The Difference between DVD+R and DVD-R

DVD-R uses a land pre-pit as an address filing system during recording. Each DVD-R also requires a factory recording in the control data zone before leaving the factory in order to provide copy protection. DVD+R uses a high-frequency wobble modulation signal as its address filing system during recording. No factory recording is required. The fact that DVD+R discs can have their book type changed merely means that they can be converted to appear to be the equivalent of a recorded DVD-R, that is, a DVD-ROM as far as a player is concerned. (See the DVD Forum specs.) Long-term environmental tests seem to indicate that the DVD+R is more stable than DVD-R, but there is not enough data to confirm that. In all practical aspects, it makes no difference except for how well one's recording drive is tuned for a particular brand/format. Some drives favor a certain brands +R medium; other drives may favor that same brand's -R version.

When in comes to rewritable discs, DVD+RW is superior to the DVD-RW whose design is intended only for sequential recording. The DVD+RW erases and formats faster and allows packet-writing formatting. The DVD-RW does not.

For DL discs, the DVD+R DL has far more firmware support than does the DVD-R DL. It is better to buy the DVD+R DL discs unless one knows for sure that his or her drive supports a particular DVD-R DL disc.



Originally Posted by JoeRyan