What is the difference between DVD-R and DVD+R discs?
I usually buy DVD+R just because it's a plus. Does it make difference for archivists? The price is almost the same for both formats.
Difference between DVD-R and DVD+R discs
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Related Solutions
In a technical sense, the VIDEO_TS folder already contains the video data in DVD format. A Video DVD is the contents of this VIDEO_TS folder burned onto a DVD+/-R disc in a hybrid ISO9660+UDF filesystem. As Steve Rowe has mentioned, Video DVDs use UDF v1.02.
See Doom9's DVD Structure article for details of the filetypes. When burned as a Video DVD, the files in the VIDEO_TS folder are layed out on the disc in a particular order. For example (notice the files are not layed out in alphabetical order):
VIDEO_TS.IFO -- VIDEO_TS.* is the first play item
VIDEO_TS.VOB
VIDEO_TS.BUP
VTS_01_0.IFO -- VTS_01 is the first title set
VTS_01_0.VOB -- the _0.VOB is the title set's menu
VTS_01_1.VOB -- the _[1-9].VOB is the title set's video content
VTS_01_2.VOB
VTS_01_0.BUP
VTS_02_0.IFO -- IFOs contain navigational information
VTS_02_0.VOB -- VOBs contain Video, Audio & Subtitle streams
VTS_02_1.VOB
VTS_02_0.BUP -- BUPs are backup IFOs
Many data burning utilities can create Video DVDs, but you need to make sure they don't try to burn as a data DVD -- data DVDs won't necessarily lay out the files in the proper order, and may use the wrong filesystem for the disc.
If you have the mkisofs command available (in the Terminal on MacOSX and Linux, or Windows with Cygwin), or the hdiutil command on OSX, you can make a ready-to-burn ISO with one of the following commands (source):
# INPUT_FOLDER is the folder that contains the VIDEO_TS
mkisofs -f -dvd-video -udf -V VOLUMENAME -o OUTPUT.iso /path/to/INPUT_FOLDER
hdiutil makehybrid -iso -joliet -udf -udf-version 1.02 -default-volume-name "VOLUMENAME" -o OUTPUT.iso /path/to/INPUT_FOLDER
The output ISO file can be burned with any burning utility program.
ISO is like international standard (as the name itself suggests) for storing disc images and supported by most image burning/extracting software. This format is typically good for data files/video content. This format isn't good with Audio CD's, and is not even supported by image burning software's.
BIN/CUE format was specifically developed to overcome the Audio CD's archiving problem with ISO. In general, this format can be used for the same content that ISO supports and has no drawbacks.
MDS is typically used for copy protected DVD's. ISO or BIN/CUE does not have the feature of storing copy protection information within the image file. This file usually contains information about the position of layer break bits that helps in re-creating exact same copy of any copy protected DVD.
To summarize, ISO is good for storing files/data/video that isn't copy protected and is supported by almost every imaging software. BIN/CUE is good for copying Audio CD's. And, MDS is good for making copies of copy protected DVD's.
Hope this helps.
Best Answer
In prior readings, and analysis that I've read, DVD-R has a GREATER compatibility than DVD+R - for example, on older DVD Players (for example, 2004 and earlier), DVD-R would work in 90% of systems whereas DVD+R would work in 80%. (These are numbers from memory and could be off, but I'm 99% certain that -R was MORE compatible than +R.)
In addition, -R has 6.625 MiB more usable space. See: http://www.videohelp.com/dvd