is DVD -R ?

[patrickjos]

Can anyone tell me about how long ago DVD -R became common on DVD Players ? I'm getting ready to distribute a family DVD to friends and I know some of them may have older DVD players where the DVD -R wont work. About how long ago did most players start supporting DVD -R ?

Patrick

[garryheather]

Only recently did most players start advertising the fact that they (should) play them, however all but the very oldest these days will probably be OK if you use decent media and author a compliant disc.

I have found many players that are fussy with media but only one that would not play anything at all, other than a pressed disc.

Check the list to the left of media and players to see if you can gleam the information you require from there.

[THE RIPPER]

Most older sony players won't play them.Dvd-r is more compatible then +r.

[garryheather]

er... not strictly true, I have only discovered one Sony that will not, and that is an ancient portable DVD Walkman effort (minus a screen) which to the best of my knowledge never even went on sale in this country.

Until very recently, Sony players were picky about the media used and that was it if you stuck with -R (my tests never went that deeply into +R).

If you use Ritek G03 / 04, Nanya, AN31 (Mirror / Eclipse) in a Sony, you will probably be OK.

[Forum Troll]

my Pioneer DVD-414 from 1998 plays DVD-R and DVD-RW without a problem. Can't say so for +R/W, as I have only the 105 burner. If you can't tell, I only trust Pioneer when it comes to DVD drives.

[CODEWERKX]

my old PIONEER DVL-700 doesn't
my TOSHIBA SD 2800 does...but not backups made with DVDXCOPY
my GOVIDEO 950 does....

[WuphonsReach]

My Toshiba SD-2109 will NOT play any recordable media... it's about 4 years old.

(darned if I know what to do with it... maybe I should pawn it?)

My Sony DVP-NS325 does play recordable media (but I've only tested +RW and -R). In fact, it specifies on the front that it will read recordable media.

[energy80s]

Toshiba's and Sony's are the worst when it comes to playing "burnt" discs. This goes for audio CD's as well as DVDR's. The reason behind this was because of piracy. Your best going for a "no-name" machine from the far east that will play a beermat if needs be!