Assuming your burner will burn either, it really shouldn't matter. Most newer dvd players will play either. Older version PS2's will only play -R. To be sure what your dvd player will play, look here:
Well, you got your history wrong; -R was the first. Then some groups got together and developed the +R so they wouldn't have to play by the original group's rules. Nowadays it doesn't make much difference which format is used. Some of the early players wouldn't play recorded media at all. Then you had the ones when only -R was available. Later came the +R and most players would play + and -R. Now the standalone players will just about play anything that looks like a disc. I have one that plays +/- R/RW, CDs, SVCDs, Divx, MP3 and other assorted formats. In the end the choice of media boils down to what your player supports. As far as the +/-R, most players, unless really old, will play them, but double check if you're going to try to play RW or another format.
Hey redtail, I mainly use the + formats because of my spare pc dvd burner and my tv home burner are + only.
I play all my backups on many stand alones,about 15, and all of them will play,even a couple ps2's. My little brother's sherwood,older,dvd player would not play my maxell -4x yellowtops. I then re-ripped that copy with my dad's nec "+" only, and that sherwood played them fine.
Your nec 3500a is a quality burner and being able to burn in both formats,you'll have more flexibility for finding which format your stand alone players like.
Rw's can be a lot trickier for stand alone players to play them. They are great to practice with,but if your stand alone player won't play them,don't be surprised.
One main difference I have witnessed,the same brand name media can have 2 different manufactures-example teon + 8x and teon-8x in the same identical 20 pack spindles. These + discs were made by ricohjpn-01, a pretty good media. Those - 8x's were made by c-magnetics,a piss-poor manufacturer. This happens to a lot of the different brands of media.
Stick with good media,avoid the cheap and generic stuff. Good luck and burn on buddy.
Depends on the generic. I'll take generic Ritek and generic Ricoh media all day long. The no name and unheard of media is the stuff I avoid.
Quality doesn't always depend on price either. I've bought a lot of branded media on sale at reduced prices. In fact, most of my purchases are in bulk on sale. So, I end up getting a lot of cheap media that is high quality. The statement should be to avoid low quality media. Even the more expensive brands have some questionable manufacturers. For example look at the CMC Magnetics (CMC) media in the Memorex, Verbatim, Imation, Speer, Philips, and Sunstar brands.
As far as brands selling more than one manufacturer's product; there are those that sell more than just 2. In some cases you have different suppliers for the different speeds as well as the different types and formats. 4X and 8X with different manufacturers and different one for the + and - as well as different ones for +RW and -RW. In some cases you even have a brand selling the same item by 2 different manufacturers. I made a purchase recently and got Ritek coded media for a Maxell 4X +R; I've also gotten Ricoh media for the same Maxell format. So trying to get media by one manufacturer or the same media in a brand consistantly can pose something of a problem.
