DVD- R, DVD-RW....What is the Industry standard? (1 Viewer)

[DeathStar1]

Question...

Why don't they just use the industry standard format for Consumer DVD Recordable drives, rather than have his format war? Not only would it be less confusing for consumers(Just pop in a DVD in ANY player and it will work), it'll also make the technology sell better. Consumers won't have to worry about one format being settled on months after they purchase the competitors format...

 

[Jeff Kleist]

They do have standards now for the most part

DVD-R is the professional medium for mastering

DVD+RW is the consumer format. Both will play on most drives. They tried to do a competing format, DVD-RW, but it bombed out because they won't play on DVD players

 

[DeathStar1]

Hmm,

So, if I got a DVD R Writer for the Computer(after upgrading my 10GB Hard Drive, of course), and burned a disc, it would play just fine in my Sony DVD Player? The Sony was just bought no more than a month ago, and supports Video CD...

 

[Mark_Wilson]

Actually, DVD-R, DVD-RW, and DVD-RAM are all recognized formats by the DVD Forum. DVD+RW, and soon to be DVD+R, are the red headed step child(s) of the industry. They aren't 'recognized' formats by Philips, HP, and Sony are still selling them.

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

DVD-RW has not "bombed out", that would imply the industry has given up on it. Both DVD-RW and DVD+RW are very much alive.

 

[Lucas Dang]

They are all still alive, but they arent all compatible and thats the problem.

Panasonic and Pioneer both use Dvd-r but have their own Dvd-RW and DVD+RW, only the DVD-r is supposed to work in standard dvd players, but not all of them. And they hold much less then the re-writable counterparts.

Then there is DVD-Ram, and other DVD formats that are supported by Tosh, Sony, HP, ect.

There are actually 4 or more formats, and no indication that there is a loser or winner.

If I were to buy in today, Id go pioneer or panasonic at least they share DVDR between them, which can play in most players.

The industry is so messed up that a manufacturer sent the wrong format out with their machine for testers, talk about confusing.

 

[Steve Felix]

DVD-R is supposed to be most compatible with set-top players. This may help:
http://www.vcdhelp.com/dvdplayers.php

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

There are at least six different formats:

DVD-R(A) "Authoring"

DVD-R(G) "General Use"

DVD-RW

DVD-RAM

DVD+RW

DVD+R (not yet available)

Newer DVD players are likely to be able to read all of these except perhaps DVD-RAM.

Lucas, most of the formats had lower capacity when they were first introduced, but all of them have been revised to allow 4.7GB per side, same as single layer DVD-ROM.

As Mark said, DVD+RW and DVD+R are not officially sanctioned by the DVD Forum organization. But that hasn't stopped manufacturers who are members of DVD Forum from making them anyway.

And to think that we are able to enjoy movies on DVD today because the computer industry told Sony and Toshiba, who were individually working on different "SuperCD" formats, that the industry would be better served with only one successor to the CD-ROM. So Sony and Toshiba worked together and gave us DVD. It's too bad the spirit of collaboration didn't continue.

 

[JohnJB]

I keep hearing that DVD-R is the one to go for, cheaper disks, more compatible, industry standard, etc.

Now I'm an early adopter and take the risks as it's all part of the fun (I have a Philips DVDR1000 stand alone recorder) but I seriously suggest you think twice before going for DVD-R as opposed to DVD+RW as the DVD-R has a bit of a design flaw (at least for stand alone) which is YOU CAN ONLY WRITE ONCE, now $00.35 CD-R coasters are no big deal, but DVD-R cost about $4.00, and I've made a mistake in just about every recording I've made which is no big deal because DVD+RW can be overwritten 1000 times, also I've time shifted certain trilogies in 2:35 anamorphic from Satellite tv, but when they release them on DVD I will want enjoy the slightly higher resolution (unfortunately along with edge enhancement) so will use my DVD+RW for another recording, as opposed to if they were on DVD-R which would mean more coasters, also there is no finalising with DVD+RW and all record modes (speeds) are compatible with the majority of second generation DVD players onwards.

I guess this warning is more relevant to PAL users as from what I've heard your NTSC (NON HD) tv broadcasts are not worth recording anyway, but UK Satellite broadcasts at 12 Mbps which generally looks like DVD quality also OAR is getting very popular.