Can someone explain difference in DVD-R vs DVD+R

[Goldom]

Thanks. There's nothing you guys don't know, the lounge is like my personal encyclopedia. ;-)

[rusty charly]

1. i do know that

only DVD-R works for Mac

[bbernardini]

4. Not true!

While I don't think Apple acknowledges it, it's my understanding that the Mac can read and write -R and +R. It can read them, for sure.

[democracyindanger]

2. Format

-R and +R are simply two different formats.

videohelp.com answers all.

[Goldom]

3. what i mean is like...

from what I've read, both can hold 4.7 gb of data, but -R can only hold 60-120 minutes of video, while +R holds 120-240 minutes. How exactly does that work?

[democracyindanger]

5. I would guess

that how data is encoded results in the difference for recording length. Maybe +R is more efficient, or -R has better quality.

[Goldom]

6. I looked at that site

and links it had about it, but neither talked about video play time. however when looking online at stores selling the discs themselves, I notice the difference in time. I just don't see how a normal -R could only hold 60-120 minutes, when no commercial DVD holds so very little video time.

For that matter, I have some movie files on computer I want to put on a DVD-player-watchable format. With the quality I have them, I could easily fit 12 hours of video onto a DVD, if left in it's current .avi format. I just think it's like making CD-Rs: when you make an audio CD, the file size becomes irrelivant, and only the length matters. But I really don't know. I've got a bunch of junk coming from ebay to play around with soon and figure it out. :shrug:

[democracyindanger]

7. There's a big difference between

the dvds you can make at home and those that are professionally authored. The software and equipment used by Hollywood are far beyond what you would buy/use for home, and that's why pro DVDs can hold more data.

I've never worked with .avi's, just MPEGs, and I think you'll need to convert your .avi files.

You can use DVD as storage to save the .avi's, but if you want to make a playable DVD (with title menu just like the big boys), you'll probably need a converter and authoring software.

[Goldom]

8. ..

I don't care about a title menu or any fancyness, just to throw some data on a disc and see it on a tv.

I can convert the files to mpeg. I've never liked the format myself, but I have software that can.

[democracyindanger]

9. ah

I believe you'll have to convert it to play on standalone players.

When I started learning about this stuff, I was surprised how complicated it is. Unfortunately, it's not as simple as saving files to a recordable DVD and throwing it in the player. Once you have mpegs, they need to be encoded into .vob and .iso files so players can read them. It's a pain in the ass, frankly. Different DVD formats (+/-R and +/-RW) have different levels of compatibility, and there's a chance that even if you do everything right, your DVD might not work--and all you can do is burn another one. It's kind of hit-and-miss that way.

On the bright side, I have some cool looking coasters. ;)

[Goldom]

10. well, i see what you mean.

this sure is complicated. seems the drive i'm getting comes with nero 6, but that that can only burn dvd-video that's already been created by another program. since i'm not trying to do anything fancy, I tried to find the cheapest authoring program available, do you have any comments/complaints about this one? I really don't know anything cept that it's the only one I found under $100.

http://www.pegasys-inc.com/en/product/tda.html

again, I don't care if I don't even have a menu. this is all just for personal use.

[Meshuga]

11. Two different standards...

One might die or maybe both will survive since many drives support both types nowadays.

My DVD player doesn't play DVD+R so I prefer to use DVD-R media when making my home videos.