What's up with DVD-R and DVD+R? Will either of them play on regular DVD players (I don't have a manual)

Question

I have a Sony DVD player upstairs and a Panasonic DVD player downstairs and I've been thinking about buying a DVD recorder to transfer some old VHS recordings onto DVD. But I want them to play on regular DVD players - mine in particular - but all if possible. I know that the DVD + disc I used on my computer DVD burner did not play in my Sony - how do I know what to do?

Answer 1

DVD-R is the standard you need you need to use to play them on regular DVD players. +R will not work

Answer 2

If your players are fairly recent models (less than 2 years old or so) they should play both kinds. The quality of the recording itself will be far more imortant than the format, so you should use high-quality media and not record at the fastest speed. That is likely the reason the disc didn't play. I have an ancient (Magnavox) DVD player that will play DVD+R but not DVD-R, so you can't really generalize. If possible, record a sample on the recorder you are considering and try it. I believe most DVD video recorders now are DVD-R (and DVD-RW), but computers tend to divide more evenly between formats. Some computer drives will handle both.