"Bill in Co." <not_really_here@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:uT2$tHS4IHA.1196@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> M.I.5¾ wrote:
>> "Lil' Dave" <spamyourself@virus.net> wrote in message
>> news:uUjWq5K4IHA.4492@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>> "Rahul" <nospam@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
>>> news:Xns9AD3F2E27FF656650A1FC0D7811DDBC81@207.46.2 48.16...
>>>> "Lil' Dave" <spamyourself@virus.net> wrote in
>>>> news:#YpoGn#3IHA.3500@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> The plus (+) and minus (-) are write formats. Either writer
>>>>> requirement doesn't really matter. In the end, both can read both
>>>>> formats if worth their salt.
>>>>>
>>>>> In the early days, there were DVD players for the TV that could only
>>>>> read the plus or minus versions. Now, that's not really an issue.
>>>>> Stamped DVDs is not an issue in any case. For both DVD players and
>>>>> DVD burners, media quality and reflectivity can determine the outcome
>>>>> of a readability and burner recognition.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks Dave! I just dug into the specs. for my Dell Inspirion Laptop:
>>>> "8X
>>>> DVD+/-RW Drive for Inspiron 6400/E1505"
>>>>
>>>> So I guess it can write to both + and - types I assume. They both seem
>>>> to
>>>> be equally cheap. Any reason to buy one over the other?
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Rahul
>>>
>>>
>>> Only if you're burning movies for a + or - specific DVD player for the
>>> TV,
>>> or, one of your share DVD buddies has a picky DVD player on their PC or
>>> TV.
>>>
>>> I transcended from the same story of a Technics DVD player that only
>>> reads
>>> + media.
>>
>> That is the first time that I have heard of a player that reads the '+'
>> but
>> not the '-' format.
>
> Same here. BTW, some older players will not read the DVD+R discs but
> will read the DVD-R discs fine. (NB: I'm not talking about the RW discs
> here, which you address below)
>

Then there is something wrong here. The difference relates only to the way
the discs are written. Once a DVD+R is written, there are no different from
a DVD-R (or indeed a premastered DVD). The ID bytes are even the same (in
all 3 cases).