Hi - I am looking at a DVD burner .... Can someone tell me the difference versus DVD+R and DVD-R? Is one better than the other? Will one probably outlast the other as far as that type of technology? Thanks - Chad

Pioneer produced the first DVD writer in 1997. It used the DVD-R format. The DVD-RW came later. In 1999 the DVD Forum was formed. It embraced the DVD-R format. In the summer of 1997 Philips lead a group (included Sony and Hewlett-Packard) that split away from other disk manufacturers because of disputed over DVD writing standards. They formed the DVD+RW alliance. Since then Dell, MCC/Verbatim, Mitsubishi, Ricoh, Thomson, and Yamaha have joined the group. They developed the DVD+RW DVD writing format and later the DVD+R format which was derived from the DVD+RW format. CDRInfo ran some compatibility tests on both PC and home DVD drives. They found the following: DVD-R=96.74% DVD+R=87.32% Today some manufactures just make either + drivers or - drivers. Others produce both types. Last September Sony produced the first drive that wrote both + and - formats the DRX-500UL. Now there are several drives that can write both formats. If this trend continues then the answer may be that both formats will continue. Also if DVD read-only drives are all made to read either then it won't make any difference which format you use. It comes down to thes observations: 1) DVD-R disks seem to be cheaper now 2) DVD-R disks seem to be more compatible with read-only drives 3) Current writers can write DVD-R/-RW at 2.4X while DVD+R/+RW at 4X 4) If you make disks for yourself then it does not make any difference which format you use 5) If you make disks for someone else then you make disks that they can read DVD Recordable formats http://www.pctechguide.com/10dvd3.htm#Recordable_formats DVD Media Format Compatibility Tests http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Articles/Specific.asp?ArticleHeadline=DVD%20Media%20Format%20Compatibility%20Tests&Series=0

Good explanation. Thanks!

Awesome - thanks!!