//subdivision

Aisha had a quick question about which DVD format is suitable for home produced videos.

For background, I paraphrased the following from here: http://www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html#4.3

There are six recordable versions of DVD:
DVD-R for General, DVD-R for Authoring, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, and DVD+R

DVD-R and DVD+R can record data once, like CD-R, whereas DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, and DVD+RW can be rewritten thousands of times, like CD-RW.

DVD-RAM is more of a removable storage device for computers than a video recording format, although it has become widely used in DVD video recorders because of the flexibility it provides in editing a recording. The other two recordable format families (DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW) are essentially in competition with each other.

In theory, a DVD+R/RW drive can't write a DVD-R or DVD-RW disc, and vice versa. However, many drives are 'combo' drives these days, and can.

In addition, not all players and drives can read recorded discs. Very roughly, DVD-R and DVD+R discs work in about 85% of existing drives and players, while DVD-RW and DVD+RW discs work in around 80%.

Next, there are 24 variations of capacity, depending upon the format, size (12 or 8cm) and whether the disc is single or dual layer, and/or single or dual sided!

Blah, blah.... so which is the 'safest' to use?
DVD-R (General purpose) 4.7GB
followed by...
DVD+R (General purpose) 4.7GB

Tagged as DVD, formats, tips, video + Categorized as Training & Learning