DVD formats

[Robert]

As far as DVD's go, I'm a complete n00000b.

 

I have absolutely no interest in movies, i'm looking at it from a data storage point of view.

 

There are, apparently, different formats, like +R and -R

 

Do the formats only apply to movies, or to any dvd?

 

Can any DVD recorder play and record any format?

 

Which format is best and why?

 

Are there rewritable dvd's?

[Agozer]

Thre are DVD+-R/RW discs and DVD-RAM discs.

 

There is very little difference between + and -, but some older DVD players can't play + discs. It really boils down to what is considered to be a "better" standard.

 

DVD-R/RW is the good for almost anything, mainly DVD audio and video.

To my knowledge, DVD+R/RW was created for storing files and stuff. It's sort of a DVD-R/RW V2. But even at that, both mediums are generally suitable for both. The only difference is how the laser is used to burn the data; when burning a DVD-R, the laser has a set "strenght", whereas in DVD+R the laser strenght is alternated every so often.

 

DVD-RAM acts like a removable hard disc of sorts. DVD-RAM has faster access time that DVD-R/RW and can be overwritten god knows how many times. One does not need burning software to copy data to a DVD-RAM either.