Newbie question about DVD-R vs DVD+R

[superg]

Hi,

I've been reading this forum for a while, it's awesome! I had a question about DVD-R vs DVD+R. As a Mac user, which is better? Is it mainly a compatibility issue with DVD players? Are discs more expensive for one type than another? I'm looking to get a DVD burner to put in my 5.25" firewire case but I don't know which drive to get. I saw a special at Officemax for a Cenedyne DVD+R for $149 after rebates, but I didn't buy it because I didn't know if I should go for a DVD-R drive instead. Thanks.

[Tommyknocker]

Save a few more bucks and get the DVD±RW. Then you make your whole issue moot.

[drewson99]

it seems to me that the DVD-R are cheaper, particularly when buying quantity (100 or more)

+R camp will say things about Ritek 1X skyrocketing in price, but it was just a supply and demand backlash.

I'd say to get a 105, and if you really feel the need for a +R burner (you won't) later down the road, buy a second drive then, it will cost the same if not less than the Sony dual plat.

[galactica]

WOAH!
dont get a dvd+r if you are on a mac here. They are not natively supported, its a waste of money

dvd-r and dvd-rw is the stanrdard macintosh accepted dvd media

look at my post, i just did a test of dvd-r media with my drive, results can be seen there

/Galactica

[superg]

so they don't work with toast?

[drewson99]

oh yeah, that's true. get a -R if youre on a mac

[WiseWeasel]

You can use either on a Mac, but will need Toast for DVD+R burning. However, on either platform DVD-R makes more sense for most uses. If you want to use the rewriteable function, and use a disk as a regular volume, with files writeable and eraseable individually, DVD+RW is better, though I'm not sure if the MacOS supports the function. If you want cheap permanent backups, DVD-R is the way to go. Blank discs are available for about $0.80 a piece in 100-packs, and the drives are cheaper too. Supposedly, -R media is more compatible with set-top DVD players. The Pioneer A05 is really a great buy these days, and I'd suggest getting the bare drive from www.esbuy.com for $177 shipped as of today. This is a 4x drive that does it all, except +R of course. With CD-RW drives, I never used the rewrite function, and only made permanent backups, seeing as how the media is cheaper, and backups are always good to have. I feel the same way about DVD-/+RW, and the writeable discs are the only ones I use. Seeing as how DVD-R media is a lot cheaper than +R, the choice for me is obvious. YMMV

[galactica]

DVD-R and DVD-RW are fully supported on macintosh. Again, there are many drive types, but the most common are the pioneer drives. Both work

DVD+R and DVD+RW will not work natively. Thats to say iApps are not supported, and you may or may not even be able to burn the disks. Generally they are not even recognized by the finder and are ejected.

IF you are looking to get a dvd-rw drive for your mac, check out esbuy.com, best prices i have found

I have a Toshiba SD-R5002 which is supported by the system and both iApps and Toast work fine with. A small patched file is required for it to work with iApps but its an easy install

Other drives like Pioneer 104 and 105 are natively supported and will work as soon as you install them

If you are using it as a 2nd drive, install it as MASTER for it to work with iApps.


You can get external dvd+rw drives to work, but they MUST be worked via TOAST or a third party software.

TO save headache, DVD-R and DVD-RW for mac are the best to go wtih.