In looking at DVD recorders (replacement for a VCR) I noticed some use the -R and some use the +R standard. Is one format better than the other (faster, more capacity, compatability)? Thanks Larry
Both have the same capacity, but supposedly, -Rs are more compatible with existing players. I use +Rs exclusively because I've never had any compatibility issues with them and do not see as many complaints about bad burns with +Rs as with -Rs. You can hedge yourself by buying a recorder that is compatible with both +Rs and -Rs.
I am with dogbomb, dual format is the way to go.But if I only have 1 choice,I would go with +. Seems like a lot of people here at AD are talking about + having an overall higher quality as apposed to - media being offered.Some stand alones may have problems playing your home dvd recordings,therefore, burning both formats will give you a little more flexibility on that issue. Later and happy holidays to all.
Larry, I use borh formats with standalone dvd recorders and a burner. I started out with + but now have both formats. I can't see any difference at all in quality using + or - disks, except that many dvd players won't play + disks, so there is no doubt - is more compatible. In australia -r disks are cheaper. I have a sony gx3 dvd recorder, and whilst it records in both formats, it only allows VR recording on -rw disks, not +rw disks, for what reason I don't know. VR formatting allows on disk editing with rewriteable disks, a huge adantage. Consequently, my large stock of +rw disks aren't as useful as they might be. The Sony also doesn't support +R recording, but supports +RW recording. The main drawback of the Sony recorder overall is that it is very fussy about the brands it will format. The whole issue of DVD recorders is a veritable minefield, so choose carefully. If you can afford it purchase a recorder with a hard disk drive, the advantages are huge: you can record to HDD and edit to DVD. After much research i settled on a second recorder in the Pioneer 720H-S with a 160gig hard drive. It by far has the best features, although I have had it only a couple of days so cannot comment yet on any bugs or annoyances, however it seems to work fine.
