DVD-RW or DVD+RW?

[eduardorp1]

I'm purchasing a NEC DVD recorder that records in both DVD+R and DVD-R
formats.

Which format is preferrable? Is there any reason to choose one over the
other?

Thanks
Eduardo

 

[Paul]

I'm purchasing a NEC DVD recorder that records in both DVD+R and DVD-R
formats.

Which format is preferrable? Is there any reason to choose one over the
other?

Thanks
Eduardo

"DVD Media Format Compatibility Tests"
http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Reviews/Specific.aspx?ArticleId=7664

"Compatibility results: DVD-R=96.74%
DVD+R=87.32%"

You can also read reviews for DVD drives, and see how well they
work with the two formats. If a recorded disk is unreadable, even
by the drive itself, it is pretty useless. A badly recorded disk
can be so bad, as to cause the drive mechanism to "hang" when
attempting to read it back. So picking a format and a media
brand with good error characteristics is important. It took
me 1 week of work and $50 worth of samples, to find brands
of media I could use on a relatives computer + DVD writer.

http://www.cdfreaks.com/article/266/5

And there seems to be a significant difference in price.

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?majorcatid=100&minorcatid=1010

Looks like DVD-R wins, at least based on this limited review.

(Note - I do not own a DVD writing device myself. Caveat emptor.)

More info here as well, with user comments:

http://www.videohelp.com/dvdrecorders

or try a Google search like:

http://groups.google.ca/groups?lnk=hpsg&q=dvd-r+versus+dvd+r

Paul

 

[Citizen Bob]

I'm purchasing a NEC DVD recorder that records in both DVD+R and DVD-R
formats.

Which format is preferrable? Is there any reason to choose one over the
other?

I have the NEC 3540 and it burns either +R or -R equally well. However
I use -R because they are cheaper.

Much more important is the choice of brand. I use only Taiyo Yuden.
With any other disc you run the risk that the manufacturer has
substituted cheap Taiwanese crap, like MCM. Only TY is known not to do
that. And it is made in Japan, which is the only country that makes
high quality optical discs.

If you know that a brand is made in Japan, then it will very likely he
high quality, so you can use it. Mitsubishi Verbatim is an example.
But Verbatim discs also come from Taiwan, in which case they are crap.

I buy TY 8x -Rs for under 30 cents at rima.com. I burn them at 8x. I
do not like 16x because the experts recommend burning them at 12x
which is so close to 8x in terms of burn time that I cannot justify
the extra expense.


--

Govt is an insult to human dignity. With or without govt,
you would have good people doing good things and evil
people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil
things, that takes govt. Govt is the root of all evil.

 

[DaveW]

DVD-RW is the far more commonly used format.