-r vs +r

[daywane]

I personally naver gave a hoot but I am starting to notice +r seems to mess with lasers and burns them out. DVD players , PS2 , Xbox
after +r will not boot i can toss in a -r and it loads 10x faster
what gives?
I stared with +r and just got a +/- r buner.   -r seems better

[itismejs]

-r (older) works better on alot of the dvd readers I own
+r (newer) still has a large part of the dvd r market and both disk have compatibility with different dvd players and game consoles. Its all a matter of preferance. Find one brand and type that works and stick with it.

http://www.build-your-own-computer-tips.com/dvd-drive-differences.html

[cholin]

Dude, I asked someone about this when I bought the disks, use -r.  Most DVD players that are new CAN read +r but almost all of them (even old ones) read -r because its older format.  This way, buy -r and you wont have a prob.

[Magnet_Eye]

isn't +r a Sony thing...they are trying to get everyone to use that format and run the market?



I personally use -r. I burn using Ritek dvd's. Never have any coasters or problems.

[daywane]

I am not burning coaster. I just think +r's are burning up the lasers on PS2's and my home dvd players thay boot much slower (+R's)

seem like -R's are nicer to the lasers

[pointdablame]

+R and -R are competing formats obviously.  They both have pros and cons, and it really does come down to personal preference for the most part, and compatibility issues with your personal equipment.

For one thing, +Rs do NOT destroy lasers... they do not hurt lasers, alter them, set them on fire, or turn them into crazy Republicans    The problem is that + and - really are two different types of media, just set in the same physical disc type.  It's much harder (as a rule) for +R discs to be read by standalone players and game consoles, especially older equipment.  +Rs will be read fine by most PC DVD-Rom drives however.  One main reason for this is the disc's booktype setting.  Newer DVD burners can alter the +R disc's booktype so that it is seen as a standard DVD-ROM, as opposed to a DVD+R.  This GREATLY (at least in my experience) improves compatibility.  It doesn't make it 100% though.

I forget who spearheaded the +R format, but it may have been Sony (among others).  It is NOT, however, "a Sony thing."  Sony, Phillips, Matsushita, etc have always lead the way with new formats, but they must be accepted by the market.  It's just like the partnership that includes Sony is pushing Blu-Ray discs, and another (can't recall who) is pushing for HD-DVD.  They are not trying to run the market, they just feel they have the better format.  In the DVD blank media arena, both of them survived (+R and -R).  In the newer generation of DVDs, one or the other might kill the oppostion, or we might be having this debate in a year or two about whether we should get a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD burner.

In my experience, I prefer -R discs.  They work on more standalone DVD players that I personally own, and they have worked on my PS2 and Xbox.  However, with the new booktype settings, I am finding that +Rs can be just as compatible (or at the very least, the gap has been lessened).

It's been my experience that it is much more important to use QUALITY media, as opposed to + or - media.  Good Taiyo Yuden, Ricoh, or Ridata discs (among others) will give you far less compatibility issues, no matter what format you use.

That's all just my .02 anyway.

[JB]

DVD-R is the spec laid out by the DVD Forum for writable disks.
DVD+R is the spec laied out by the DVD+RW Alliance.

DVD+RW exists because DVD-R and -RW were percieved to have major shortcomings by many hardware companies.
The major members of the DVD+RW Alliance are Dell, HP, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, Philips Electronics,Ricoh Company, Ltd., Sony Corporation, Thomson multimedia, and Yamaha Corporation.


The primary deficency of DVD-R/RW was, interestingly enough, compatibility with read-only drives.  Mainly because DVD-R and -RW were never designed to work with DVD-ROM-only drives to begin with, but +R/RW were.
 
+R also addressses some simplicity concerns, as there were 3 diffrent variants of -R(this doesn't apply to RW disks however).

And finally, +RW/R added some features to make them better for data storage, though these features are largely irrelevant for video.


HYPOTHETICALLY, + formats are better than - formats.
In practice, virtually every drive made for several years now, be it  ROM, R, or RW, supports both + and - formats, so it's not really much of an issue.

[pmc]

It's been my experience that it is much more important to use QUALITY media, as opposed to + or - media.

[cholin]

I bought a cheapo burner from LG (good stuff) and it works great.  I went out, bought some BENQ DVDs and its amazing.  Ive burned DVDs and PS2 games wonderfully at good speeds too...not that 1x crap.

[quarterback]

FWIW, you guys should use some kind of error-test/verifier for any DVDs that are important to you.   I use DVDInfoPro.

Even if a burn went "fine" according to your burning program, doesn't mean it REALLY went fine.  I've had Nero even go through a successful 'verify' and had problems show up using DVDInfoPro.   

If you're just copying movies, then you probably wont even notice the errors unless you then try to copy your DVD-/+ copy  but for data discs that have important stuff on them, I'd use a 3rd party error test.

Oh, and DVDInfoPro does a lot of other cool things as well

[daywane]

I had just readjusted my friends PS2 DVD drive for him ( ver 9) , I had never done one on the PS2 at that point. Searching the web ( PS2 forums and repair)
to learn how to do this .
I had read more than once that DVD+R's could wear out the laser. That was the concern
I have 6 apex DVD players in my house. All are getting hard to read the DVD+r
but -rs boot fast.
Investigating the apex.... seems like the companies came out strong then went cheap and has more or less been kicked out of the market. Wal Mart will not restock.

[pointdablame]

Don't judge anything based on the PS2 laser hehe.  It seems to be the most delicate piece of machinery in existence.  I'm surprised it doesn't pop out of alignment when the tray opens 

I really wished they had used a better laser in the PS2 lol