Home DVD player Compatability

[GuitarVMan]

NEWBIE Questions:

Which format is the most compatable with Home DVD players? DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW??? Help. Please..

[Han]

DVD-R

[arklab]

It depends on BOTH the burner and the player.

For the player end of things, check out the "compatability" button on the right side of vcdhelp's home page. They list thousands of players and what seem to work best with each.
http://www.vcdhelp.com

http://www.vcdhelp.com/dvdplayers

They also have asection on writers/burbers.

But if you plan on keeping a new DVD burner longer than your player, I'd sugest the Sony DRU500A (or any of its brothers) as they can burn BOTH DVD -R/RW and DVD +R/RW.

Good luck!

[Solr_Flare]

Yeah it depends on the model but for the most part +R tends to have the greater chance of compatability with the latest generation of home DVD players. The vcdhelp.com list though is a godsend and like the previous poster mentioned, if you have a Sony DRU500A model burner combined with that list, you are set for pretty much every dvd player on the market except for a select few first generation players that have problems playing any burned media.

[VEFF]

DVD-R and DVD+R are pretty close.

DVD-RW and DVD+RW are much less compatible than their write-once counterparts (listed above).

DVD-R is your best bet, because the media is also cheaper.
Of course, you should verify that your player plays them.

Even if your player plays only +R, if you are going to burn a lot of discs, you might be better off getting a new DVD player, in the long run.

For example, there is a JVC progressive scan 7 disc DVD-R capable DVD changer availabe for only $130, for example.

Buying 100 DVD-R discs will easily save you $80 or more over 100 comparable DVD+R discs.

[boblx2]

I have a Panasonic DV30 player. According to VCDHELP this player will only play CD R/W discs. To date I have successfully played almost any disc imaginable with it. The only place it has trouble is with VCD's. They have to be made on Memorex -R/W media. But DVD's play no matter what media I use. Of course there is some of the cheap bulk media out there that fail on anything and it is more sensitive to those then my other players.

I doubt there really is a "most compatible" media, other then theoretical.

Hope this helps.......

[Solr_Flare]

Yeah, if vcdhelp says a player *can* play a certain type of media, then no problems, you shouldn't have trouble unless its really cheap media or a bad burn.

If vcdhelp.com doesn't say anything, or even sometimes says no it can't play that media, its a toss up but it still might work with good quality media. Remember that vcdhelp.com's listing is done by people writing in saying they have gotten so and so to work on this drive or not to work at all. So while its a great guide to start from, what it says is not necessarily set in stone.

[BuddhaTB]

Here's a good list of which stand alone home dvd players support DVD+R/RW.
http://dvdplusrw.org/resources/compatib ... video.html

Here's the list of DVD-ROM's that support DVD+R/RW.
http://dvdplusrw.org/resources/compatib ... vdrom.html