I want to buy a dvd recorder?

There are really only two popular "families" of DVD at the moment. You've got the "minus" ("-") formats (DVD-R, DVD-RW) and the "plus" ("+") formats (DVD+R, DVD+RW).

A DVD-R is a write-once format. Once you've burned the data, the disk is forever frozen with that information. Add the "W" to that, and you'll find that DVD-RW can be erased or rewritten up to a thousand times.

Moving to the plus side is where things get a bit confusing, because DVD+RW came before DVD+R, which is a write-once format intended to be more compatible with more DVD players, though at this point it seems to be about even with DVD-R, which remains the most compatible computer-burned DVD format.

The plus formats have the same data storage capacity as the minus formats (4.7GB), but DVD+RW offers faster writing, better internal linking (a technical obscurity you don't have to worry about), and support for drag-and-drop desktop files, which makes it easy to compose the contents of a disk.

Overall, how compatible are they?

*DVD-R : Very good.

*DVD-RW : Good.

*DVD+R : Very good.

*DVD+RW : Good.

to be honest here it really is down to consumer choice.

if you want to get the best deal then look for a recordr that is multiformat (one that supports DVD-+R/RW/RAM then if you see blank DVDs on sale anywhere you don't have to miss out on a bargain by not remembering if your machine supports the format that is on sale.

you may like to consider waiting a year or so before you choose a DVD recorder as blu-ray the next generation recorder supporting upto ten or more times the data storage of current DVD recorders. at the moment though there is currently a war on as to which blu-ray (High Def) Disc format will win. if you recall recent history it is like the battle between VHS and Betamax as we know betamax lost that battle and only high end tv studios etc still use betamax occaionally.

to sum up your question others have already pointed out that the DVD-+R is write once format, DVD-+RW is ReWritable (hence the RW) however DVD-+RW can in most cases only be used to record consecutive data and not allow random data deletion or recording over. whereas DVD-RAM allows you to Record, delete and re-record in any order on the disc. however all discs have a life span. so the more often it is used to record and re-record the shorter the life span will appear to be.

read more on DVD formats at www.wikipedia (i'm sure there is lots of informationthat should help clear up the confusion.

good luck

To be honest, as long as it will record on either plus or minus, you're okay. Just remember to check which type of disk you buy. I'd recommend buying a DVD Recorder with an inbuilt hard drive. That way you can store the shows on the hard drive and watch them before decide whether or not to burn them to disk.

Asda £59

You can get recorders which will record in all the formats you mention so you don't need to worry about any differences.

I have one & love it the R's are Recordables you can only record once & RW's are Rewriteable you can record over them again and again.

It means that it supports all of those DVD disc formats.

pop into Curry's/Comet

or the like, and they will be only to happy to take you money from you.

ok heres what 2 do.......