Difference Between DVD+R & DVD-R

[8sakuraba8]

I'm burning DVD movies. Is there any difference (cons & pros) in using DVD+R? How about in DVD-R?

[edDV]

No. Erasable maybe.
So long as your burner handles both.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD-R
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD+R

[Noahtuck]

No. Erasable maybe.

Being erasable has no bearing on +R &/or -R media.

+R can have the booktype changed to DVD-ROM, where as -R can not, making +R more compatible as it will be read as a pressed dvd by players and not as recorded media, which some players will not play recordable media unless it is read as a DVD-ROM/Pressed dvd, regardless of how small the margin may be today, it still exists.

And doesn't -R have a larger capacity ?
Even though it is negligible and not really a determining factor and about 99.99% of people would never know the difference.

But for the most part, it probably won't make a difference.

[dfisher052]

It also depends on your DVD burner. I have 2 Optiarc burners that will burn both + & - at about 11 or 12X, but I also have a newer Samsung that will burn + at about 11X, but have not been able to get it to burn - above 4X & that's with the latest upgrade. DVD brand will also be a factor. Better quality, better burns.

[jman98]

I do not agree with noahtuck's post.

There are differences in the way that re-writable +R and -R discs were designed. To be blunt the DVD-RW design is kind of weak and was sort of force fitted into the existing spec for DVD-R discs. While most modern players play both, DVD-RW in particular can be problematic on older players.

-R can't have the book type set because it's not supposed to be needed. They are supposed to already be compatible with DVD-ROM. The only reason that setting the book type exists on DVD+R discs is to cover up for the fact that the +R spec actually had somewhat worse compatibility on the earlier players than DVD-R did. DVD-R was always slightly more compatible than DVD+R. Most modern players don't care. DVD-R discs are very slightly larger than DVD+R discs. Let's be clear - the only reason that setting book type exists on DVD+R is that it's a kludge to increase their compatibility on some poorly designed players. There are some sector differences in the way that DVD-R and DVD+R discs are constructed but I don't remember what those are except to say that years ago some felt pretty strongly that DVD+R was better. In all practical terms there's no real difference with modern players.

[lordsmurf]

For yourself, no difference.
For distribution, DVD-R only.

jman is correct.

[Noahtuck]

Well good or bad and that -R is "supposed" to be read as DVD-ROM, it is not DVD-ROM nor is it read as DVD-ROM because it is not DVD-ROM & the fact still remains that players exist that play neither + or - recordable media yet will play recordable +R's when the booktype is set to DVD-ROM.

And when i made the comment

No. Erasable maybe.

Being erasable has no bearing on +R &/or -R media.

I did not even think about RW because he did not ask about RW media.

[Moontrash]

in this day and age...the difference between + and - R is 6 or 7mb's..thats it

they both play and do fine on just about all newer players...take your pick

[davexnet]

Imgburn certainly handles the RW types differently. DVD-RW always need to be erased should they contain data,
but DVD+RW are just written over, no erase necessary.

I once posted a note on the Imgburn forum - why was it Imgburn sometimes did a full format on DVD+RW before it would write the disk?
The answer was that the previous software to write to the disk (Nero in my case) formatted it incorrectly.
Once Imgburn did the long format, it never needed to do that or the erase again.