DVD-R vs DVD+R?????

OK this is quite a simple question that I am sure has been answered quite a few times, I have searched endlessly but havent found exactly the answer.

I am trying to backup DVD's and would like to know what is the difference between DVD-R and DVD+R. I have successfully backed up about 40 of my DVD's to DVD-R but I was wondering if there is any benifit to using +R. Thanks for any help....if this is repetitive a simple link to this answer would be fine.....THANKS again

Originally Posted by poolman

OK this is quite a simple question that I am sure has been answered quite a few times, I have searched endlessly but havent found exactly the answer. I am trying to backup DVD's and would like to know what is the difference between DVD-R and DVD+R.

Comparisons between the difference formats, DVD-R vs DVD+R, ...

Originally Posted by poolman

I have successfully backed up about 40 of my DVD's to DVD-R but I was wondering if there is any benifit to using +R.

In general, NO.

http://www.dvdrw.com/why/customer-benefits.htm

The text contains much marketing BS, but explains one big advantage of DVD+RW recorders against DVD-RW recorders:

DVD+RW video recorders allow users to add, delete or divide titles, overwrite titles in whole or in part, create or modify play lists and make other changes without losing compatibility with existing DVD players, unlike other formats.

With most DVD-RW recorders you have to choose between
-VR format: editing possible, but incompatible to DVD video format,
or video format: compatible, but editing not possible.

On a PC, if the video is recorded and edited first on a HDD and then burned to DVD in video format, then there is no big difference between + and - DVDs.

If the video is recorded and edited first on a HDD and then burned to DVD, then there is no big difference between + and - DVDs.

While I would agree with the above in general, I did find that -r holds just a little bit more data than +r. Not alot of differance but enough that if I used the full capacity of -r then I could not do a disc copy to +r

Now I do not try to burn to the full capacity of either media

Originally Posted by lordsmurf

Originally Posted by joeg04

http://www.dvdrw.com/why/customer-benefits.htm

Marketing bullshit.

This is true for the most part, but what would one expect from the DVDPLUSRW alliance?

As I believe LordSmurf would attest to: What is more important in 2005 than choosing DVD+R over DVD-R or visa-versa is choosing the right DVD+R or DVD-R media! Crappy DVD+R media is inferior to great DVD-R media and crappy DVD-R media is inferior to great DVD+R media.

In 2005, if you pick either 1st class DVD+R or DVD-R media, you are doing good.

(There are real advantages for DVD+RW over DVD-RW, as another poster mentioned, but the original poster wasn't asking that question -- the question was regarding the write-once flavors of recordable DVD.)

Originally Posted by snafu099

While I would agree with the above in general, I did find that -r holds just a little bit more data than +r. Not alot of differance but enough that if I used the full capacity of -r then I could not do a disc copy to +r

This is absolutely true.

A blank DVD-R/RW holds about 6MB more than DVD+R/RW.

Originally Posted by lordsmurf

But that's a lie.

DVD+RW is still less compatible than DVD-R or even DVD+R. The only benefit to DVD+RW is it does not require a finalize.

In my understanding, they did not compare +RW to -R or +R, but to -RW. And the +VR format used by DVD+RW recorders is compatible to DVD video format, while the -VR format is not.

On a number of DVD+RW recorders, editing the disc can corrupt the IFOs and lead to a distorted playback.

If the firmware is error free, that cannot happen. The +VR format uses only one VTS*.IFO file for all titles on the disk. And that is not located between the VOB files, that contain the audio/video titles. Therefore an existing VTS*.IFO file cannot be destroyed by new recorded audio/video data.

And in many more cases the editing is only apparent on the recorder, not on other players.

Therefore Philips recorders like the DVDR70 have a function "make edits compatible".

I've burnt on both without problems. If you're using a computer, most if not all burners will burn to either. You just have to find which one your burner likes better. My Pioneer 108 does better with -R media and my Benq 1640 does better with +R. I use Taiyo Yuden blanks - unfortunately the +R white printables are about $10 more than the -R, so I'm sticking with -R for now.

J

i tend to buy whatever is rebranded TY media. I don't really care if its plus or minus R, if theirs good media onsale and it comes one way or the other, i'll still buy it. My xbox and both my dvd players don't seem to care if its plus R or -r (allthough i leave bitsetting to dvd-rom on by defualt for + media just in case).