Why doesnt anyone here know this general question? I thought it would be simple to ask, but I get the run around. Whats the REAL technical difference between the two medias?

This is what I understand.

Everyone knows DVD-R and DVD+R are two different formats.
Everyone knows there is no DVD standard format.
Everyone knows DVD-R are cheaper to buy.
Everyone knows DVD+R work in more dvd drives than -R. (compatible)

Only info I can get from the difference is DVD+R does :

has some better features than DVD-R/W such as lossless linking and both CAV and CLV writing.

What the heck does that mean? Anyone know what there talking about?

I am used to +R media and just got a drive that supports both media. If -R is the way to go since its cheaper and no major benefit difference, then hey I will start using those. hehehehe

Need convincing....please help!

Thanks alot!

help!!!!

-R works fine so just use it and don't worry about the difference.

Both are fine. Use what works as no one can truly answer this question without starting a huge debate between + format users and - format users, even then no one can truly answer this question. Both formats are about equal in compatibility.

To answer your question:

CAV=Constant Angular Velocity

CLV=Constant Linear Velocity

Both are good formats.

The most significant difference between the DVD+RW and DVD-RW, is that DVD+RW uses wobbled groove addressing. What this means is that the DVD writer can accurately tell where abouts it is writing on the disc, allowing it to overwrite any part of the disc in a random fashion, making DVD+RW much better for data. This is also particularly useful for set top VCR type applications, allowing additional shows to be recorded, and the 'content table' to be updated whilst still looking like a normal DVD video.

DVD+R is very similar to DVD-R, with not much advantage either way. There is also not much difference in price any more.

This post has been edited by sub: Feb 18 2003, 06:17 AM

I thought DVD+ media had two types of compression rate. For example you could get 4hrs digital quality video on it or 8hrs of vhs quality, i think this is more for home movie buffs though

i own a DVD+ drive & found that you can't write data to it at random you need to blank the dvd if it's rw & re-write the whole thing.

not sure how accurate this info is i read it some place

The available software is really the reason we've not seen much that takes advantage of the random write features of DVD+RW.

There is some software out there that does use these features. I use ULead DVD Movie Factory which is able to do 'on-the-disc-editing' of DVD Menu's on DVD+RW discs. This is all done inplace on the disc. NeoDVD and a few others are also do this with DVD+RW discs.

MS has selected DVD+RW as its supported DVD format for future versions of windows, and will be providing packet writing software for it that uses these features.

1. DVD-R/RW format works fine. You can play DVD-R on almost all DVD players, XBOX and DVD ROMs. Yes, my friends bought dvd players 4 years ago, and they are very picky on media, however, they all read my DVD-Rs.

2. DVD-R media is cheaper, at least compare to DVD+R.

3. DVD+R format is stupid.

Yes, that format is stupid. SONY created CD format to collect royal fee and they succeeded. Then they created memory stick format and it is good. But no one will use it as there are many free formats. So SONY used to collect royal fees. They don't like to pay for it.

Now when DVD forum already create the DVD-R format like CD-R, SONY just don't like to pay DVD forum royal fee and created the stupid DVD+ format. Sorry SONY, I will avoid you as I can.

For some reason I never really trusted DVD+R/RW. I always thought that who ever invented the DVD+R/RW was doing it to avoid people from making pirate copies of DVD media things with DVD-R. I would rather get DVD-R over DVD+R.

DVD+R/RW was not created for copywrite reasons, or to get additional royalties.

I've followed the recordable formats for a long time. I was interested long before any consumer recorders arrived on the market. The DVD+RW format has been around (on paper) almost as long as DVD-R, it just took a lot longer to materialize.

Right from the beginning DVD+RW was all about being able to write and rewrite discs in a format compatible with set top DVD players. DVD+RW is a much much better format than DVD-RW when it comes to these features.

It was all about rewriteables. DVD+RW was created because DVD-RW wasn't seen as being good enough for the task. DVD+R are pretty much the same as DVD-R when it comes to features and compatibility.

I agree that the for rewritables +RW is probably the better of the two (except on the samsung). I personally don't use the rewritables because of the lower compatibility and cost. I tried doing a movie on a freebee DVD-RW that came with my Cendyne and it only works on the Cendyne itself. I have had good luck with DVD-R except for Princo discs which don't seem to agree with my version 1.0 phillips quite as well as some of the others. Sometimes they work great but others they don't. I am going to give Ritek a shot (should be here next week) and if not then I will just stick to fujifilm. Each person has thier preference and recommendations. As I said before use what works.

i've checked lot of standalone dvd players works most with DVD-R, not all work with DVD+R.

you can check more info in vcdhelp.com

right you are vcdhelp.com probably has the most accurate list of anyone on the net (not saying it's foolproof but very accurate none the less).