Finally buying new computer

[Rich R]

Old computer emachine 533 mhz, 128mb memory, windows 98 with cd burner.

Want to purchase something with 512mb memory and dvd and cd burner, my question is about dvd burner, what's the difference between
DVD+/-R/ +/-RW; CD-RW
DVD+/-RW / CD-RW
DVD+R+RW
I'm confused.
Thanks, Rich R

[Steve Machol]

I think the first two are equivalent and will allow you to burn both DVDs and CDs. I'd also recommend getting a separate DVD/CD player since burners are relatively slow for playback and reading.

[Sean]

The crucial difference among the standards is based on which manufacturers adhere to which standards. Similar to the old VHS/Beta tape wars when VCRs first hit the markets, different manufacturers support different standards.

I tend to go for DVD's for their capacity(4.79GB) over cd's (650MB) The first type you listed seems to be the best as it covers all the formats except CD-R.

The DVD-RW/R format was designed especially to support recording of streaming media.

DVD+RW/R was designed for real-time video recording and random data recording, and should allow random access and editing of video.

DVD+R and DVD+RW formats are supported by Philips, Sony, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Ricoh, Yamaha and others.
DVD+R is a recordable DVD format similar to CD-R. A DVD+R can only record data once and then the data becomes permanent on the disc. The disc can not be recorded onto a second time.

DVD+RW is a re-recordable format similar to CD-RW. The data on a DVD+RW disc can be erased and recorded over numerous times without damaging the medium.

DVD-R, DVD-RW

These formats are supported by Panasonic, Toshiba, Apple Computer, Hitachi, NEC, Pioneer, Samsung and Sharp.
DVD-R is a recordable DVD format similar to CD-R and DVD+R. A DVD-R can only record data once and then the data becomes permanent on the disc. The disc can not be recorded onto a second time. There also are two additional standards for DVD-R disks: DVD-RG for general use, and DVD-RA for authoring, which is used for mastering DVD video or data and is not typically available to the general public.

DVD-RW is a re-recordable format similar to CD-RW or DVD+RW. The data on a DVD-RW disc can be erased and recorded over numerous times without damaging the medium.