What does the -R and +R mean in the DVDs that you can burn for your computer?
550251
Way back in the stone age when DVD burners were first available to us, the format used was DVD-R so, most older types of home DVD players that are hooked to your TV will play this type of DVD. DVD+R is a more recent format of DVD burning, so most newer home DVD players will play these, as well as the DVD-Rs. A DVD+RW or DVD-RW are the REWRITABLE type of DVDs, just like your CD-RWs are. The only difference is the +/- designations. If your burning DVDs for other people, it's a good idea to use the DVD-R type discs, so they won't have a problem playing them on their player at home.
556858
There is not much difference, both are writeable CDs. They say that +R is more compatible with most of the computers existing today.
794129
dvd+ is DVD+R/RW and dvd- is DVD-R/RW...\n\nDVD-R/RW was developed by Pioneer. Based on CD-RW technology, it uses a similar pitch of the helix, mark length of the 'burn' for data, and rotation control. DVD-R/RW is supported by the DVD Forum, an industry-wide group of hardware and software developers, and computer peripheral manufacturers. The DVD-R format has been standardized in ECMA-279 by the Forum, but this is a private standard, not an 'industry' ISO standard like the CD-R/RW Red Book or Orange Book standard.\n\nDVD+R/RW is also based on CD-RW technology. DVD+R/RW is supported by Sony, Philips, HP, Dell, Ricoh, Yamaha, and others, and has recently been endorsed by Microsoft. DVD+R/RW is not supported by the DVD Forum, but the Forum has no power to set industry standards, so it becomes a market-driven issue.
38502
If your dvd burner is listed as "DVD +/- RW" then you can use either DVD-R or DVD+R discs. I'd recommend using DVD+R discs, generally speaking, the blanks are cheaper and can burn faster.
19411
It's not really a problem with either, some older players aren't compatible with DVD-R's, etc.  The player would say DVD-R, DVD-RW compatible on it.
277029
ROM means Read Only Memory. SO you have only DVD ROM so you can only read the DVD files but you can't burn the DVDs. \nIf you want to make/burn the DVD on your computer than you must have to buy a DVD Re Writter.
27568
The first layer of a dual later DVD disc is transparent to the laser that writes to the disc. Thereby, it is able to write to the equivalent of two disc surfaces. The RW stands for re-writable. On a normal (R) disc, the laser burns information to a disc. The disc comes from the manufacturer with all zeros on it. All the laser does is burn 1's onto the disc and this burn is permanent. An RW laser rearranges pre-existing 1's that are not really readable by the drive until they are arranged to be seen.
404914
Most DVD writers will burn either and most DVD players will play either. I use +R but I have no real reason except they always work wherever I want them to.
427069
Well, there are really only two "families" of DVD at the moment (unless you want to count the red laser vs. blue laser stuff that's starting to come on to the market at the high end), and one "outcast". You've got the "minus" ("-") formats (DVD-R, DVD-RW) and the "plus" ("+") formats (DVD+R, DVD+RW), then there's the older DVD-RAM format that's harder to find these days. All of these are for data, of course -- all but the newest DVD video players will choke on those, in the same way early CD players choked on CD-R discs. \n\nA DVD-R is a write-once format: once you've burned the data onto that DVD platter, the disk is forever frozen with that information. Add the "W" to that, and you'll find that DVD-RW can be erased or rewritten up to a thousand times. Seems kinda weird, but if you can do so, DVD-RW obviously has significant advantages over DVD-R. DVD-RAM was even more flexible, however, since it let you erase and rewrite sections of an existing DVD, something that you cannot do with DVD-RW. \n\nMoving to the plus side is where things get a bit confusing, because DVD+RW came before DVD+R. The plus formats have the same data storage capacity as the minus formats (4.7GB), but DVD+RW offers faster writing, better internal linking (a technical obscurity you don't have to worry about), and support for drag-and-drop desktop files, which makes it easy to compose the contents of a disk. DVD+R is a write-once format intended to be more compatible with more DVD players, though at this point it seems to be about even with DVD-R, which remains the most compatible computer-burned DVD format. \n\nIn your case, since your drive is a DVD-RW, you're effectively limited to DVD-R and DVD-RW format discs. Stay away from any of the "plus" formats, as those won't work with your drive (and being newer, they cost more anyway). As to whether you want to use DVD-R or DVD-RW, that depends on what you want to use them for. DVD-R is a write-once format, just like CD-R, and you can't erase the data once it's written. DVD-RW is rewritable, so you can use it somewhat like a 4.7GB floppy disc, for all intents and purposes. In general, I suggest that you use DVD-R for archival purposes -- stuff that isn't going to change, and DVD-RW for more fluid data. DVD-RW discs are more expensive than DVD-R discs, so that may also influence your decision. \n\nHow do you confirm what format your drive works with? One way, if you're on a Mac, is to use the System Profiler application. You'll find this useful utility in Applications -> Utilities. Launch it, then click on the "ATA" item on the list. If you have an internal DVD burner, you'll see something like what I get: "PIONEER DVD-RW DVD-106D". If it's an external DVD drive, you might find it in SCSI, USB or FireWire, depending on how you hook it up. \n\nAs far as your second question, your data-burning application definitely has to be aware of the DVD format you want to use (i.e. DVD-R or DVD-RW in your case). For Windows, you can use GEAR for burning CDs, but you'd need to upgrade to GEAR Professional Edition to be able to burn both CDs and DVDs. Toast Titanium does burn DVD-R and DVD-RW so you should be set in that department.
44430
CD's dont have the plus and minus conventions, only DVDs do.  This is because, there are two competing groups that manufacture DVDs, the "plus" forum headed by HP, Dell, etc. that manufacture DVD+RW, DVD+R, etc. and the DVD Forum headed by Pioneer which manufacture DVD-RW, DVD-R, etc.\n\nHence, CD-R and CD-RW are valide conventions, CD+R and CD+RW are not.
43339
This means you could "Burn" DVD's\n\nNot light them on fire, but to put stuff on it, like a movie, or some data files.
977860
They are both the same, along with CD+R/W  it just means that one u can use over and over again and the other you can right to just once.  both hold 700MB. Your program u use to burn your data, there is always setting to "Overburn" but it can damage the disc or the drive.
981768
Burn it using a dvd-r cd's
172079
+ and - formats are for DVD's\n\nfor CD's there is only  R and RW\n\nR meaning Write once\nAnd RW meaning Re-Writable\n\nenjoy !
1103194
R=recordable\nRW=rewritable\n\nyou must have a drive that work with the cd though, it must say r or rw and it must say dvd not just cd
305780
DVD-R and DVD+R are to different types of single DVD write formats. The DVD-R is most compatible with set top DVD players. All modern DVD burners support both types of format. The DVD-RW and DVD+RW are formats that can be written to and erased up to 1000 times.
10486
Neither is better than the other.  The only difference between the two formats is the way they save information and how the start and stop points are different on the disc.  Other than that there is no difference, but be aware of what type your DVD drive is compatible with.  A DVD+R drive cannot write to a DVD-R disc and the reverse is true.  Most modern drives are DVD+/-R/RW which means they support all formats but older drives were either -R or +R and you were restricted to that format.\n\nAlso -R or +R are write once DVDs whereas -RW and +RW are write, erase and write so they can be used multiple times.