[ Home ] [ Blu-Ray Disc ] [ DVD FAQ ] [ DVD Specifications ] [ Burner Reviews ] [ DVD / CD Burning Guide ] [ CD / DVD Burning Tips ] [ Burning News ] [ Forums ] [ DVD Software Reviews ] [ Glossary ]

Frequently Asked Questions for DVD Burners, DVD Burning Software, DVD Authoring, DVD Video specifications, DVD Audio, and other DVD topics.  If you don't see your question here, let us know.

What is the difference between DVD-R and DVD+R?  Which DVD burner should I buy?
DVD-R (DVD dash R) was developed by Pioneer.  It is designed to be a recordable format compatible with DVD Video players and DVD ROM drives.  This standard was approved by the DVD Forum and has been adopted by many DVD equipment manufacturers.

Due to the fact that such standards are based on numerous patents, where the licensing of these patents costs manufacturers who do not own the patents substantial royalties in order to produce compatible equipment or media, a separate consortium of manufacturers decided that their financial interests would be best served by developing a competing recordable format.  This format is known as DVD+R.  The consortium is known as the DVD+RW alliance.

It is hard to say that one format is better than the other.  Neither has significant advantages over the other.  Both are good but not perfect in terms of their ability to create discs that are playable in most set-top DVD players.  The bottom line is that you should pick a burner that suits your requirements, and buy media designed for your burner.  The good news is that there are new burners that now support both -R and +R.

Copyright © 2004 DVDBurning.biz
Last modified: June 01, 2004