Which DVD Format - DVD-RW or DVD+RW ??

[Nisa]

I am planning to buy a DVD burner, so which DVD format seems to work fine?? Please don't tell me Sony's new drive. I don't like Sony and its products.
Thanks.

[aznsound]

when looking into DVD writers on the Internet, i've been under the impression that more people use the plus r's rather than the dash r's (disclaimer, this is my own opinion that i have gathered from reading from the Internet)... it seems like the plus r's are faster in burning and more compatible with more set top players... i don't like Sony either... i am into car audio, and most, look down upon Sony in car stereos... i also hate the fact that Sony put memory stick slots in 99% of their gadgets... but right now, it seems like the DRU-500A is the only drive out there that does what i want it to, and it has gotten some favorable reviews all around... so i guess i can overlook the Sony name...

[drzorky]

If you hate Sony, buy the pionneer A05.

Also DVD-R and DVD-RW are cheaper than +R +RW

[vio_man]

The DVD+R/RW format is the best in technological terms, but the drive are more expensive than the DVD-R/RW ones. But the DVD+R/RW will win the war!

[Ian]

The DVD+R/RW format is the best in technological terms, but the drive are more expensive than the DVD-R/RW ones. But the DVD+R/RW will win the war!

You really think the drive's are more expensive? Second generation DVD+RW drives are butt cheap these days... less expensive than a Pioneer DVR-A04. The media on the other hand is more expensive. DVD+R discs are still a few bucks more expensive than DVD-R discs.

[Kennyshin]

It depends on where you buy but DVD+R drives seem to cost less in general. (Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, US, and some countries of Europe.)

How much does one have to pay for a Pioneer DVR-A04 plus a USB 2.0 (or IEEE 1394) external bay?

IO DATA's external USB 2.0 drive based on Ricoh MP5125A (of course, 2.4x DVD+R and 2.4x DVD+RW) costs now 22,799 Yen or 190 USD. (Considering it's available at downtown offline shops, the VAT is 5% of the price, and both IO DATA and the shops provide nice customer support, it's even better - if you are in Tokyo.)

Though I cannot use most US stores, Verbatim DVD+R media are available for $2 per disc at Sams which I can't regard as expensive compared to either CD-R or DVD-R. The unsolved problem is that there are no cheap DVD+R as there have been cheap CD-R and DVD-R media by CMC, Prodisc, Princo, etc and only Ritek makes a few million units of DVD+R discs in a month (500 million units of CD-R discs are produced by several manufacturers.)

Verbatim DVD+R drives available at OfficeMax are also cheap enough I think. ($200 with rebates.)

[boblx2]

Well you seemed to have painted yourself into a corner! You have already decided not to buy the more popular +R dirve in the Sony. That leaves the Pioneer A05. I would recommend it if all you are going to burn is 4X because my experience has been that is all it will burn reliably without coasters.

Hope you find what you are looking for.......

[burticus]

I think +r/+rw should win out eventually, and the prices on the drives are getting pretty cheap (although that officemax cendyne -r for 169 today is REALLY tempting, but I want a 4x). What I've noticed is that everyone I know that wants to talk to me about recordable dvd's are all mac freaks. Apple is big on -r drives for their 'superdrives' and most of these people aren't really into buying a wierd brand name drive and slapping it into their mac's... and the imac superdrive is a -r anyway.

For whatever that is worth....

[Coyote]

What is the difference between the formats?

[burticus]

Basically +r/rw is the newer format and is supposedly 'faster'..... or at least www.dvdplusrw.org thinks so anyway. I don't know about real advantages of +r over -r, but +rw does look to be superior to -rw in that you don't have to format the disc first (takes an hour on a 2.4x drive), doesn't have to finalize the disc before being ready to use (more time consumed), and data can be modified on the fly (+ mount rainier support for drag and drop) on +rw while on -rw once it is written you are done unless you reformat/erase the dvd.

I'm sure if you if dig around in these forums you will see many a debate over which one is 'better'.

[nosro]

Maximum PC magazine regularly tests the results of a DVD drive's discs on plain old stand-alone DVD players. They have approximately 25 DVD players (the Sony's Panasonic's and Toshiba's that you hook up to your TV and stereo system) that they test discs with.

DVD-R discs almost alway score a 100% compatability. DVD+R discs score 40-60% compatability. So for compatability with your Mom's DVD player, the DVD-R would seem to be the superior format

That said, more stand-alone DVD players are designing DVD+R compatability with new players and DVD+R seems to have better marketing push.

My bottom line: DVD-R seems to be better for compatability, but DVD+R seems to have better market penetration.

[Kennyshin]

My bottom line: DVD-R seems to be better for compatability, but DVD+R seems to have better market penetration.

DVD-R may seem to have better market penetration and DVD+R may seem to have better compatibility.

What I can say for sure is:

that DVD-R and DVD+R are almost equal in "compatibility" with DVD-ROM PC drives and DVD-Video standalone players whatever that means and DVD-R has been on the market for years and DVD+R has been on the market for only three quarters by now and there are more DVD-R writable drives than DVD+R and a few times more DVD-R media have been produced than DVD+R media so far - worldwide statistics.

[burticus]

I have read somewhere that +R is supposed to be better for compatibility.... what I do know is that my old panasonic (a110) won't play -R without freaking out, but it plays +R fine. It will not read any cd-r's at all tho.

+RW is all about ease of use compared to -RW. If you're just going to be burning read only discs I guess it doesn't matter so much.

[spath]

> DVD-R may seem to have better market penetration
> and DVD+R may seem to have better compatibility.

Exactly. And since +R penetration is ramping up and
+ format is anyway superior, buying + is the safest
choice for the future.

[VEFF]

when looking into DVD writers on the Internet, i've been under the impression that more people use the plus r's rather than the dash r's (disclaimer, this is my own opinion that i have gathered from reading from the Internet)... it seems like the plus r's are faster in burning and more compatible with more set top players... i don't like Sony either... i am into car audio, and most, look down upon Sony in car stereos... i also hate the fact that Sony put memory stick slots in 99% of their gadgets... but right now, it seems like the DRU-500A is the only drive out there that does what i want it to, and it has gotten some favorable reviews all around... so i guess i can overlook the Sony name...

1) Actually -R drives still seem more popular than +R drives. (I could be wrong on that too).
2) Right now -R and +R both have the same (4X) maximum write speed.
3) The compatibility rates of -R and +R with home DVD players are almost equal. Just stick with R (minusR- or plusR) versus RW (minusRW or plusRW), since the latter have a much lower compatibility

IMO, for most people, -R makes more sense since the media is cheaper...
DVD+R(W) technology is (supposedly) more advanced than DVD-R(W) technology, but most people never need (or are even aware) of those "special" features.