Originally posted by Wai
The "Plus" format is backed by microsoft while the "Minus" format is backed by Pioneer. Both formats will probably exist for quite sometime before the manufactuers settled with the more popular one. Although DVD "Plus" standard is newer than "Minus", DVD "Minus" media are more easily available in the market now and there are more choices. Moreover, the prices for "Minus" media are much cheaper so it is more economical to use the "Minus" format if compatibility is not the main concern. The "Plus" format will be useful for those who want to store video and want to playback on standalone DVD players, because the plus format should not have compatibility problem with these players
Actually, the "Plus" format is designed and backed up by HP, not microsoft
, microsoft just join in the "plus" Aillance recently
, the aillance includes, DELL, HP, MS, Mitsubishi Chemical (Verbatim), Philips, Richo, Sony, Thomson and Yamaha. They claim themselves as the standard everyone is using. The Standard is said to br 90% compatible with DVD-R and 70% compatible with DVD-RW (meaning there is a 30% chance a DVD+RW player might not read cut DVD-RW, but 10% chance of a DVD+RW player unable to read DVD-R disc).
the Minus format is created by Pioneer Electronics, the Original DVD format. basically a big cash cow for them, able to collect a lot of royalties for ever DVD player made
.
(Ever wondered why a new format was created?
)
More information please read
http://www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html