HELP - DVD-R/DVD+R and all that stuff!!!
 

I have DVD player that was sold to me as "all singing, all dancing".. well, ok, i bought it. Literally.

Seems though, it wont play anything that people burn on DVD for me... stuff created on a PC and burnt to DVD for instance. Ive done a bit of investigation on the old web, and it turns out that my player doesnt play "DVD-R", but does play "DVD+R". apparently...

I have a vague understanding of this, but wondered if anyone knew how easy it is with generally available DVD burning software to specifiy DVD+R format instead??? Or is this some long-fotgotten format that means i have to ditch my player if i'm going to view the Cadwell DVD in all its glory?

Bit of a mine field i think.
My mums player wont play VCD's that i make for her even though the box says it will.

DVD+R and DVD-R are the formats used to record onto the disk, so the hardware has to be able to record in those formats. Think of it as Betamax and VHS.

Most DVD writers are dual format "DVD+/-R" format writers anyway, so you should be able to specify when burning the disk which format to use.

Unless you're putting over 4Gb worth of movie onto a disk, there really is no need to use DVDR - just put it onto a normal CDR as an SVCD which has the same resolution as DVD!

Just about every single DVD player will support SVCD as it uses the same compression routines (MPEG4) as a DVD does, so there's a much better chance of success.

You can get about 40-50 minutes of DVD quality movie onto a single CDR using SVCD, or even more if you compress the movie but you will lose some quality.

Software like DVD Shrink is ideal as it does everything for you.

Check the software that you're using as you want to make sure that you're creating a pukka standard VCD - some burning software say they make VCDs but they don't do it to the letter of the standard, and some players will just reject them.

You may also find that if the player spins up the disk but goes into STOP or PAUSE mode, you need to turn OFF the Play Back Control (PBC) function. This is usually a button marked "PBC" on the remote. Then hit PLAY again and it should work fine.

Lots of help here if you like that kind of thing:
http://www.videohelp.com/

Hi Jason,

DVD-R and DVD+R are different formats, so you would have to use DVD+R discs for the copies. ie it's not a case of ticking a box to encode to DVD+R format but rather just using a DVD+R disc. Most recent DVD writers can write to all types of discs so this is probably your easiest solution.

DVD players have advanced massively over the last few years and a budget player today will often outperform the top of the line model from five years ago. If your player is a few years old, the player was not misrepresented - just that the technology has moved on and manufacturers can cram more into the box.

The Acoustic Solutions DVD651 or the Toshiba SD330E can both play pretty much any disc you can throw at them, and are available from Richer Sounds for less than the price of a brake lever for an AP adjustable ratio Radial Master cylinder.

If you want more info, there is a comprehensive guide here http://www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html#4.3

cheers, Chi

If the box says it will, but the player won't, it's probably that the option has not ben enabled in the hidden menu. Do an internet search for the soft hack for that particular model.

I have a look at it next time i go over and visit.

I'm using Pinnacle Studio Version 9 by the way.

Oh and i cant get S VCD's to play in my Aiwa DVD player. The instructions for the Pinnacle software say that most european players wont play S VCD's as well. Pitty becasue its good quality and i dont have a DVD writer at the moment.