+ or -

[Richard King]

Well, my new computer is due to arrive sometime tomorrow. I will be installing a DVD+- recorder. I noticed an ad in the paper today that Best Buy has DVD blanks (either style) on sale for 45% off after instant rebate. Which style do I want and why? :D

[Chris Blount]

Oh boy, that's a loaded question. I have a "+" and have had no problems with Fuji blanks. "-" is supposed to have better compatibility but since I don't have that type of burner, I don't really know.

I do know though that the "+" Fuji blanks play on just about every player that I have tried.

[Richard King]

The BB flyer is advertising Imation brand.

[rcbridge]

That is a loaded question but here are a few things to think about, what do you want to do with the burned disc, if you plan on using them in a home theater set up find out what your DVD player will accept. ;)
If you are archiving data and whatever for computor use only, you are normally safe with + or -.
One advantage to + disc you can add data after the initial burn.

[Chris Blount]

The BB flyer is advertising Imation brand.

I had problems with Imation along with TDK, Verbatim & Maxell. While all work fine on most DVD players, Fuji had the best track record at least in my experience. Your mileage may vary.

I will say this though, you get what you pay for.

[RichW]

I have heard of some burners having problems with SOME - discs, but I have been using - in my Sony burner all along. For archiving, it doesn't matter. The - discs were initially cheaper than the + ones but I think they are about the same price these days.

[Richard King]

I suspect that my ANCIENT Toshiba DVD player will probably play NO dvd-r's of any kind. I have Toshiba's FIRST dvd player and it won't even play cd-r's, so I suspect I will be going shopping for a new DVD player in the near future. Anyone want to buy a $600 dvd player? :D

[Chris Blount]

I suspect that my ANCIENT Toshiba DVD player will probably play NO dvd-r's of any kind. I have Toshiba's FIRST dvd player and it won't even play cd-r's, so I suspect I will be going shopping for a new DVD player in the near future. Anyone want to buy a $600 dvd player? :D

I can vouch for that. I had to dump my first gen Toshiba because it wouldn't play anything that was "burned". Man, what a waste of $600.

[Mark Holtz]

Toshiba SD-3108. Love that player, spent about $400, has a nice job wheel. Unfortunately, due to some glitch, it cannot play four of the six Dr. Who "Key of Time" DVDs.

Now, you can pick up a good DVD player for about $50-$120 at Sam's Club or Costco. Some DVD sets are more expensive than that.

[dfergie]

Have had a "-" for a year, had problems finding blank media at first but wally world handles them now. I have been using the Maxell dvd-r's from there with no probs. I also use Memorex dvd-rw's quite frequently with no problems. I have 2 panasonics and an apex, no problems at all.

[Richard King]

Sounds like the solution lies in the new DVD player. Looks like it's time to go shopping... again.

[James_F]

Tis the season Richard!

[Mike123abc]

I use Pioneer "-" media, it was most compatible of the ones I tested, but it has been over a year since I comparison shopped... I think all brands are much better than they used to be. The easiest way I found to help with compatibility is to not burn the entire disk. The farther out to the rim I went the more problems old players had with them. Not going past about 4GB seem to make them the most compatible.

[James_F]

I've had luck with TDK and Imation. My newer Pioneer +/- drive does much better than my older HP + drive at compatibility. I have an old Sony DVD player that doesn't handle the disks, but my new Samsung player does them very well. Its still really hit and miss which really sucks when sharing movies of your son to friends and family this time of year.

[retiredTech]

I use - and cheap ones get them for 50-70 cents each and they work everytime.

You do know that comerical DVDs are DVD-R (just look at that symbol)

For the most compatibilty use DVD-R. (you lend to your sister to play and you don't know what her player is)

If you know that you are only going to use on DVD+R systems then I guess,
+ is ok.

[BobMurdoch]

The BB flyer is advertising Imation brand.

I had a LOT of problems with Imation discs when buring CD-Rs. I've since upgraded to TDKs and the errors have fallen 90% although I still create a coaster every now and then, but I have an older computer at my office where I do most of my burning.

As for the DVD burning, I'm not sure, but go with better quality discs to avoid wasting time.

[BobMurdoch]

Toshiba SD-3108. Love that player, spent about $400, has a nice job wheel. Unfortunately, due to some glitch, it cannot play four of the six Dr. Who "Key of Time" DVDs.

Now, you can pick up a good DVD player for about $50-$120 at Sam's Club or Costco. Some DVD sets are more expensive than that.

I've got the same player in my bedroom. It used to be my primary DVD player until I got a Pioneer DVL-919 Combination Laserdisc/DVD player (I have about 100 Laserdiscs from the 90's and my Integra has an AC-3 input built in do it can decode Dolby Digital without an RF demodulator.

BTW, I have an Kenwood RF Demodulator for AC3 Laserdisc decoding if anyone needs one..... Once I got my Integra 9.1 receiver 2 years ago I didn't need it anymore.

[Richard King]

My laser player died a few years ago. I only had about a dozen discs, so it wasn't that much of a loss. I had heard about DVD's coming down the line so, after 3 attempts to get the player fixed I gave up and wrote it off as a lost cause. The DVD player I bought as a replacement is the same one that I still have, the first Toshiba. I saw another Toshiba last night that plays DVD-Audio discs in addition to all the normal formats. For some reason it didn't list DVD+R's as a usable format though. I need to investigate this one a bit further to see if it does + discs and if it does I will probably order one it from one of my distributors. By the way, I bought 50 DVD+r's last night and just used the first to record the recovery disc for my new Compaq computer. They don't even give you a recovery disc anymore, but make you record your own from a partition on the hard drive. It would have taken 7 CDr's but fit on one DVD+ disc. They make you use either CD's or DVD+ to record the recovery disc because you can stop in teh middle of recording it and continue later.

[BobMurdoch]

I'm considering upgrading to a newer DVD player, one with Progressive Scan and one that can play DVD-Audio AND SACD. My TV has a line doubler in it, but I'm assuming that a DVD player would do a better job outputting a better picture via Progressive Scan vs. the TV doing the same thing internally.