DVD-r vs. DVD+r newbie questions (sorry)

[Aslan]

Ok, I did a search... and this may be a simple newb question, but please someone help.

So I own a dvd burner capable of doing both + and - .

I was under the impression that + and - were basically two types of formats and you choose one based on the dvd player and which it accepts. Kind of like copying a file to the old floppy discs formatted for PC or mac. Any file can go on them, but only the proper machine can read them.

I was backing up a copy of Kill Bill using DVDXCopy and the following happened:

If I tried burning onto a dvd-r, it read the data in, but when it tried to write the burner crapped out.

When i tried burning with a dvd+r disc, it burned fine and worked on both my machines.

Is it a setting in my burner, my software?

Is it linked to the Kill Bill movie itself?


So I got the + to work as I said. But to make things worse... I tried doing the same thing with Gothika and it froze during the initial reading in of the data. Any suggestions? DVDXCopy seems like a good simple program, but that also means I don't know what or how it is doing what it does, thus I can't troubleshoot. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

[sfheath]

I would check out www.videohelp.com for your burner and player compatibility with your media formats and brands.
Basically I think you are right about the media format differences but only until they are written to.
Anyway, I think I can say without doubt that the fact the + worked and the - didn't has nothing to do with the movie!

[Aslan]

Thanks, also I have come to the conclusion that apparently DVDXCopy sucks the big one and I am glad I never paid for it in the first place. There seem to be plenty of free and more sucessful programs out there. I can't be sitting around ruining two or three dvdr's each time... ya know?!

[sfheath]

Yup, lots of good, free and supported(!) software abounds

... but getting that essential combination of burner/media/player is often the biggest stumbling block. Good luck