DVD formats

[carnivorousplant]

How do -R and +R differ? I’m interested in the engineering aspect, not the lists I Googled about which companies use each format, and what will play in what.

[Musicat]

Good article here.

The DVD+R format is divergent from the DVD-R format. Hybrid drives that can handle both, often labeled ‘DVD±RW’, are very popular since there is not a single standard for recordable DVDs. There are a number of significant technical differences between the ‘dash’ and the ‘plus’ format, although most users would not notice the difference. One example is that the DVD+R style Address In Pregroove (ADIP) system of tracking and speed control is less susceptible to interference and error, which makes the ADIP system more accurate at higher speeds than the Land Pre Pit (LPP) system used by DVD-R. In addition, DVD+R(W) has a more robust error management system than DVD-R(W), allowing for more accurate burning to media, independent of the quality of the media.

Additional session linking methods are more accurate with DVD+R(W) versus DVD-R(W), resulting in fewer damaged or unusable discs due to buffer under-run and multi-session discs with fewer PI/PO errors.

However, that article doesn’t address the physical (chemical?) differences between the kinds. I’d like to know what makes them different myself.

[Ionizer]

This FAQ site may have some interest for OP and others. I did not read through much of it (yet), but see that it has lots of specific info on many things re: DVD’s. Not sure if OP saw this site. I don’t see any specific ‘engineering specs’ urls listed, but there lots of manufacturers’ sites listed that might give better tech-specs (?)

This portion *and following sub-sections might have some specific diff’s between the formats that OP is seeking (?). There are links to pages that have the standards for manufacture of DVD’s, so it might be a good jump-off point in quest for answer. Reading just a bit of this shows how little I actually know about DVD tech stuff. Seems early DVD’s used organic-dye tech, while other types use different tech (less reflective?) - and that’s as far as I have gotten so far there.

[carnivorousplant]

Thank you, Gentlemen.
I love the Dope!