I would kindly wish to ask one of the experts in the area of standards for DVD Media. I recently bought an IDE internal drive of type: TEAC DV-W58G DUAL DVD PLUS/MINUS R/RW This drive replaced my 'old' PIONEER DVR-A04 for reasons mainly regarding speed(only x1 write)and also working only with DVD-R MEDIA LOW SPEED. As I suppose to understood the new currents,untill now was 3 standards available: dvd-r/rw,dvd+r/rw and dvd-ram I've been astonished to find out that a new standard is going to appear,called DVD 9. I'm afraid that the new drive that I bought will be unable to write on such media. But still the main question is where the current lead and what might be the most current and accepted standard. It seems also that +r has a lot of chances to win due to the increased write speed (x8) faced -4 with only x4. I think that I should better wait with my old drive. Please,put same light in my ignorance.
From what I understand, most DVD movies that are sold are DVD9. It has a bigger storage capacity. We are currently using DVD5 which is limited to 4.4GB, while DVD9 is double that. Use your new burner and don't worry about the new DVD9 until it becomes mainstream.
Both + and - R will write at 8x Speed. DVD-9 Recordable media will be out in the +R format by the end of March with the -R format following a month or two behind. Firmware upgrades for some may be all thats needed, no details as yet.
Here's to hoping all that is needed is a firmware upgrade...If not I'll be getting a dvd9 burner in sept.
