The dirt on DVD

Jan Ozer and Charles McLellan ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 10 Jan 2003

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For years, the DVD industry has confused us with an array of standards that sound similar but actually differ dramatically. If you're thinking of getting into the DVD-burning game, you'll need to know the differences. Read on.

Plus, minus, or all of the above?

DVD-recording formats include DVD-R (write once), DVD-RW (rewriteable), DVD+R (write once), DVD+RW (rewriteable) and DVD-RAM (rewriteable). DVD-RAM is primarily a data storage format, while the DVD-R/-RW and the more recent DVD+R/+RW standards are effectively competing for dominance in the video recording market.

Recordable DVD media have different reflectivity characteristics, which means that standard DVD-ROM drives and players (particularly older ones) may struggle to read them. Until very recently, the fact that none of the writeable DVD formats were fully compatible with one another, and that no drive supported all of the popular standards, was also a problem. However, the most recent development has seen Sony's DRU500A support all four of the popular writeable formats (DVD+R/RW and DVD-R/RW), making it a great solution if you can afford it (£250 inc. VAT).

Obviously, the plethora of writeable DVD formats and capabilities is confusing. If you're looking to buy a new drive specifically for digital video movie-making and you can't afford a top-end multi-format drive like the Sony DRU500A, make sure that the one you're considering can write DVD-R discs. These are the most affordable writeable DVD media (around £5 each), and they are readable by the majority of newer DVD players and drives.

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