DVD-R or DVD+R

[Spetznaz24]

Hi guys, im a newbie in dvd editing and writing. So i was wondering, im about to order the NEC 7500a DVD RW Drive from whimit. My main reason for buying dvd rw is for burning movies onto a dvd so i can watch them on my panasonic rv32 dvd player and backing up data. I decided that ill buy ritek media but theres dvd-r and dvd+r. Which would be better for my purposes?

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=17-132-342&depa=1

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-132-338&depa=1


thanks for any suggestions.

[wulf109]

DVD-R is slightly more compatible than DVD+R on older standalone DVD players. Many older DVD players can't handle +R.

[Spetznaz24]

my panasonic rv32 is about 2 years old. Is that considered old or not?

[mumubunnylips]

my panasonic rv32 is about 2 years old. Is that considered old or not?

Just on the edge of old. Why don't you check out what other RV32 owners have to say about compatibility issues between -R and +R here on this site? Check under DVD Players and type in your make and model number.

OTOH, how long will your DVD player last versus how long your DVD-/+R discs? Hard to say for certain but I bet you'll be replacing your player in a few years...

[iooi]

my panasonic rv32 is about 2 years old. Is that considered old or not?

That player will only play -r's..... As it says on the box it comes in. Got one myself.

[FulciLives]

Some Panasonic RV-32 models just don't like DVD-R discs. Sometimes using a "high quality" DVD-R disc (like a MADE IN JAPAN brand i.e., Maxell or Taiyo Yuden) seems to help though.

You can definately forget about DVD+R although if you can change the bitsetting to DVD-ROM then it might work.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[garryheather]

I don't know if they still are or not, but NEC drives used to be very picky about what media they get on with - my understanding is they don't have a wide media compatibility list when compared to some other manufacturers.

Mainly for that reason I tend to recommend Pioneer drives - they might not always burn at full speed but they rarely reject a disc for being "unknown", which is an issue I've come across with the NEC's before now.

If you're likely to use a lot of different media or are in to experimentation, you might want to reconsider the NEC unless you can get it at a very good price and / or can confirm there are lots of updates available for it (or are prepared to use hacked firmware).

Just a thought...

[iooi]

Some Panasonic RV-32 models just don't like DVD-R discs. Sometimes using a "high quality" DVD-R disc (like a MADE IN JAPAN brand i.e., Maxell or Taiyo Yuden) seems to help though.

Not hit that problem myself even with pinco's....

[dxj40c]

I agree with wulf109. DVD-R burned disks played ok in my Pioneer (3 yrs old) but +format did not (blocking and freezing). Bought a new sony that specifically says it will play DVD-/+R/RW. Plays everything so far.
Read the manual, don't listen to the salesman when buying a player. Better still, take a +format to the store and try it out.

[Brent212]

This might not be right on topic, but why would anyone ever choose +r over -r ? I've never heard any advantage +r provides over -r. Actually, the only advantage I've heard about -r is that it's compatible with more players. Are there actual pros and cons to these two types of discs, other than "some players only play -r, some players only play +r"? If that's the case, then why would Spetznaz24 even consider +r, when his current dvd player only handles -r, and any player he gets in the future is more likely to handle -r than +r (according to the statistics... although it's most likely it'll handle both)?

I guess what I'm asking is this: if your main dvd player handles just -r or both -r and +r, why would you ever want to get +r discs?

[apollo1980]

I actually try to use dvd+r myself. Here's why.

I have a Pioneer dv-341 dvd player for my analog tv, and a toshiba sd-4900 player for my HD monitor (gotta love the svcd hack and region free hack for this player). The pioneer plays everything I throw at it (minus anything out of region 1). The Toshiba actually states on the box dvd-r compatible and doesn't mention other formats, but dvd-r's will have, at times, choppy playback. Playing back a dvd+r and +rw...I have no problem, and others with this model express the same results, especially from a dvd-r burned on a stand alone recorder.

My pc came with a dvd+r/rw burner, and I see no point in buying a new drive just for dvd-r/rw and dvd+r/rw ability...that is, until I have to buy a new system.

