PC Hardware in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

DVD+R

The first DVD+RW drives could use only rewritable DVD+RW discs. CD-R remains popular despite the availability of rewritable CD-RW discs, and it was clear to DVD+RW supporters that a write-once version of DVD+RW would fill an important niche. The write-once version of DVD+RW, as you might expect, is called DVD+R. DVD+R provides the equivalent of a 4.7 GB CD-R disc. Roughly 85% of older DVD-ROM drives and DVD players read DVD+R discs, which is to say they have about the same level of compatibility as DVD-R discs.

DVD+R discs began shipping in mid-2002, and a firestorm erupted almost immediately. Some DVD+RW drive makers had preannounced the availability of DVD+R discs and had told buyers of first-generation DVD+RW drives that a simple firmware update would allow the drives to use DVD+R discs as well. That turned out not to be the case, and buyers of early DVD+RW drives learned that the only way to add DVD+R support was to replace their drives. Current DVD+RW drives support DVD+R and DVD+RW discs interchangeably. Like CD-R and DVD-R before it, DVD+R discs use organic dye technology, so nothing other than patent royalties prevents DVD+R (and DVD-R) discs from eventually falling to prices nearly as low as CD-R discs.