dvd + & -

[SmashMartian]

Why are blank DVD's sold in + & - formats and what is the difference?

[derryman]

Smash i think it was all to do with the Dvd forum set up in in 1980's to prevent what happened between Betamix and VHS. DVD+ was. The -dvd was developed for the forum by Pioneer Corporation and +dvd for the Dvd+R/W alliance by Sony.

[vehelpfulguy]

Smash, the plus and minus are two variants of the DVD format. They are very similar, but not exactly the same.

As derryman says, they were created by two different sets of companies while the DVD format was being developed.

You do not need to know the difference (I dont) but what you do need to know is which format the DVD devices you have support.

Most modern DVD recorders and players can record and play in both formats, but not all can, so check the documentation that came with whatever DVD devices you have.

I think it is generally accepted that DVD - (minus) is best for using on PCs, but as I said, there is not much difference.

[vehelpfulguy]

And we have it all to come again when the next generation of DVDs come out (which they are just starting to do now).

The current DVDs do not hold enough data for recording High Definition TV, so the industry needed a new DVD format to store more data, 30 Gb or more.

The problem is that two competing formats are coming out, one called BluRay, the other called HD-DVD (they use blue lasers hence the name Blu Ray).

Sony say they will put a BluRay DVD in their PlayStation2, and Microsoft plan to put a HD-DVD in the XBox360.

The HD-DVD format is close to the existing DVD format so may be popular, but can only hold 30Gb of data.

BluRay is different from the existing DVD format, but will be able to hold up to 50Gb of data (maybe more).

Who will win no one knows, maybe both will exist in tandem, although it could get very confusing, and very expensive for studios to produce DVDs in both formats.

Let battle commence.