What IS the difference between DVD-R and DVD+R?

[Rummy]

I saw the forum description, and that question caught my eye, I decided to step on in and see if it was actually explained, but it isn't. So I'm curious, what exactly is the difference between the two? As far as I'm aware, they both have the exact same capacity, it's something I never really understood.

[Cube]

There are slight differences in how the are produced, and are slightly different in specifications (but, they both balance out).

 

DVD-R was first, developed by Pioneer. The "minus" originally meant as much as the "dash" in CD-R (as in, its just a dash), but was called "minus" after the "plus".

 

DVD+R was made later by Philips and Sony, and did nothing except cause a lot of confusion.

 

 

The only thing you need to think of is "does my DVD writer support the format".

[Guest Jordan]

The only thing he would have needed to think about...

Not any more. All writers support both formats.

 

Theres very little between them, but as Cube said confusion.

[Cube]

The only thing he would have needed to think about...

Not any more. All writers support both formats.

 

Brand new ones, maybe. My year-old Laptop does not support Dual-Layer DVD "minus" format (Sony made the drive). But, yea, virtually all of them support both. (at least with single-layer)

[Chanser]

The +R media has more compatibility when it's set to DVD-ROM, while -R is kind of the same compatibility wise

[McPhee]

Long Answer

 

Its all down to Sony and Philips being money grabbing f******

In 1995 the 'DVD Forum' was created, it was a partnership between Hitachi, Matsushita, Mitsubishi, Pioneer, Philips, Sony, Thomson, Time Warner, Toshiba and JVC. The Forum was created to oversee the sharing of ideas and innovations relating to the DVD format.

This led to the creation of the DVD-R format in 1997 by Pioneer. All was well and the DVD Forum set about making DVD the standard.

 

5 years down the line Sony and Philips reveal that they've been going behind the backs of the other Forum members to create a competing format, DVD+R. This understandably annoyed the other members because they shared the technology that led to the creation of both formats.

The resulting fall out led to a reduction of influence in the Forum for both Sony and Philips and the DVD Forum backing HD-DVD for the next generation instead of Blu Ray.

 

Short Answer

 

In short, the 2 formats are basically the same.

 

DVD-R is more compatable, has been around longer and has the backing of the DVD Forum.

 

DVD+R was a money spinning venture done by Sony and Philips. It isnt compatable with older players and doesnt have the backing of the DVD Forum.

[Domstercool]

All you need to know is that - is the official format. The + is known as a third party version. So just always buy -