Bottom line is what works for YOU. This works for me, so I'm staying with it until I need a new system, then I'll get one with a multi format burner.

Also, I read an article somewhere, and I forget where, about dvd+r/rw possilbly overtaking the dvd-r/rw formats as the most used, becauase a lot of stand alone dvd recorders are using the + instead of the - formats. I don't think there will ever be a clear cut winner in this little war, so judge for yourself.

If it works for you, use it. If it doesn't, change formats, or at least have the ability of utilizing both.

[DVD_Ripper]

-R's with premium quality media... Maxel, Fuji and Apple

[Nilfennasion]

I've sat and watched several discs on both formats on several players now.

Every so often, if I play a film on -R without pausing it to go and eat something, I will get a pause in playback of about a half-second or more. Sometimes, it will pause for a whole second, maybe even three, in the middle of a line. I've often posted here about this problem, asking for help in how to deal with it. Nothing I have tried has worked. The problem seems particularly prevalent on Toshiba players, but Denon and Harmon Kardon (sp?) also show it from time to time.

I have never had this problem with +R.

-R is also supported by the DVD Consortium. They call themselves a Forum now, but Forum implies two-way communication in which everyone gets a say, not just those with a crapload of money. Given that it is chaired by a man who approved an advertising campaign with lines like "can I have a three-step zoom to get rid of the black lines?", it does not represent the interests of those who made DVD-Video the raging success that it is. So when the DVD Consortium says "take -R", I feel compelled on principle to tell them to sod off by burning to +R.

[Bradskey]

I've always favored -R, but its getting to be a moot point. I use Verbatim almost exclusively, buying DVD-R and CD-R in bulk when I need them. My current drive and all drives going forward are dual format, and recently I've actually found DVD+R to be a little cheaper (30 at Sam's for $25.95). I've got three or four cheap DVD players in the house and an RCA Surround system with an integrated DVD/VCR and both DVD-R and DVD+R play fine in all of them. DVD+RW (as well as -RW) is an entirely different matter, but I mostly only use the re-writables on my PC.

But beyond DVD-Video, I'm starting to find authoring DVD-ROM's conveniant, with the tons of files and software I download from the Internet or create myself. Sure they're more expensive, but the sheer volume of data you can burn totally offsets the price difference and then some, and keeps me from having so many archive CD-R's piling up. And for DVD-ROM, which media type I use makes absolutely no difference to me.

[Horatio]

I would definitely go with the -R media. I have experience with all of the hardware you mention, and have had good luck with the -R. Also, if its not too late, I would recommend going with a different DVD burner.

First, I have the Panasonic rv31 player, and my friend has the rv32. So far, the only REAL difference we've been able to detect in our players is that the remote is different! We both have had mixed results with the +R media, while we have had no problems so far with the -R media format.

Secondly, my friend with the rv32 recently purchased the NEC 7500a, repackaged as a Micro Advantage drive (same drive, different box by a reseller). We had problems with some brands of BOTH media (+and-R). He had problems reading some of them, copying from them, and burning some of them. It wouldnt recognize some of them, or would throw CRC errors half the time it did recognize them. So we updated the firmware and it literally DIED, lol! Just stopped working entirely. We took it back to the store and told them what happened, they exchanged it for the same drive. Gets the new drive home---same thing!---dies on firmware update (yes we double checked it was the proper firmware). Then he takes that drive back and exchanges it for the same drive again (NEC 7500a), this time repackaged as a Pacific Digital drive. This time, the Pacific Digital drive took the firmware update with no problem. However it did not get rid of the occasional recognizing, reading, and CRC problems. So we returned to the store once again, and this time exchanged it for an HP 420i. We updated the firmware, and not one problem with reading, writing, CRC errors, and no coasters since! It was about 25 dollars more, but well worth it.

So obviously based on this experience, I would first recommend using the -R media for the Panasonic DVD players I mentioned. And then, if possible, consider buying a different DVD-RW. Granted when we were having the problems, I read other ppl saying they had no problems with those drives, so maybe it was bad shipment or something. But just based on that experience, I will be very leery of NEC drives in the future.