Differences between a DVD-R and DVD+R
 

I have a DVD RW drive which accepts both + and - disks. Are there any core differences between the two? Or should I follow the policy of using whatever is cheaper at the moment.

They come from when competing companies couldn't decide on one standard and ended up making 2 different kinds.

DVD-R is slowly dying out and the DVD+R disks are usually cheaper and more widely available.

There isn't any important technical difference to the consumer, so pick the cheapest, just make sure that the target drive will read both.

Most DVD readers and players can handle both, but some older drives won't.

My Xbox will not read +R's - some will, some won't - depends on the drive in it.

Most DVD players will read the +R's though.

I guess I'll ask the question from a different perspective. Which format will be more compatible with more devices? Is there some kind of consensus on this?

I have a -R and a +R drive, at least it's supposed to be. It's not. Try both and don't be surprised if one doesn't work.

In theory, DVD-R is the most compatible because it is approved by the DVD Forum who mandated it be as compatible as possible with DVD-Video players.

However, the DVD+RW Alliance took great pains to ensure that DVD+R is as compatible as possible with DVD-Video players.

So DVD-R is like 92% and DVD+R is like 90% compatible with DVD-Video players.

If your DVD-Video Player is less then three or four years old, you should have no problems with either format.

I was in a similar position, just bought a DVD dual (+R/-R) writer, and wasn't sure which format recordable disks to buy. A guy in work who also has a dual writer lent me copies of movies he's copied using both formats. Took them home, on both my 3yr old Go Video dual dvd-vcr), and a $20 no-name DVD I got at Best Buy on Black Friday last year), the -R discs were unplayable, the +R was fine. Was happy, since knowing my luck one machine would have only read the one format, and the other machine the other one.

Jeff