|
I'm not an expert but this is what I learnt when I was researching the different formats: First of all, when it comes to which has the greater compatability with stand-alone DVD players, both camps ~DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW~ claim more compatability than the other. My (limited) experience is that DVD-R/RW is more likely to work with old (i.e. no longer available) DVD players. The opposite is true of current DVD player models, so it looks as if the industry is moving towards DVD+ and away from DVD-. (This didn't help me much, as my DVD player is 2 years old - but I've found a work-around by changing the disc-type bits on +R/+RW discs using bitsetter)
The second thing to note is that there is currently a format war going on (at least here in the UK) for stand-alone DVD recorders. Again, DVD+ seems to be the best format technically (although as the VHS/Betamax/V2000 VCR format war showed us, the best technical format doesn't always win!) and DVD+ has the big advantage over DVD- in this application as the discs it produces comply 100% to the original DVD movie format (and the discs do not need to be "closed" unlike DVD-R/RW) This means that stuff recorded from TV/satellite should play on any DVD player (again, subject to the age of the player, metioned above).
So for purely copying movie DVDs, if you have an old dvd player, perhaps DVD-R is the best format for you. If like me, you also use your burner for computer data, and are planning to get a stand-alone DVD recorder for TV/satellite, it seems to me that DVD+R/+RW is the technically superior format, and I get the feeling it is more likely to dominate in the future.
As I said at the beginning, I am not an expert, and what's written above is my opinion based on what I could find out about the various formats before I bought a burner. If any of it is technically wrong, I'm sure the more knowledgable of you out there can put me straight.
Angry Bob >:o(
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 8. January 2003 @ 09:36
|
