Wetlook World Forum

Last spring, I was also caught up in the +R/-R debate. After a lot of research, I decided to go with a +R burner. Why? Well first of all, it has the market support of industry leaders like Dell and Microsoft. Second, although +R uses a different frequency of laser to write the disk, +R and -R disks have almost identical REFLECTIVITY, and this property is what determines how easily a disk can be read in a DVD player.

In modern DVD players, +R/-R compatibility is a non-issue. I've sold many DVD's to people in several countries, and have not received a single complaint about compatibility. Yes, there was some controversey surronding the +RW burners, where some companies apparently made vague promises of free upgrades to +R, but I don't feel sorry for anyone in that situation. They knowing jumped the gun by buying these burners, when the +R technology wasn't even fully cooked yet. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, so make sure a product has all the features you want BEFORE you buy it.

I believe that +R was created solely to compete with -R, not to try to reinvent the technology. +R does support some advantages, i.e. error-checking of the disk by the burner after DVD creation, but it is not a radical departure from -R. +R companies aimed to steal the market from -R, and they will succeed. So everyone needs to stop this ridiculous debate over "compatibility issues," because they simply don't exist. The test results have been in for many months, and +R has proven complete compatibility with all but the most obsolete DVD players.

For some good discussions about +R, visit this forum:

http://www.dvdplusrw.org/cgi/ikonboard/forums.cgi?forum=2

You're absolutely right about the authoring software - it has everything to do with the quality of video that you can stuff onto a DVD. The "DVD authoring" software that comes with some burners is absolutely useless for applications like mine, where I need to store 2 hours of high-quality video.

If you need more information, email me and we can discuss it further.

Jim

Website:

Hello, I am mostly a lurker but do post occasionally... (if the handle is taken by someone pls let me know). First of all, Thanks Nigel for the new forum... it is a lot faster than Bravenet and you did a great job recreating the Bravenet interface. Your efforts to provide a stable forum for the community are greatly appreciated.

I was very interested in DVD now, and plan to get a DVD burner in the near future to, in addition to backing up data, use it for burning some of my old clip tapes to disc and use the DVD medium for all future archival recordings, wetlook and non-wetlook.

My question: Is there any sort of a winner emerging in the +R/-R battle yet? The more I read on the WWW about it, the more confused I get. Of course +R discs are more expensive, but +R backers claim better compatibility with regular DVD players. They also claim things like being able to play a disc before it is finalized, being able to stuff 6 hrs of so-so quality video on a 4.77 GB disc (something like VHS's SLP mode), and being able to create fancier title screens. HOWEVER, I heard that most of these things are a moot point when burning on a PC (as opposed to a standalone DVD recorder) because they are a function of the video authoring software, not the hardware.

MK, Nigel and others in the professional realm, I was wondering what you  think about all this, and which format should I pursue? (I would appreciate any input that non-profs may have too!)

Thanks for clarifying!