Blank DVD's + or -?

Question

With blank DVD's what is the difference between ones with a + symbol on and ones with a - symbol, and does this bear any relevance to the symbols featured in the description of the hardware???

Answer 1

There's DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, and even DVD-ROM! So what's the difference between all of these different names, aren't all DVDs the same? Well, it's not quite that simple.

Starting with the most obvious difference: some have R and some have RW. The "R" stands for readable, while the "W" stands for writeable.

The main difference between DVD-R and DVD-RW, or DVD+R and DVD+RW is that the R disc formats can only be written to once, and then it is only readable and can’t be erased for the rest of its digital life. While RW discs are can be written to and erased many times, they are both readable and writeable.

"R" discs are perfect if they are only needed to be written to once, such as giving some files to a friend or transferring them between PCs. "RW" discs have their strength in the ability to be used many times over, which is great for routine system backups, etc. And naturally, the RW discs are slightly more expensive than the R discs, but you'll have to decide if the trade offs are worth the money.

Now, onto the difference between DVD-R and DVD+R. As described above, DVD-R & DVD-RW are sister discs, the difference being one is writeable once, while the other is writeable multiple times. The same thing is true for DVD+R & DVD+RW. So the question is, what's the difference between the plus and minus?


In order to explain this take a trip back in time. When DVDs were first being developed, there was no industry standard. Multiple companies were competing to develop what they hoped would be the dominant form of the future.

The DVD-R DVD+R difference can easily be summarized by the following:

The DVD-R/RW standard was developed by Pioneer, and is used primarily by Apple and Pioneer. These "minus" discs can only be written to in one layer on the discs surface. In addition, this format is supported by the DVD forum, but is in no way an industry standard. DVD-R/RW discs are cheaper than the "plus" format.
The DVD+R/RW format is supported by Philips, Dell, Sony, HP, and Mcft. These discs can be written to in multiple layers, giving them slightly better and more disc storage than the "minus" format. Because of this additional capacity, they are slightly more expensive than "minus" discs.
A couple final things to clear up is the difference between DVD-ROM and DVD+RW, or the other DVD formats I mentioned above. The DVD-ROM drive can only read DVDs, while the other DVD drives can read and write data to DVDs.
And naturally the DVD+RW CD+RW difference can be explained by the "DVD" or "CD" prefix. DVDs, on average, can store up to 4.7 GB of data, while a CD can only store about 700 MB of data, or about 15% of a DVD's capacity. While CDs are slightly cheaper, in my opinion, the benefits of DVDs are much greater.

So now that you've learned about the difference between DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, and even DVD-ROM, which one is right for you? The easiest way to determine which is more beneficial is to watch the industry trends. A few years ago all pre-built computers were shipping with DVD-ROM drives. Today, most PCs have a burnable DVD drive.

The benefits of having a burnable DVD drive far outweigh any additional costs. They store much more data, and they are ideal for storing your home movies to watch on your DVD player.

Look at DVD burners that support all of the major formats mentioned above, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, and DVD+RW. While a DVD drive that supports all of these formats may be slightly more expensive, it will allow you to use any type of DVD disc to burn to, and you'll be protected from any industry shifts to one format or the other .

Answer 2

The difference is historical; unless you have to deal with older hardware somewhere along the way you should have no need to consider the relevance.

Computer DVD-ROM drives often of better quality in manufacturing and can handle both; and it is no longer financially burdening to handle both + and -, but for any DVD device in general you just have to match the +/- from drive to disc.

-R is safer bet for universal compatibility; unless + is stated as a compatible media.

Answer 3

Plus DVDs will only work on a plus DVD writer and minus will only work in a minus DVD burner, they both will work in a plus/minus DVD burner. The difference between them is the similar to the difference between Betamax and VHS. The DVD-R/-RW holds a little more data then the DVD+R/+RW, the difference is negligable, about 7MB. DVD- technology has been in existance for 5 years longer then DVD+ technology so more DVD players (up until 2004) will play the - disks then the + disks.

Answer 4

They are different disk formats. Yes your hardware should match the disk. As far as stand alone players go, Just try them both. You'll find that players can be picky not only about the format, but the brand as well. Just use what works for you. If you have a relatively new burner it should burn both formats. Same for your player, if it's fairly new it will play both formats.

Answer 5

2 different standards of burning developed concurrently by different manufacturers....most newer drives will handle both (except from dell) but it would be specified by the drive specs.

I prefer -R only because they seem to be more compatible with older stand alone dvd players....I've had some probs with +R not playing on some devices but for newer equipment they're both about the same

Answer 6

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Answer 7

They are to different standards. You'd need to spend ages reading the standard docs to find what the differences are, but essentially they are incompatible disk types.

A +disk will only write in a + drive (or a drive able to do + and -).

Same but other way round for - disks.

Answer 8

The + on a DVD means that you can burn in multiple layers. And, of course, that means the - is only one layer. As far as revelance to the symbol on the hardware, they mean the same as the DVD's. +'s will burn in multiple layers, -'s will burn in one layer only.