DVD-R

• Developed in 1997, the DVD-R format is approved by the standards group DVD Forum, which Mitsubishi, Sony, Hitachi and Time Warner founded. DVD-R discs are compatible with 93 percent of all DVD Players and with most DVD-ROMs. It is a write-once disc, which means that once you've burned the data onto that DVD disc you cannot use it again to burn other information. You must use a DVD-RW disc if you want to re-burn a disc continually.
  
  

DVD+R

• The DVD+R format is similar to the DVD-R format. It was made by the DVD+RW Alliance, which is supported Sony, Yamaha, Philips, Dell and JP. The DVD+R disc is also a write-once disc unless the format is DVD+RW. It has the same data storage capacity as the DVD-R format (4.7GB). It is compatible with most DVD-ROMs but with only 89 percent of all DVD players.
  
  

Problems

• The difference in the two formats is minimal. Not all DVD players will play DVD-Rs, and, likewise, not all will play DVD+Rs. Your computer will often only burn one or the other, so make sure you check your manufacture's specifications before you purchase these discs.