What DVD format is best for video?

What DVD format is best for video?

Tim Smith (Camcorder Training Specialist) gives expert video advice on: Why would I want to edit video I've shot?; What kind of computer do I need to run a video editing system?; What software do I need for video editing? and more...

So you want to take your video and you want to get it onto a DVD. There's a lot of choices. The most common is called a DVD-R, so you essentially want to go to the store and ask for a blank DVD which is a "minus R" format. Real quickly, some of the other choices you are going to see; -R, -RW, +R, +RW. All of these are different formats for different players. The most common player though and the one you most likely have in your house or the person you are giving the DVD has in their house would be one that was capable of playing a DVD-R. The advantage to DVD-R is just that, almost everybody can play it. The disadvantage is -R records just one time. So the second most popular format you might want to use is the -RW. An RW can record over again just like a video tape, so you can record multiple times on the same disc if you want. But really to play it safe you should be using DVD-R's.