please can some one tell my 8 year old son what the + and - on blank dvds mean I only watch them. thanks?

Answer 1

Hi Linda,

Tell your son that the DVD+R and DVD-R are competing formats much like the old VHS and Beta formats in video tapes. Today most drives are Hybrid and handle both formats. They are usually labeled DVD+/-R

The market for recordable DVD technology shows little sign of settling down in favor of either the plus or dash formats, which is mostly the result of the increasing numbers of dual-format devices that can record to both formats; it has become very difficult to find new devices that can only record to one of the formats. However, because the DVD-R format has been in use since 1997, it has had a five-year lead on DVD+R. As such, older or cheaper DVD players (up to 2004 vintage) are more likely to favor the DVD-R standard exclusively, and when creating DVD’s for distribution (where the playing unit is unknown or older) the DVD-R format would normally be preferable.

My personal experience has led me towards using the +R. It is slightly better at error handling so more tolerant of dirty or damaged media and also more tolerant to the subtle differences between players.

Norm

Answer 2

Yes the + & the - represents your dvd-rom drive if your dvd drive just as the + it can only write blanc +dvd's and if you put a blanc - disc into the drive it would't work all drives now write to + & - now so you don't have to worry but if you have an older drive replace it with a new one.

Answer 3

They are just different DVD formats. If you have a DVD burner
you will have check to see which format your DVD drive will burn in, wether it be the + or -. Usually the drive door has a logo on it which will tell you what it can read/burn

Answer 4

DVD-ROM
Disk format for storing digital information, the DVD equivalent of CD-ROM. Launched in 1997, DVD-ROM disks can store up to 17 gigabytes of data, compared to only 600 megabytes on a CD-ROM. DVD-ROM drives, which are also able to read CD-ROM disks, have a much faster speed of data transfer than CD-ROM drives (a 16× DVD-ROM drive is the equivalent of a 144× CD-ROM drive, with a data transfer rate of 177.28 megabits per second).


As with CD-ROM, there are recordable versions of DVD-ROM, where DVD-R and DVD+R disks can be written to once only, and DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, and DVD+RW can be overwritten. DVD-R (originally with a capacity of 3.95 gigabytes, which was later increased to 4.7) was first available in late 1997. The Japanese company TDK produced the rewritable DVD-RAM (initially 2.58 gigabytes and later 4.7) in mid-1998. The rival DVD-RW format was developed by Sony and Philips and first available in Japan at the end of 1999, while DVD+RW was released in the autumn of 2001, and DVD+R in mid 2002. The latter three formats all have a capacity of 4.7 gigabytes.


The three rewritable formats are not fully compatible with each other, although ‘DVD Multi’ drives can read from and record to disks in the DVD-R, DVD-RW, and DVD-RAM formats. ‘Super combo’ drives can handle DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, and DVD+RW disks, while ‘super multi’ drives can read from and write to disks in all five recordable formats.

Source: http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/DVD-ROM

I hope you can "translate" for your son.

Answer 5

They're different types of formats. Most newer burners are DVD+/-RW and will work for either.

Answer 6

just go to this website and you'll understand everything.
http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Hardware_Software/2003/DVDFormatsExplained.asp

Answer 7

huh? that doesnt make sense - cud u rephrase it for us?