DVD Recordable Formats: So what's the difference???

Let's face it, VCR's are a thing of the past! With DVD recorders plummeting in price, VCR's have little chance persuading the consumer to fork out the hard earned cash for them. You walk into a video store, and all you see is DVD's these days! With superior picture and sound quality, why wouldn't you go for the option that is the way of the future... especially when the price is becoming so attractive!

However in purchasing a DVD recorder, whether it be for the home PC or the living room, one has a multitude of recording discs to choose from. Which one do you go for??? DVD-R, DVD+R... what do the '-' and '+' mean anyway??? Then there's DVD+RW and DVD-RW, not to mention DVD-RAM!!! Choices, choices, choices!!! Well let's very briefly look at each format so that we can be better informed when going to purchase our DVD media.

DVD-R: This media is equivalent to CD-R, except given the DVD format, you can store up to 4.7GB instead of 800MB. Quite handy actually. Data can only be recorded once. They can be used to record movies and will work on most modern, commercial DVD players. However there may be issues with older models.

DVD+R: As with the DVD-R formats, DVD+R can be used to record movies and watched on most commercial DVD players. Whilst having similar characteristics to DVD-R in terms of storage capacity and a one-time recording capability, they can only be recorded in DVD+R recorders. Likewise, DVD-R DVD's can only be recorded in DVD-R recorders. So you need to make sure you know the specifications of your machine when choosing the DVD's.

DVD-RW: This is the re-writable or re-recordable version of the DVD-R DVD formats. So you have the option of recording on these DVD's a number of times. There is one catch though. You need to re-format the DVD before recording again. That means everything that was on the DVD will be wiped off. DVD-RW recorders will usually record DVD-R, CD-R and CD-RW media. These formats can be viewed in most modern day commercial DVD players but will have trouble in older machines.

DVD+RW: These are... you guessed it... the re-recordable versions of the DVD+R media. Only the newest DVD players will play movies that are recorded using this format and the same goes for these DVD's as the DVD-RW in terms of storage capacity and compatibility with only DVD+RW machines. It's good to note that some DVD recorders can record in DVD-RW and DVD+RW formats, making them more attractive and versatile.

DVD-RAM: These media are found in 2.6, 4.7, 5.2 and a whopping 9.4GB capacity! It's re-recordable and works like CD-RW media. They not compatible with commercial DVD-ROM and DVD players. They need a DVD-RAM player to run. However the advantage is that they can be re-recorded on a number of times more than DVD-R media - 100,000 times as opposed to the much smaller 1,000 times!

So there's a brief overview of some of the DVD recordable media out there. The main thing to remember is to check the specs of your machine to ensure it is compatible with the specified DVD media. Now let's go and make the most of this exciting technology!!

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