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The Most Compatible DVD Format: DVD-R
jbridges writes "CDR-Info tested eight types of media (two examples of each media type) using five different recorders, then tested compatibility in twenty-seven standalone DVD players and twenty DVD-ROM drives.
They determined that DVD-R is clearly the most compatible DVD recording format on the market. To assess the compatibility level of DVD Formats they created video content on a DVD writer using DVD-R/RW and +R/RW media. These discs were then played back in other DVD players and DVD-ROM drives -over a 1,000 combinations of drive, media and player were tested."
I would really hate to buy now, and in a while be the guy with that "weird" DVD that lost the market war so long ago.
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I would say the biggest incompatability is the authors grasp of the english language. But seriously, I think it's time we all accept that neither format is going to die at this point and just focus on buying PLAYERS that will best play all formats... The player is the cheapest link in this chain anyway. At that point, people can decide to record on - or + based on their preference for the price/feature aspect of the media... "Do I want to pay .50 less for my disc or do I want to be able to rewrite files on the disc without erasing the whole thing?" Every situation will be different. There's no excuse for a player to come out today that doesn't fully support both formats, and THAT is where our focus should be.
My guess is that it's not a cost issue, so much as an availability one: I have DVDs in my collection that have gone out of print and were never popular to begin with, so if they go bad, I can't replace them no matter how much I'm willing to spend. Probably no point backing up "Home Alone 2."
I don't consider the DVD+ companies to have done that well marketing. The first DVD+ drives were RW only, but promised to be able to do R with a firmware upgrade (-this being insane in it's own right. I've burned hundreds of R discs and maybe one or two expensive RW ones which are less compatible for both DVD- and DVD+. Talk about bad design goals). This proved not to be true and a lot of people getting into DVD burning with DVD+ found out they would need new drives. So the DVD+ companies really shot themselves in the foot and generated bad press on that one.
I think all the DVD+ zealots have a lot to do with people rationalizing something they bought without looking into the two formats. -R has always been the most compatible and the cheapest, but if you buy a +R without looking you're going to try to justify your purchase with all the stupid things we hear being said. "Our format is designed to be compatible, while your's isn't." Sure, mine is designed not to be compatible. Geez.
Of course it matters, if you want to buy new drives to read the discs, why use a backwards compatable format at all?
The whole idea is burning discs others can read. Or are you going to buy all your clients, relatives, friends or customers new DVD drives when they cannot read your DVD+R discs?
The review was much more negative about DVD+R than the upfront review numbers say. The consumer DVD players that wouldn't read DVD+R were not obscure, but some of the most popular brands!
I would want any player I buy to be compatible with Sony and Philips as well as Panasonic for the same reason that I want any memory card reader I buy to be able to read Compact Flash and Secure Digital and Smart Media AND Memory Stick.... Because I can't control what people write things on or with, but I can control whether I can read them or not.
Stop wasting your time trying to kill a format that will not go away and just embrace what is and make sure it won't cost you the ability to watch a DVD because you are stuck on your principles.
Use your $$$ to buy the writer/media you prefer and let that be your vote in the format war, but refusing to push for readers that don't choke on one disc or the other is silly. They're just readers. Panasonic making their readers choke on DVD+R discs is no better than M$ making Netscape choke on content from its website. Be better than that.
Thank you!
I wondered when somebody would mention the technical advantages of DVD+R and DVD+RW. There are good reasons why Philips and partners have taken a different route.
Mount rainier support could - when implemented correctly (grumble grumble, stupid writer programs cannot get _anything_ right) revolutionize the PC world. Finaly a large size format that you can burn easily and take to friends, modify and take back.
Maybe the DVD-R is slightly more compatible and more cheap, but are we going to make the VHS mistake all over again? With the next protocol already?
Cmon guys, vote for the better one of the two!
Maybe the DVD-R is slightly more compatible and more cheap, but are we going to make the VHS mistake all over again? With the next protocol already?
I can't help but feel that your comparison of the DVD format situation is a bit backward.
DVD-R is the VHS in the situation yes? DVD+R is the Beta right? Well which won that one? VHS won, not because it was better, it clearly wasn't, but because it was cheaper and more compatible. Beta was better, but more expensive and quite proprietary.
I keep hearing from people saying that the + format is winning, but I havn't seen any proof of that. People keep saying "The minus format is going at bargain bin prices because it's being phased out," but that falls flat on it's face quite quickly. The DVD-R format was created by the official DVD forum, they're not going to back off easily. On top of that, things get cheaper when they're sold in great quantity...so it seems to me that the "bargain bin" prices are due to the format being the acutal popular choice.
One cannot assume that just because 80% of the DVD writers going out the door at one particular store (or even chain) that THAT is the winning format. If you go to Best Buy, that's almost all they carry so that's what sells. If you go to the local computer enthusiast shops -R outsells +R quite handily. Well guess who's buying and using the DVD writers, Joe Sixpack or Joe Techie. Seems to me that the format war is far from over no matter what anyone says.