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MEDIA GUIDES -> Blank media quality guide & FAQ
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Blank DVD formats and sizes FAQ
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Every time I go to
a computer or electronics store to buy blank discs, I see
confused faces staring at the media racks, as if the media
were doing some sort of odd dance. The people just stare,
shaking their head in confusion at the pretty round things
on the shelves in front of them. More fun can be had
browsing by the aisle where the drives are kept. It's always
the same questions: Which is better? Is "plus"
better than "minus" format? What's a RAM, isn't
that memory? Here's the lowdown...
DVD-R /
DVD-RW format
The DVD-R format was developed by
Pioneer and first surfaced as the Pioneer S-101 DVD-R
Authoring drive in 1997. The drive was specifically written
as a write-once media for video applications, and writing
data with the drive was not a priority.
Yes, there are two DVD-R formats: the DVD-R Authoring
and the DVD-R General format.
The DVD-R Authoring format is a professional drive writing
at either 1x or 2x (max) speeds. It is extremely expensive,
costing several thousand dollars, and is geared towards
professional use only, incorporating the allowance for CMF
to replace DLT for replication. Pioneer S-101 and Panasonic
makes some of the only DVD-R(A) drives, some for 3.95GB
discs, others for the more modern 4.7GB discs. The DVD-Authoring drives use
different media and the laser uses a different writing
frequency than DVD-R(G).
The DVD-R General format, normally referred to as just DVD-R, was created for the consumer in early 2001. This also
added the DVD-RW format and it is official known as a re-recordable
disc, not a re-writable disc. Many Compaq, Packard Bell,
Apple and Sony computers shipped DVD-R General drives in
2001 and early 2002, as the DVD+R format was not yet
available and the DVD-R format thrived without any kind of
competition.
The dash in DVD-R is a DASH MARK or HYPHEN! It is absolutely not a
MINUS sign! It is no more a "DVD minus R" than
a CD-R is a "CD minus R". The entire
"minus" mentality is a result of deceptive
marketing by the DVD+RW Alliance.
DVD-Video information recorded onto a DVD-R General tends to
have a playback compatibility of about 90 to 95 percent
with all players that exist. This is the highest
compatibility among all burned DVD formats.
The DVD-R format is the official format of the DVD Forum,
the group that controls the specifications and licensing for
the DVD logo. This quote was taken from their page on
September 13th 2003: "Please note that the '+RW' format, also known as DVD+RW was neither developed nor approved by the DVD Forum. The approved recordable
formats are
DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-RAM."
You have probably seen the DVD logo: 
DVD+R
/ DVD+RW format
Although fans of the DVD+R format hate
to hear this, the DVD+R format is a rogue format, invented
by greedy companies that were unwilling to pay royalties to
the DVD Forum in order to use and develop the DVD-R format
and/or use the DVD logo. The DVD+R format does not carry the
DVD logo because it is not an official DVD format.
Does this make it a bad format? No.
The DVD-R General and DVD+R formats have almost no
differences.
The DVD+RW format was created with data usage in mind, as
was claimed by the DVD+RW Alliance in 1997 while working on
a 2.8GB disc that was scrapped in late 1999 in favor of
producing true DVD-5 sizes. By the time the DVD+RW was
released in late 2001, everybody that wanted a DVD writer
already had one. Plus the DVD+RW were expensive like the
DVD-RW discs, often costing $15 each, whereas the DVD-R
discs went for as little as $5 each.
The DVD+R format did not surface until summer 2002, a year
behind the DVD-R format, and still at twice the price of
many DVD-R discs.
With the popularity of DVD-Video as the primary usage, the
DVD+RW Alliance quickly dropped it's data-only attitude and
went for the video market too, though initial media and
drives had lousy compatibility ratings in the 50-60 percent
range. To this day, the compatibility with DVD players is
behind DVD-R.
DVD-Video information recorded onto a DVD+R tends to have a playback
compatibility of about 85 to 90 percent with all players
that exist. This is the second-highest compatibility
among all burned DVD formats.
In order to assure higher compatibility with DVD-Video
players, DVD+R format has bit-setting abilities, allowing the
book type to be changed from DVD+R to DVD-ROM. While this
does help the compatibility, it still does not allow the
DVD+R format to exceed the DVD-R in video compatibility.
This function is also not available on all DVD+R/RW drives.
DVD±R format
This is not a format! This is
merely a drive that incorporates both DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW
burning abilities into the same piece of hardware. These
are often called dual-format burners.
DVD-RAM format
This drive is
normally more expensive than other format burners, as are the media. It was developed as a
data drive and remain so to this day, having a DVD-Video
compatibility percentage that can be counted on fingers and
toes. It was created by Panasonic is 1998 and is still
mostly used for data and editing-only uses.
RAM discs were originally written inside cartridges. The
first generation was sealed and had to be broken apart to
extract the disc (if needed). The second generation had an
open/close switch on the cart. With the advent of standalone
DVD recorders, RAM discs came without cartridges.
The
drive has advanced packet writing functions that allow if to
be used much like an optical hard drive. Very efficient for
data. But not recommended for normal video usage. Video on a DVD-RAM is written in the VR format (and it
creates VRO files). VR format is not compatible with
normal DVD players due to the data format and reflectivity, and it often uses odd-sized resolutions.
