Hardware -R? +R?

[Osaka]

whats the difference between -R and +R on DVDs? why are there two versions? which is better for what?

 

[paul1991]

-R is the only writable media authorized by the DVD people.
+R is an unofficial writable media that plays on DVD players.

-R can hold more data and is more stable.

+r: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD%2BR
-r: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvd-r

 

[BigX]

welcome to the internet.
you will find a lot of information if you know how to use it.
First of all there are search engines....[skiping some parts]
at Wikipedia (for example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD) you find some shared knowledge
...
You must have mist a lot of discussion, it took years for the market to "accept" and understand the two formats.

generally DVD-R:
- is the format approved by DVD-Forum, which published the official specifications for all the DVD Norms out there.
- the copy protection is assured by the way, the user could only write information from a certain sector no. on. and each commercial DVD has some kind of ID, that cannot be written by ordinary burners.

DVD+R
- was developed by the DVD+RW Alliance...pretty much the same "war" as with HD DVD and Blu-ray in the last years
- the copy protection is, that you can write from certain adresses on (a little bit earlier than DVD-R) and the burners firmware must set the booktype of the media accordingly.
- Is the format you can alter the book type of a burned media, if there is an illegal hacked firmware available

you can use both formats for any means, they are working according to their specifications. The problems start if you want to copy something you are not allowed to do ;-)

seldom know facts:
- DVD-R DL are called "Dual Layer", while DVD+R DL are called "Double Layer"
- problems and chances of your succes are linked to the used firmware and media charge

 

[FAST6191]

Rather than wikipedia can I suggest a decent source:
http://dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html#4.3

 

[jumpman17]

-R is the original format, but then some other company decided that they would make a better format of +R. People claim -R is more stable, I say they are full of bull as I have a nice collection of -R coasters despite the fact that they take longer to burn. Now a days, you can't buy a burner/reader that doesn't do both formats. So just buy + and enjoy not having coasters.

 

[Westside]

-R is the original format, but then some other company decided that they would make a better format of +R. People claim -R is more stable, I say they are full of bull as I have a nice collection of -R coasters despite the fact that they take longer to burn. Now a days, you can't buy a burner/reader that doesn't do both formats. So just buy + and enjoy not having coasters.

What's a coaster?

 

[jumpman17]

-R is the original format, but then some other company decided that they would make a better format of +R. People claim -R is more stable, I say they are full of bull as I have a nice collection of -R coasters despite the fact that they take longer to burn. Now a days, you can't buy a burner/reader that doesn't do both formats. So just buy + and enjoy not having coasters.

What's a coaster?

Coasters are rings that you put on tables to set drinks on so the drinks don't leave water rings on your furniture. When a disc fails to burn correctly, it is referred to as a coaster as it's the only thing it's good for.

 

[legendofphil]

I have far more +R coasters than -R.
I don't think I have any -R TBH, aside from the ones where I realised I made a mistake and stopped the burn process.

 

[CrEsPo]

Reason why your DVD's are turning into coasters: Blank DVD Media Quality Guide

As for +/- R it's really simple. DVD +R is the newer and better format. DVD -R is the older and more compatible format. If you have an old DVD player it might not be able to play DVD +R, but all modern DVD players will play DVD +R media.

Why DVD+R(W) is superior to DVD-R(W)

 

[arctic_flame]

Reason why your DVD's are turning into coasters: Blank DVD Media Quality Guide

As for +/- R it's really simple. DVD +R is the newer and better format. DVD -R is the older and more compatible format. If you have an old DVD player it might not be able to play DVD +R, but all modern DVD players will play DVD +R media.

Why DVD+R(W) is superior to DVD-R(W)

Even after reading that link, I can't see why +R is better. Also that link is comparing the (different) -RW and +RW specifications.

 

[xJonny]

Most cheap drives write +RW at 8x and -RW at 6x, so that's faster, not sure about +R and -R though.

 

[Osaka]

welcome to the internet.
you will find a lot of information if you know how to use it.
First of all there are search engines....[skiping some parts]
at Wikipedia (for example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD) you find some shared knowledge
...
You must have mist a lot of discussion, it took years for the market to "accept" and understand the two formats.

generally DVD-R:
- is the format approved by DVD-Forum, which published the official specifications for all the DVD Norms out there.
- the copy protection is assured by the way, the user could only write information from a certain sector no. on. and each commercial DVD has some kind of ID, that cannot be written by ordinary burners.

DVD+R
- was developed by the DVD+RW Alliance...pretty much the same "war" as with HD DVD and Blu-ray in the last years
- the copy protection is, that you can write from certain adresses on (a little bit earlier than DVD-R) and the burners firmware must set the booktype of the media accordingly.
- Is the format you can alter the book type of a burned media, if there is an illegal hacked firmware available

you can use both formats for any means, they are working according to their specifications. The problems start if you want to copy something you are not allowed to do ;-)

seldom know facts:
- DVD-R DL are called "Dual Layer", while DVD+R DL are called "Double Layer"
- problems and chances of your succes are linked to the used firmware and media charge

I didn't ask here because I don't know how to use the internet. I asked so I could discuss it and read the people, that I know, opinions on the differences

Thanks for the Info too

 

[jalaneme]

love dvd+r media like a newborn child

 

[CrEsPo]

Even after reading that link, I can't see why +R is better. Also that link is comparing the (different) -RW and +RW specifications.

If you notice the author uses the R(W) text and not RW. It implies that the author is speaking of both R and RW. For example in some dialogs you'll see something like "Please enter your comment(s) here". Which implies you can enter your comment or comments in the box.

The link is more technical as you can see from the following exert:

QUOTEAnother major advantage of DVD+RW format over DVD-RW (although no drive support it yet) is hardware defect management provided by the DVD+MRW standard (Mt Rainier for DVD+RW). On a DVD+MRW disc, when an error occur during a read or write access to an ECC block, this block is flagged as bad and the drive will not use it any more. Instead, when writing to the disc, data which should have been stored in this bad block are relocated elsewhere ; likewise, when the drive is asked to read these data again, it will fetch them from the new location.

The article was written in June 03 so I assume that support for this feature is available.

 

[Cletebob]

The way I chose was to buy a small pack of each, and see what worked better with MY gear, and that is what I use. The burners will use either in almost every case, but sometimes different players are picky and will play one better than the other. All the tech info in the world means nothing if you buy the "better" media, and it doesn't work on your particular player of choice...

My 2 cents.

 

[BigX]

I didn't ask here because I don't know how to use the internet. I asked so I could discuss it and read the people, that I know, opinions on the differences

Well I did not think you couldn't find that but from my experience such a question always leads to this pointless discussion.
There is no way to give a qualified reason as any of the formats available is the one and only format valid for all purposes.
It allways depends on the purpose and available equipment...

hth anyway ;-)

oh and don't forget...my opinion is the only correct one forget all the others.
Do not confuse me with facts, my opinion is set ;-)

 

[Mangofett]

Virtually no difference, I got a 100 pack of TDK disks for 20$ and never once had a coaster.

 

[Westside]

Virtually no difference, I got a 100 pack of TDK disks for 20$ and never once had a coaster.

Sometimes it's not about +/-, sometimes it's the brand. I bought a pack of no name DVD's and nearly all of them were coasters, the memorax ones are good to this day.

 

[Jaejae]

I bought a 50 pack of Verbatims for $15NZD, and no coasters so far.