Which DVD Media to Use?

[mrstarface]

I'm new to the dvd burning world and want to buy some recordable dvd's mainly for data backup and burning home movies to play on my dvd player. Is there any diference between buying DVD- or DVD+ disks?

Looking at the stuff around theres such a wide selection its a bit baffling. My cd burner just burns on any disks I throw at it but I know dvd's are a pit more choosy and want to make sure I get ones that wont end up as toasters but also dont make me bankrupt!

I've got an NEC1300 BTW

Any help appreciated want to start using this baby

[gunrunnerjohn]

I'd visit a retail store and buy single disks of various brands for testing. My testing with two DVD burners here has convinced me that they're a lot more picky, and when you find media brands they'll work with, stick with it.

[glc]

The rule of thumb (and this is even pretty hazy) is use - for movies to play in a consumer DVD player and use + for computer use.

[Xayd]

For video, get 1x DVD minus disks, they're cheaper and you'll want to burn at 1x for the least errors anyways.

Good brands are (for now) Ritek and Taiyo Yuden from looking around at recent forum commentary about media. I personally use Ritek G03s.

For actually creating your movies there's lots of info on http://www.doom9.org , so you might wanna read up on their guides as well (they also have links to all of the better free software for DVD creation on their site).

[gunrunnerjohn]

Originally posted by glc The rule of thumb (and this is even pretty hazy) is use - for movies to play in a consumer DVD player and use + for computer use.

Since DVD+R was specifically designed to be compatible with factory pressed DVDs, I find that statement interesting. In point of fact, it seems that both DVD-R and DVD+R have about an 80-90% success rate with a given home DVD player. It's important to test media in your situation, and then stick with what works.

[nikerw]

I have burnt on Princo, Maxtell, and Optodisc DVD-R and none have had a problem playing in my set-top player.

for more information, and forums where people know more about this stuff check out these sites.

www.afterdawn.com
www.dvdrhelp.com

[RJ]

The statement ist definitely wrong, DVD-R ist not more compatible with DVD+R, so don't believe that. The only possibilty is that your particular player doesn't like a specific type of media, but so far I've encountered only Panasonic Players (DVD-R/-RAM backer) don't like DVD+.

I have a plus burner, and I burn DVD+R and I give digitalized video or TV captures on a DVD to my friends and classmates too and never ever did a DVD+R fail.

RJ

[Xayd]

Originally posted by gunrunnerjohn Since DVD+R was specifically designed to be compatible with factory pressed DVDs, I find that statement interesting. In point of fact, it seems that both DVD-R and DVD+R have about an 80-90% success rate with a given home DVD player. It's important to test media in your situation, and then stick with what works.

About 83 percent of standalone players support -R media and about 90 percent of players support +R media.

As far as -R 1x being cheaper than 2.4x +R media, that's rather obvious look at the pricing out there.

Burning at the slowest speed possible to reduce errors is also common knowledge, if you want burn an ISO at different speeds and use Nero's error examination function to see the differences, the faster you burn the more there are (regardless of the media used).

If you wanna use DVD for data backup, I agree that + has its advantages, but for video it does not.

[Kov-Ice]

I'm resurrecting an old thread here. I'd like more thoughts on the two DVD media types. This is according to www.dvdrhelp.com:

"DVD-R is compatible with about 92% of all DVD Players. DVD+R/W has some "better" features than DVD-R/W such as lossless linking and both CAV and CLV writing. DVD+R is compatible with about 86% of all DVD Players."

Dunno what some of that means, but it sounds like -R may be slightly better for video usage. Any other advantages you know of, or brands to use/avoid?

Also, when a package does not say 4x, does that mean it is an older 1x or 2.4x disc?

Thx.

[Kov-Ice]

Any thoughts?

[RJ]

When the package doesn't say 4x or 8x, then it's a 2.4x for DVD+ media. For DVD- 2x should also be written on the package otherwise it would be a 1x.

RJ

[David M]

Why not buy a burner that burns in both the plus and minus format? There is also a third format for backing up data...not used for burning video or movies.

Dont steal copyrighted material!

David (on the up and up) M

[Kov-Ice]

I just got a Lite-On that is dual format. I'm trying to hammer down the right media to purchase. I'll be backing up lotsa stuff, esp digital photos, but I'm also dabbling in editing movies to be rendered to DVD. Just want to get the right stuff for the job from the right manufacturer...