DVD-RAM video is simply a poor choice.
Dual
Layer / Double Layer Formats
Dual layer means that much like
commercially pressed DVD-ROMs, these recordable discs have
two layer of dye, almost doubling the size of older
DVD5 format. This is a recordable DVD9 format.
DVD-R DL is mostly only available in Asian markets, and
mostly sold in the USA or Europe at specialized online blank
media stores.
DVD+R DL (called "Double Layer" by the RW
Alliance) media is more compatible with DVD-Video players
than DVD-R DL. The discs must be booktyped to DVD-ROM to
work well with players, and most burners automatically
booktype for you. As of 2008, only Verbatim branded discs
(manufacturer by Mitsubishi) seems to be reliable.
DVD+RW DL and DVD-RW DL media is scarce (mostly in Asia) and
does not give very good results, either for data or video.
Several media manufacturers have deemed it too expensive and
complex, thus not making any RW DL discs. Demand for such
media is also nearly non-existent.
DVD
format
myths
As time has gone on, the "format
war" between DVD-R and DVD+R has pretty much died off,
as both media have strong sales and almost all drives
support both types of discs. This myth list used to be twice
as long, and it was nice to be able to remove some of them,
as they died with the format war. At any rate, there are
still a few myths that people might hear or read:
Myth: "Newer players can play all
formats."
Truth: While it is more common now for new player to support
both DVD-R and DVD+R media than players of the past, the
issue is present even on the newest of players.
Myth: "My (insert format here)
disc didn't work in the player. I tried the other format and
it worked. That compatibility percentage
is wrong."
Truth: The issue was more likely to be a media
issue, not a format issue. Too many users buy the cheapest
media around, or otherwise do not know what they have. For
example, a RITEK DVD-R (low reflective, 2nd class quality)
compared to a YUDEN DVD+R (high reflective, 1st class
quality) is no contest on which disc will perform better,
the YUDEN would win in most all tests.
Myth: "I saw that www.somesite.com did a
'scientific' test
and came to the conclusion that (insert format here) is
better than (other format here)."
Truth: Remember that
statistics can be corrupted to prove anything you want, even if
common sense dictates otherwise. At the moment, common sense
and common sense tests dictate that the DVD-R currently has
the highest compatibility with several percentage points.
The quality of the media is pretty much identical.
Myth: "A DVD burner is just a
CD burner with different firmware."
Truth: The
only thing DVD and CD have in common is the round shape.
Beyond that, the media and hardware is entirely different.
The CD and DVD burners use different hardware as well as
different laser types and frequencies.
Myth: "The DVD+R and
DVD-R drives and discs are the same. Why not just develop
firmware and media that makes them all the same?"
Truth: This would be similar to saying that a cat and a dog are
the same. While they do both have four legs and a tail, as
well as rub and lick to show affection, they are definitely
NOT the same. The hardware and media materials are
completely different.
Myth: "HD-DVD and Blu-Ray is coming and will kill
off DVD."
Truth:
Uh-huh, sure, just like FMD was going to kill DVD. Leave
the future to the future. At this point in time, the
prospects of a format overturning DVD anytime in the next
5-10 years is unlikely. There is little advantage to
consumer to make the switch. More than anything, it appears
that the "winner" of the BD vs HD-DVD battle will
be relegated to a niche similar to Laserdisc in the 1990s.
Disc
sizes
Often DVDs are referred to in different
size increments: DVD5, DVD9, DVD18, 4.7GB, 4.38GB, etc. This
section should clear up the various dimensions and sizes of
DVDs. Also includes information layers and sides.
| Size name |
Marketed sizes |
Sides |
Layers |
Data storage size |
| DVD5 |
4.7GB, 120min |
single |
single |
up to 4.38GB |
| DVD9 |
8.5GB, 240min |
single |
dual or double |
up to 7.95GB |
| DVD10 |
9.4GB, 240min |
double |
single |
up to 8.75GB total |
| DVD15 |
N/A |
double |
one single, one dual |
up to 12.33GB total |
| DVD18 |
N/A |
double |
dual |
up to 15.9GB total |
Dual vs. Double.
These are two words that represent the same concept. The DVD
Forum presses and creates recordable "dual layer"
media. The RW Alliance creates recordable "double
layer" media. Just synonyms for two layers of data
surface.
The marketed sizes for
blank DVDs are essentially meaningless:
- Minutes. The amount of
minutes of video stored on a DVD-Video disc has nothing to
do with the media itself. The true
limit of the amount of information that can fit on a disc is
determined by the data storage size, up to so many gigabytes
of data. The data storage size of a video is determined by the bit-rate. It is
no problem to store 3 or 4 hours of high quality video on a
"120min" disc.
- GB size.
Many people wonder
why their 4.7GB discs are "defective" and
"only" write 4.38 GB at maximum capacity. The marketed GB sizes are
calculated by 1000 bytes increments alone, and not in the 1024 byte clusters
used in computer terminology.
This kind of inconsistency is found in many other areas of
consumer life. For
example, the 120GB hard drive will format to about 112GB,
requiring 8GB for file system and other settings. A 6-hour
video tape is about 6:05 in length. And let's not forget the
most famous one: hot dogs come in packs of 10 while buns
come in packs of 8.
Page Last Updated: March 26th 2008
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