DVD+R/RW or DVD-R/RW

[bobhowe]

DVD Santa's instructions for burning from DVcamera to DVD had this side note which I don't understand.."...If you are a using DVD+R/RW disc, just click "Burn!" and wait dvdSanta finish the burning job. If you are using a DVD-R/RW disc, you should select burning speed to 1x,2x,or 4x, then click the "Burn!" button to burn the disc." Why? Also my DVD's are DVD-R. What type DVD's should I be using for copying DVD's, converting .AVI to DVD and DV capture to DVD...sorry its so long..but I'm a bit upside down on this...and have had issues with DVD Santa's burned DVD's playing in my Panasonic home unit...thanks in advance
Angela

[hech54]

Choosing -R over +R (or vise versa) comes down to basically one thing....personal preference. Well...that and which one will work best in your home unit DVD player. DVD-R's have a bigger selection too as far as the range of supposed quality and manufacturers.
I have a DVD Recorder that takes only +R's but I almost always use -R's for my computer burner...just preference I guess.

The speed select issue on software is one of my major "head scratchers" as well. Almost all of my software burners give me the option to select a burn speed....except TPMGEnc DVD Author. I only have MAX available as an option. Still not sure why.
My burner is only a 4x so I'm not too concerned right now.

Having said all of that...you may have figured out already that one format (either + or -) does not work better for AVI to DVD, Copying DVD's...etc etc. For that you'll need to see which format plays best in your DVD Player or which format burns more reliably in your computer burner.

You may want to dive into the realm of "bitsetting" your DVD's if your Panasonic is having playback troubles. That option only works with certain DVD Burners...unfortunately my burner is NOT one of those that can bitset a DVD. Thank god I've never had the need to use bitsetting. I've never had playback issues with my DVD's....either +'s or -'s.
Bitsetting info can be found here:
https://www.videohelp.com/glossary?B#BitSetting

[Jayhawk]

DVD-R's have a bigger selection too as far as the range of supposed quality and manufacturers

I agree wiith everything hech54 except the above. Might have been true once but not anymore (in my experience). I guess I've been more fortunate than most on the forum. I have two different burners and have used +/- R & RW from TDK, Verbatim, Fuji, Maxell, Sony, and Memorex. I've always leave the burn speed up to the software (Max usually gets me 8X or 6X on 4X media with my Plextor, my Sony usually burns at 4X or 2.4X). I normally burn +R but have burned around 50 -R. Regardless, my burns have consistenly worked on set-top players from Pioneer, RCA, Yamaha, Apex, Cyberhome, and newer Toshiba's. Aside from occasional problem with Memorex RW's which I don't use anymore (could have been a bad batch), everything has worked perfectly. From a program standpoint I've used Nero, CD Creator, DVD DeCrypter, CDburnerXP Pro, and MovieFactory.

I might just be lucky but for me it truly is "personal preference" since everything I have tried worked fine. I've read all the posts about finding the "magical combination" that works on "your special setup" but I just don't see it.

[hech54]

Egreed...I'm seeing more selection of +R discs at online retailers. There has always been an equal selection of + and - at retail outlets but the brands are just not to my liking.
My +R of preference is the pastel colored Verbatim Datalife PLUS (ADVDINFO: .TYG..01.)...I use those for my Philips recorder when I'm not using RW's. Then is it Ritek -R's for my computer burner.

[Jayhawk]

Agreed. Datalife Plus when you can find it. I also like Maxell (MXL, tyg01, Ricohjpn, and Ritekg03). No surprises there.