Lightscribe Discs.... do I want dvd+R or dvd-R ? ?

I have a dv9000t with Lightscribe.... I would like to play around with it but I need the discs... I want to shop on line for them but I am being see both + and - for sale......not sure which one to get?

Thanks.

 

Depends on your drive, of course! I believe the 9000t can use both, so either go with -R (for better compatibility) or the +R, if its much cheaper. Remember, -R is superior in all ways to +R.

 

Says who? Not to be a wiseguy, but can you point in me in the right direction that backs up this claim? For the casual reader this kind of comment needs to be substantiated.

Regarding the original post, on my dv2000t my LG Ligtscribe drive will automatically change the book type of a burned +R disc to DVD-ROM (I have no clue if your dv9000 drive does the same so test it) making them more compatible with standard (both older and newer) console DVD players, i.e. the one hooked up to your TV (not in your PC). Some people actually prefer their backed up movies to actually play in their DVD player so you might want to make sure that if you're planning on using your discs to backup movies that your player recognizes the -R discs (which most new players do). If all you're going to be doing is backing up data then I really don't think it matters one way or the other despite the claim above.

On a side note, I've had great success with Verbatim Lightscribe +R discs. Read more at http://club.cdfreaks.com/. And in more particular here.

 

You aren't being a wise-guy - it's a reasonable and good question to ask.

You can google the question, but here is what I have heard and/or read in the past.

When the drives first came out, there was a war for +/-R. -R is consistently read better on a larger number of commercial drives due to the dye technology. +R has usually been cheaper to get, just since it's been around longer, and each year, less and less drives are using it. Of course, for notebooks, most modern drives are +/-R drives, meaning writing to both isn't an issue.

+R is going to be read a lot better on the older burners that were meant only to read and write +R discs, as well as the normal commercial DVDs you buy. +R discs are usually suffer from reduced lifespan (I don't understand the science why) and are being rapidly phased out. The reality is that they are being supported far less, and that's why they are being phased out, I think.

In any case, most DVD players will READ both, but writing to +R media is finicky on some LG & HL dual-drives. I have personally burned more coasters on +R media than -R media.

 

OK, now I'm going to be a wiseguy just 'cause I feel like clownin' around right now (nothing personal).

Huh? I never heard or read of this. Care to substantiate this or elaborate?

If you don't understand why, then why are you tyring to convince me and others by making this claim?

Do you think, or do you know?

Your experiences don't necessarily represent the norm, but you most certainly have the right to express your opinions. That's for other's to decide what to do with the experiences you've shared. As for mine, I have a LG drive in my notebook and have yet to burn a coaster with either a +R or -R disc. In fact, I've been burning DVDs since the've been invented on all types of drivers (Plextors, LiteOns, LG's, Sony, many more), using all kinds of media and formats, and to be perfectly honest, I can count the number of "coasters" I've had on one hand. In my experience, it's usually other system configuration errors or the human element that lead to failed burns, not the choice of +R or -R media.

OK, I'm done. And I'm only messing around, so don't take any of this crap personally! OK?

P.S. Love that Rancor avatar. Wish those beasts existed in real life. Wouldn't that make life a challenge....

 

someone correctly if i am wrong, but from what i understand, -r allows for better compatibility, however, cannot burn multi-session discs. once it's been burned, you can't add onto it. +r allows for multi-session.

compatibility wise, there shouldn't be any issues with either anymore unless you have a really really old dvd player or a really cheap one i guess.

i use +r for data and -r for dvd movies.

 

This issue has been debated endlessly on some other forums like CDFreaks. In reality there isn't much of a practical difference between +/-R. Most modern DVD players will play both. On some older players -R will have a slight compatibility advantage, but some +R drives can mark discs so your player sees them as a DVD-ROM making it near 100% compatible. I personally have used mostly +R, but the -R discs I use work fine. If you are using good media, you shouldn't have any issues.

 

x2

If your drive supports both - and +, its just better to worry about the brand of your discs, which is far more important. I use mostly +R discs, but only because they were on sale at the time. I have some -R discs and they're fine as well on my laptop.

To say one of -/+ is far superior to the other is not really true

P.S. It makes more sense economically to buy normal DVD-R discs, unless you must have lightscribe. Although I would like to mess around with it one day...