DVD-R vs DVD+R

Dunno if same there but if burning video the -R seem to be compatible with a lot more DVD players.

 

DVD-R and DVD+R are two competing standards. The main difference is who gets the money from them. In the early days, they were essentially incompatible with each other but they are in a stalemate and not virtually all drives support both.

Basically, I just buy on price.

Get a good brand though, that is the only advice I would give you.

 

Actually, it is +RW that has the problems with a lot of DVD players.
+R and -R both have very good compatibility with video players.

 

Dale, I've come across a few dvd players here that just refuse to take any notice of +R discs. When I checked with a friend who does a lot of burning they say the same thing.

 

that is interesting. the +R group tried to say their discs were "more compatible"

Did you try a -R in the same player? Did it work better?
Also are you sure it was +R and not +RW?

 

I have always tended to use DVD-R as a preferenec.
Probably because that is what Applesupported at first. Ihaven't had problems with them.

 

DVD+R is superior to DVD-R, but mostly it's technical stuff.

It's generally not a good idea to buy the cheapest stuff. When it comes to disks, sometimes it is best to stick with name brands because they have better quality control than the no-names or house brands.

But sometimes cheap stuff is good. A few months ago, I got in on the 50-pack Playo's for $4.97 deal at (i think it was) OfficeMax. I bought 9 packs, and so far, I haven't burned a single coaster yet.

 

The discs were +R not +RW and players didn't want to know about them, either giving "no disc" messages or just half freezing trying to read the disc. The -R discs worked perfectly in those sets. I only use +R now for my stand-alone recorder, and only because that's the only thing it takes I gotta get around to updating.

 

Yes, that is quite typical.
What speed is your iMac?
If you hit the Apple menu in the top left, cleck on About this Mac.
It will tell you the speed memory etc.

I have a Mac mini and once had to encode for 16 hours for a 4+ hour dual layer disc.

 

In Nero on Windows the first disc takes a while with transcoding (If Nero is working at the time, but that's another story), for the rest of the session though can burn them up very quickly. About 8 minutes for full disc.

Saving the movie to HD or copying from the disc you just burnt would probably be quicker.

 

So was Betamax :smilewinkgrin:

I use a lot of formats including DVD+/-R, DVD+/-RW, & DVD-RAM. I've had the least amount of compatability issues with the DVD-R, for both disks that I consume and deploy. My DVD+Rs have been gathering dust.

I do almost all of my burning on PCs that accept both formats, although I do have a Toshiba RD-XS32 HDD/DVD Video Recorder unit which is DVD-R/RW/RAM only.