DVD question

[Greji]

I have never paid much attention to the "plus" and "minus" shown on blank DVD disks until the other day.

I needed to copy a disk of a wedding ceremony and bought a couple of blank "minus" DVD disks. I have always watched DVDs on my desk top and don't have a DVD player. A friend told me that the "minus" disks will not play on all DVD players. I went ahead and copied the wedding disk on a "-4" disk and sure enough, it played just fine on my computer, but when I tried it on a friend's DVD player, it wouldn't work and a plus copy I had made, worked fine.

I don't know much about this, but is what I was told right, or did I just screw it up somewhere?

Anyway, what are these plus and minus designations for?

[GuyJean]

I have never paid much attention to the "plus" and "minus" shown on blank DVD disks until the other day.

I needed to copy a disk of a wedding ceremony and bought a couple of blank "minus" DVD disks. I have always watched DVDs on my desk top and don't have a DVD player. A friend told me that the "minus" disks will not play on all DVD players. I went ahead and copied the wedding disk on a "-4" disk and sure enough, it played just fine on my computer, but when I tried it on a friend's DVD player, it wouldn't work and a plus copy I had made, worked fine.

I don't know much about this, but is what I was told right, or did I just screw it up somewhere?

Anyway, what are these plus and minus designations for?

It's true, what you were told.. You didn't screw up anything.. It's better to screw than to screw up anyway.. ]http://www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html#4.3.1[/url]

Scroll down for the different format specifics..

GJ

[Greji]

[quote="GuyJean"] It's better to screw than to screw up anyway.. ]

Doesn't that depend upon the angle of the dangle?

Oh, and BTW thanks for the site!

[Charles]

I have never paid much attention to the "plus" and "minus" shown on blank DVD disks until the other day.

It isn't really plus or minus, DVD-R is dvd DASH recordable, DVD-R is more widely accepted in more standalone DVD players than DVD+R. If your DVD-R wouldn't play, there is probably something else going on.

[GuyJean]

DVD-R is dvd DASH recordable

I've never heard it called 'dash' in Japan.. But that's probably because they have it wrong..

But really, doesn't it make sense that since one is 'plus' with a '+' symbol, the other would be 'minus' with a '-' symbol? I wonder why anyone would call it 'minus'..

GJ

[Charles]

[quote="GuyJean"]But really, doesn't it make sense that since one is 'plus' with a '+' symbol, the other would be 'minus' with a '-' symbol? I wonder why anyone would call it 'minus'.. ]
There was a time when there was no +R, just DVD and DVD-R. Most people just called em DVDR.

DVD+R is a write-once variation of DVD+RW rewritable format, and it was never intended for use in standalone players. I don't know why anyone started using +R in the first place, I think it was HP seeking some sort of separate standard, just to be incompatible with the universal standard. And everything went downhill from there.

[jingai]

Some computers (like Dell laptops) only record in +R format.

[FG Lurker]

I don't know why anyone started using +R in the first place, I think it was HP seeking some sort of separate standard, just to be incompatible with the universal standard. And everything went downhill from there.

It was Sony, which should surprise no one. Fuck I hate that company.

[FG Lurker]

Anyway, what are these plus and minus designations for?

Some stand-alone players will play only "-", some only "+", some will play either, and some will play neither. RW is the same, but more players will not play either version of RW.

I usually use the - media myself but + does have some advantages. In particular if you wish to burn multiple sessions onto a disc + is better than -. I never do that though so it isn't an issue. Overall +RW is better than -RW. DVD-RAM is better than either as a rewriteable data medium but worthless for video.

Confused yet? Direct your gratitude towards Sony... As usual they fucked things up by wanting to do their own thing.

BOYCOTT SONY! They make shit stuff and never follow standards.

[Greji]

Some stand-alone players will play only "-", some only "+", some will play either, and some will play neither. RW is the same, but more players will not play either version of RW.

This is what I had found out and had not known. I had to make 15 copies of a two DVD set of the wedding to send to the requesting attendees. That's where I found that "-" does not work on a lot of players, but "+" apparently works on most, if not all!

Any rate, I had them all made "+" and thatg should work!

You are right! This system, or lack of system, sucks. Typical Sony (and Japan) the fine people who brought you the VHS-Beta wars among many other fun ways to stuff it in the consummer with out lubing up!

[Charles]

I had to make 15 copies of a two DVD set of the wedding to send to the requesting attendees. That's where I found that "-" does not work on a lot of players, but "+" apparently works on most, if not all!

That's just the opposite of my experience. I found that almost all players could read DVD-R, although some were picky and would only play DVD-Rs that were burned at 1x or 2x. I had very poor success gettng +R to play in anything.
DVD-R is suppposed to be the universal format for discs targeted at standalone video players. Sometimes if you use cheap media or burn at high rates like 8x or 12x, they won't read in older players that are less fault tolerant.
There could be other factors that made your DVDs fail, like excessive bitrates, using AIFF for audio instead of AC3, etc. There's a spec about bandwidth limits on DVDs, you can't exceed it or the player can't process it. But that is a long story.

[Kuang_Grade]

Sony is apparently on both sides of the fence

DVD-R is supported by the DVD Forum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_Forum

Ten companies founded the organization:
Hitachi, Ltd.
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd.
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
Pioneer Electronic Corporation
Royal Philips Electronics N.V.
Sony Corporation
Thomson
Time Warner Inc.
Toshiba Corporation
Victor Company of Japan, Ltd. (JVC)

DVD+R is supported by the DVD+RW Alliance
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD%2BRW_Alliance

Eight companies form the leadership of the Alliance:
Dell Computer Corp.
HP (Hewlett-Packard Co.)
Mitsubishi Chemical Corp.
Royal Philips Electronics N.V.
Ricoh Company, Ltd.
Sony Corp.
Thomson SA (RCA)
Yamaha Corp.

+ seems to be more PC centric in its usage, although many PC burners come ready to support either format nowadays. I had also heard that - worked better with regular DVD players, but that was several years ago, and it is likely that most hardware now supports both. My first DVD player from circa 2000 can get a bit fussy about playing DVD-Rs but the same disks play flawlessly on a DVD player I picked up last year.