PCA Forums

Whats the difference between the - and +?
Have a good site that explains the difference?
Thanks

My cousin just bought a DVD+RW and he recommended that I should get the + not the -.

Apparently the + is the Philips standard which more compatible with standard DVD players. Some other benefits as well. More info here:
http://www.dvdrw.com/customerbenefits.html

However the + discs are a little hard to find and they're a bit pricier right now.

I'm not even going to consider one of these until one becomes the clear standard. If I buy now, chances are the one I pick will be the wrong one.

Or get a burner that burns both formats, like the Sony DRU-500A. It works with the following standards/speeds:

2.4X/2.4X DVD+R/RW
4X/2X DVD-R/RW
8X DVD-ROM
CD-RW Drive

The drive is still not widely available AFAIK ... but Dell seems to have it for $313.78 lookie here .

Seems the DVD-RW is more widely used.
When visiting the local stores they all have the - and some have the +.
I am basically looking for one for backup.
Seems the 650Megs isnt enough these days.
Thanks for the input. I plan on buying one for a christmas gift from me to me.
So I have some time to decide.

I do believe the the "-" is the one that works on more Regular "IN HOME" Dvd players... at least.. thats what i have heard... plus the Liteon brand names use - and work with most DVD players and the shitty HP ones that only work with like 5% of DVD players are +

if you don't want to worry about standards, there's a couple of newer DVD burners that are compatible with both standards..

Sony makes one for $300-350 and LG makes another for near $500

Found this article which explains some of the differences between the two formats:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/sci ... 325705.stm

Thanks FP ...
I have decided to wait till christmas or maybe even later.
Seems they both have their ups and downs.

that sony from dell seems like a good price, and since it burns both formats you cant lose, id buy it instead of rolling the dice

NEC announced the ND-1100A, another burner for all formats. This one should be out soon.

4X/2.4X DVD+R/RW
4X/2X DVD-R/RW
16x/10x CD-R/RW

I'm just wondering.Witch one would be best suited for watching DVD's and making back-ups?

Originally posted by Tomuchtime
I'm just wondering.Witch one would be best suited for watching DVD's and making back-ups?

If you mean for copying DVD movies and watching them, neither is good. Almost all DVDs are dual layer and the burners burn single layer disc. It's possible but a pain in the ass, you have to rip a lot of stuff out or break it up to several discs or one of those real expensive double sided discs. They are good for home movies or things of that nature. Which brings me to a good question...

Does anyone know what the best consumer level capture card is? I don't want to use the mediocre capture that ATI and Nvidia cards have. I am looking for a good dedicated card to capture and encode home movies from VHS and something that can capture s-video output from a console or whatever and display it on the PC. Any ideas?

I too would like a good recommendation for a video capture card.

Been using a cheapie Hauppauge WinTV USB which works okay but is no great shakes.

I eventually want to get a DVD recorder to copy all of my home VHS videos over to DVD-R.

Ofcourse I may avoid the whole issue and buy a DV camera instead and use it as a capture device (via video input on the camera), then connect that to the PC via firewire.

I thought about the camera thing too but I want something I can use for video input and leave in the PC.

I want to display the output from my second Xbox on my PC for playing multiplayer games. I figured a good capture card would allow that and the transfer of my VHS tapes to DVD. I want a card that does the encoding on the card and does not use the PC.

I've always been a fan of dedicated hardware. I have only seen what my GF4 Ti4600 can do and I wasn't overly impressed. I figure even if it is better ATI's cards aren't that much better, not compared to what a dedicated card would do. I could be wrong and if so would like someone to show me.