Having DVD- & DVD+ Playback Issues when recording with my Sony DVD Recorder?

Question

I have a Sony DVD Recorder RDR-HXD760 - is a dual SD digital tuner and recorder (im from Australia)

Earlier i recorded an AFL game from the HDD (recorded originally in LSP mode) to a DVD-R disc and the disc was finalised.

Now the disc is finalised i do a routine check and playback. Then when 'Playback' appears, it shows up in more of a 'widescreen' format and .. somewhat scaled down along the vertical axis to like a 4:2 ratio and well .. almost like it was squashed down for the DVD ??? strange!

Now, i playback previously recorded content, recorded on a DVD+R and the play back shows up to the full screen width, no squashing down etc.

I seem to be reading alot on here that recording to a DVD-R is optimal for movies though? Is that right? I think the DVD+R's are alot more versatile though! So i should have spent money on some DVD+R's i think now??

Strangely, Playback of the DVD-R disc on my other older NEC DVD Player (silver one, quite popular 2-3 years back) is completely fine

Answer 1

From everything I have heard, the +R and -R formats are indistinguishable externally. You need to find another game in the same format and record it on a +R disk and see what happens. I suspect the same.

Answer 2

Hi starcraft202,

The DVD+R and DVD-R are competing formats much like the old VHS and Beta formats in video tapes. Today most drives are Hybrid and handle both formats. They are usually labeled DVD+/-R

The market for recordable DVD technology never settled down in favor of either the plus or dash formats, which is mostly the result of the increasing numbers of dual-format devices that can record to both formats; it has become very difficult to find new devices that can only record to one of the formats. However, because the DVD-R format has been in use since 1997, it has had a five-year lead on DVD+R. As such, older or cheaper DVD players (up to 2004 vintage) are more likely to favor the DVD-R standard exclusively, and when creating DVD’s for distribution (where the playing unit is unknown or older) the DVD-R format would normally be preferable.

My personal experience has led me towards using the +R. It is slightly better at error handling so more tolerant of dirty or damaged media and also more tolerant to the subtle differences between players.

Norm