DVD-R vs. DVD+R

I know this subject has been beat to death, but I have a new question - (I think.)

I have heard several different numbers, but for the sake of argument, I am finding that about 90% of home DVD players will play a DVD+R and about 95% will play a DVD-R. (numbers from internet articles, not my own testing)

The question is: Will 100% of home DVD players that can play a DVD+R be able play a DVD-R? Basically, if a DVD player will play a +R, will it play a -R everytime? I know that if a player plays a -R, it won't necesarily play a +R. But, vice versa?

Thanks for the reply. I am starting a side business - video-ing and authoring DVD's. I guess there is no way to prevent selling a few where they won't play on the customer's DVD player.

From what I have gathered, DVD-R will be the best bet.

Only way to prevent it is to send it to a replicator and have them stamp out a couple hundred real DVD-ROMs. But that takes $$$.

Tip: Make sure you get a burner that does +R/RW as well as -R/RW. That way, if your clients can't use a particular type, the opposing type may work better. Another good thing to do (especially for the really clueless clients that don't know what they have, or how to troubleshoot) is make a set of "demo" discs in ALL the various book types, and have them try each one and see which one works with their player(s).

Remember, they'll have much better possibility of successfully reading the disc if it's VERY HIGH QUALITY media.

Scott

My friend's Panasonic DVD Player wouldn't play my DVD+R backups. It would just sit there and spin. Then I reburnt them and changed the bitsetting to DVD-ROM. Now the DVD's play fine.

Originally Posted by GabeB

My friend's Panasonic DVD Player wouldn't play my DVD+R backups. It would just sit there and spin. Then I reburnt them and changed the bitsetting to DVD-ROM. Now the DVD's play fine.

Yep, same here!! my standalone recoder will not play or read a dvd+r, but when the booktype is changed to dvd-rom, no problem.

Here is my experiance,
I have seen dvd players that would play both + & - dvdr,

Players that would only play -R and not +R, would play +R changed to ROM,

Players that would not play either + or - would not play +R changed to ROM,

Just in the last few months i have seen 2 players that would not play either + or - R's & would play +R's changed to DVD-ROM. and they were mobile or vehicle dvd players.

But overall, i have had a few problems with both dvd+r & -r's having problems, and since changing all of my dvd+r's "DVD-ROM" for the last couple of years i have had ZERO issues with10's of 1000's of disc's.

But the lack of problems may have to do with newer dvd players being more acceptable of dvdr's altogether.

But from my experiance over the last few years, i will always use +R because i can change the booktype so the disc's can be read as DVD-ROM and have yet to have an issue with them.