Which type of blank DVD's

minimoneysaver

I wondered if someone could please tell me which type/brand of DVD I need to buy for my TOSHIBA laptop?
I don't understand the whole +/- thing.

donnajunkie

well as far as i know all laptops/pcs will work with just about any kind of disc. they certainly should work with dvd-r, dvd+r, dvd-rw and dvd+rw. one difference is - discs are more likely to need finalizing before being played on a regular dvd player.
as a company i believe toshiba favour - discs but as i said it should be able to work with both - and +.

minimoneysaver

I don't understand why they have the two formats then. I also thought that I heard somewhere that Toshiba preferred - discs.

darich

it isn't such a big deal on your laptop as donna advised however it can makea huge differnce if you intend to play the disc elsewhere. Most standalone dvd players will play - discs. Some play + discs and a few play both.

if it's for back up purposes on your laptop then either is fine. If it's to play on another device then the other device would be the deciding factor

minimoneysaver

Okay, - it is. Another quick question.

Where is the best place to buy my blank dvd's from?

donnajunkie

it would depend how old the dvd player was on how likely it would be for it to not play both. the dvd recorders that connect to tvs may well cause more of an issue. i am not sure if they are all able to play both but alot dont record on both. as you might guess toshiba dvd recorders will most likely only record on - discs. samsung is another company that favours the - disc. sony, goodmans and philips all favour the + discs. as said previously it depends on the gear you want to play the discs on. if you keep the instruction booklets then they will say what discs are compatible with that particular equipment.

Marty999

As previously stated, both formats should work fine on your Toshiba. The main criteria to check is if your main DVD player is compatible with either/both formats.

As far as I am aware, the + format was invented by one company and the - format by another company. I usually buy the + format as my DVD burner will write quicker to DVD+ than DVD-.

donnajunkie

well you can get them from the same sort of places you would expect to get the vhs tapes and music cassettes you bought in the past. so record shops, electrical shops and places like boots, woolworths, wilkinsons and also supermarkets.

bat999

minimoneysaver wrote: »

I don't understand why they have the two formats then.

Hi

The '-' was the original standard.
Then '+' was developed later.

The PC drive and DVD player makers didn't want another BETA/VHS war so they (mostly) these days make them compatible with both types of disc.

As the others have said though, check which other players might be used as well as your laptop.
:cool:

BexTech

bat999 wrote: »

Hi

The '-' was the original standard.
Then '+' was developed later.

The PC drive and DVD player makers didn't want another BETA/VHS war so they (mostly) these days make them compatible with both types of disc.

As the others have said though, check which other players might be used as well as your laptop.
:cool:

Yeah, the - (minus / dash ) format is the official format, Philips went their own way and produced the + (plus) format.

If your writer can write to both, then I'd use -R for Write once (recordable) discs and +RW for Re-Writable discs.

3card

minimoneysaver wrote: »

Okay, - it is. Another quick question.

Where is the best place to buy my blank dvd's from?

I cant recommend www.svp.co.uk enough. I have bought loads of discs from them.
I had one spindle of discs that would not let me burn anything on, I told SVP & they replaced them for me & throw the faulty ones away.

1st class service

Mick