What’s the difference between… blank DVDS?
QI found two spindles of blank DVDS in my garage. I haven’t tried using them for years but to stave off lockdown boredom I decided to create some photo discs for far-flung relatives. This worked well using Windows DVD Maker on my old desktop PC, which still runs Windows 7. Later, however, I noticed that the spindles apparently contain two different types of disc: DVD-R and DVD+R. I don’t even remember buying these discs, let alone why I might have bought two different types. Can you tell me what the difference is?
AMany new desktop PCS still come with optical drives built in, so this situation could cause others to scratch their heads – just as it did you.
The simple answer is that there’s little practical difference these days because most of the DVD drives in modern computers can cope with both types of disc. To be clear, we’re talking specifically about basic 4.7GB DVD-R and DVD+R discs. There are numerous variants, including dual-layer (DL) and double-sided (DS) versions of both, and not all drives can cope with every type. What’s more, there are several other recordable-dvd formats, including DVD-RAM, and that’s before we even mention the more modern Blu-ray standard.
To return to your question, though, the two standards were the result of a ‘format war’ akin to the old Betamax versus VHS videotape battle of earlier decades. Basically, some companies promoted the DVD-R standard, while others hoped users would adopt the DVD+R standard. The capabilities and storage capacities of both disc types were broadly similar, but early drives were compatible with just one format or the other. So, as a consumer in the 2000s, you had to ensure you bought the right type of disc for your particular DVDwriter drive.
DVD+R did have a few minor technical advantages over DVD-R, but neither standard could be said to have won or lost the battle for universal adoption. This is because drive manufacturers decided to build hardware that supported both formats, resolving the problem for consumers – if not the enduring confusion over having different formats.