Why DVD+R and DVD-R?

funkydmunky

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This seemed like the best thread, but feel free to move if my guess was wrong :eek:

Anyway, like the title says, how did we end up with the two formats of DVD? They both work the same. Cost the same. And were available side by side for years, yet there never was any determining factor on which was needed.
Now I am asking this because I had learned something over the years, that being, +R's, when used with a burner that has "BookType" management that will allow you to switch to "DVD-ROM" format will allow me to burn DVD's that will play with any DVD stand alone player. This isn't a major issue for many, but too many a time I have given a DVD to someone who says they have a modern player, and it won't work. This is why I don't waste my time and burn every DVD in DVD-ROM on a DVD+R. Works every time.
Now. Why are DVD+ getting harder to find? Do I have to stockpile now?
 
This seemed like the best thread, but feel free to move if my guess was wrong :eek:

Anyway, like the title says, how did we end up with the two formats of DVD? They both work the same. Cost the same. And were available side by side for years, yet there never was any determining factor on which was needed.
Now I am asking this because I had learned something over the years, that being, +R's, when used with a burner that has "BookType" management that will allow you to switch to "DVD-ROM" format will allow me to burn DVD's that will play with any DVD stand alone player. This isn't a major issue for many, but too many a time I have given a DVD to someone who says they have a modern player, and it won't work. This is why I don't waste my time and burn every DVD in DVD-ROM on a DVD+R. Works every time.
Now. Why are DVD+ getting harder to find? Do I have to stockpile now?

Actually, both DVD+R and DVD-R are becoming harder to find because many media manufacturers have left the optical disc market entirely. And most major-brand blank DVD media are now primarily manufactured by RiTEK and CMC Magnetics (both based in Taiwan), with the occasional disc batches manufactured by Moser Baer (India) and UmeDisc (China/Hong Kong).

And just looking at the stores that I most frequently visit, I now see that Memorex (a brand owned by Imation) dominates the shelves. However, I also see the occasional Verbatim, Sony or TDK (the latter also owned by Imation) branded media being sold at various big-box and office stores.
 
There are (were?) two competing standards in dvd industry: the earlier DVD-R, developed by Pioneer and enforced by the DVD Forum, and the later DVD+R, developed and enforced by the DVD+RW Alliance (including Sony, Philips etc.). In the early 2000's DVD-R discs were better compatible with standalone dvd players and recorders, but for years now there has been next to no difference in the discs (capacity, speeds, compatibility).

When the world is moving towards clouds and network services, the need for physical media is low. As a backup media, hard drive prices per gigabyte are much lower than optical discs, and there's less hassle using them. Optical media is dying, that's the reason you find less and less of them on the store shelves.
 
Yes there is less media out there, but it still is extremely easy to find. Every Wallmart and especially your favorite oneline PC store. Except +R's. There wasn't a single sku of +R DVD's at my preferred online retailer. Considering I still have three close friends who's players will not work with anything that isn't burnt in DVD-ROM on +R (including one that is a brand new Blue-Ray player) should I expect that there just won't be any +R's to be had soon? Why so many-R's out there?
 
There are (were?) two competing standards in dvd industry: the earlier DVD-R, developed by Pioneer and enforced by the DVD Forum, and the later DVD+R, developed and enforced by the DVD+RW Alliance (including Sony, Philips etc.). In the early 2000's DVD-R discs were better compatible with standalone dvd players and recorders, but for years now there has been next to no difference in the discs (capacity, speeds, compatibility).



This was one of the "BIG" differences that was actually noticed. I tend to back up my Optical media and only use burned copies for various reasons, one I never get borrowed movies/shows back let alone in good condition. I had so many problems up until even 2008 that made DVD+R's not worth a damn for anything but data backup. The problem was mostly in the standalone DVD market where the problems were visible. DVD+R's didn't like video at all and would skip constantly when being played by even players that said they could play them with no problem.

Things have smoothed out in recent years where it doesn't matter, but for a long time it was annoying as hell. DVD-R's are better for compatibility at the single layer and more widely used, but if you go dual layer you'll mainly only find DVD+R 's. It gets confusing and it was all unnecessary. Some say DVD+R/RW was superior, but the fact of the matter is it wasn't relevant and lead to this double standard that still persists today.
 
I tend to have problems with DVD-R when trying to play burned media in dvd players
 
Me too. Don't use -R's. Follow the tips I have already given. The only %100 success rate I have had in 10 years of burning.
Any help needed just ask.
 
Me too. Don't use -R's. Follow the tips I have already given. The only %100 success rate I have had in 10 years of burning.
Any help needed just ask.

Also, there is no guarantee that a given burned DVD+R disc will play on all standalone players. Some recent and current DVD burners do not support bitsetting on single-layer DVD+R media at all - they always booktype single-layer DVD+R as DVD+R. On the other hand, these same burners that cannot bitset single-layer DVD+R at all always booktype double-layer DVD+R as DVD-ROM even if you don't want it bitset as such.

Most recent DVD burners, however, support manual bitsetting with either single- or double-layer DVD+R media.

The bitsetting of DVD-R media, on the other hand, cannot be changed at all: Such booktype info has been pre-recorded onto the media.

And I have found out that ImgBurn by default will bitset DVD+R as DVD-ROM on burners that support manual bitsetting.
 
I have yet to have found a player that will not work with standard 4.7Gb +R's. I have encountered many new DVD/Blue-Ray DVD players that will not work with -R's. So it seems you agree that DVD+R's are the way to go as well over -R's?
I wouldn't doubt that the "industry" hasn't begun to block out DVD-ROM format. The good news is now many players,if not all, will play mainstream compressed formats.
For the difficult players out there, +R booktyped to DVD-ROM has been gold for me.
Thanks for the tip on ImgBurn, for people who can't be bothered to set it manually. It is an easy choice in Nero BTW.
 
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