[fergnetserv]

What's the difference between the 2 formats?

I have a superdrive in an MP 800 and a 12" G4 Powerbook. Can I use either -R or +R? Which is better?

ASP says I have a DVD-RW in both machines. Does Apple support the DVD-RW standard yet?

[Axo1ot1]

I don't think Macs can use DVD+R at all.
It is less compatible with home DVD players, generally.

[fergnetserv]

I was wondering because I read the side of the box on a DVD-R pack and it said that it may not be compatable with some home DVD players. Which, of course, is where most on my DVD's are to be played.

[Hydra]

Originally posted by fergnetserv:
What's the difference between the 2 formats?

I have a superdrive in an MP 800 and a 12" G4 Powerbook. Can I use either -R or +R? Which is better?

ASP says I have a DVD-RW in both machines. Does Apple support the DVD-RW standard yet?

Apple only supports the use of DVD-R's. The funny thing is that on some of the newer machines they actually have Sony Hybrid mechanisms that can burn both DVD-R's and DVD+R's as well. They apparently disable the +R's in firmware.

As far as the DVD-RW (not to be confused with the DVD+RW - are you still following ) Apple doesn't officially support these but they do work and I have used many DVD-RW's over and over again. You only need to go to the Disk Utility in your utilities folder (in OSX) and select the disc and erase it when you want to blank it. You can even fool iDVD 3 into using the RWables by starting the burn cycle for your DVD project and ejecting and swapping a DVD-R for a DVD-RW just after clicking the burn button.

-Jerry C.

[fergnetserv]

Thanks for the info on DVD-/+R. I wonder if Apple ever plans to support RW formats?

[Eug Wanker]

Check my sig.

Note that both DVD+R and DVD-R have problems with certain DVD players.

[eizzumdm]

CDRinfo.com did a compatibility test last month between + and - (summary below). I imagine that any compatibility text could be skewed one way or the other, but they said that they tested 1000 combinations.

http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Articles/Specific.asp?ArticleHeadline=DVD%20Media%20Format% 20Compatibility%20Tests

(Link broke with vB, use cut and paste, then delete any spaces in the URL)

The "plus" format has a technical edge on the "minus", but the minus is the original and official format for DVD recordable discs.

Not surprisingly, the "minus" wins the compatibility test with a fairly large margin. CDR-Info has used various media brands, burners and popular DVD players for the comparison, and the result is that DVD-R was playable at 96,74% of times, while DVD+R resulted a 87,32% score.

[STAT]

I accidentally bought DVD+R discs to use on my new 15" 1.5 GHz PowerBook's SuperDrive. Not knowing what I was doing, it was able to burn .img files to the discs using Disk Utility. And they play in my home theater player. So maybe that's surprising to some of you?

iDVD wouldn't do jack with them though.

[msuper69]

Originally posted by STAT:
...
iDVD wouldn't do jack with them though.

iDVD will only work with DVD-R. As you have discovered.