I have only previously used floppies, please bear with me.

My new PC has a 16X DVD +/- Drive. As I understand it that means I can use DVD+ or DVD- discs. Which one do you suggest? For the time being I will only be saving docs to disc for backup, but later may burn video on DVD. Is one type compatible with more DVD players than others? Does the DVD always need to be formatted before storing a file on it? Is there a distinction between saving a video file (AVI, MPEG, etc.) to DVD for storage and "burning" it so it will play on a DVD player without WMP?

Thanks in advance.

IMO, I've found that DVD+R is more compatible with stand-alone players.

Although people will say the same for DVD-R.

The manufacturer of the blank DVD is also important, as some manufacturers are more compatible with more brands of stand-alone players, then others.

Some brands you should stay away from, such as Memorex. Some better brands, would be TDK and Taiyo Yuiden for example.

Take at a look at this site for additional info on Blank DVD brands.

For new users of DVD techniques, I recommend using DVD+RW... with these, if you mess up (and you will) you can erase it and try again. I would suggest getting the Office Depot brand when they are on sale - 25 for $7.99 These are good for storage and rewriteable. Also they are more compatible with more systems and DVD players than DVD+/-R discs.

For data DVD's the +/- won't make a bit of difference but it will for video. I've used both and have not had any problems with either of them... opinions differ and YMMV. Be prepared to ruin a few when you first start, it's all part of the learning curve. Don't look upon your failures as bad DVD's, rather look upon them as shiny new beer coasters!

If all you're doing is saving documents as a backup I would recommend using CD's instead of DVD's but that depends on how many documents you have. On a CD, 650Meg can hold a LOT of documents. Can your burner use dual layered DVD's? A dual layer will hold 8Gig vs. 4Gig on a single layer. (The dual layered DVD's are WAY more expensive) Buy some RW discs to practice with but once you have the hang of the burning process I don't recommend using them for backups. It's too easy to keep using the same CD/DVD to store your backups which is fine until you realize that one of your documents became corrupted last week and all you have on the CD is the backup you made last night.

If you use CD's to hold data then you don't need any special software. (assuming you're using XP/Vista) I'm not sure if Windows will natively store to a DVD or not. Vista might but I refuse to use Vista so I don't know for sure. In either case there is no special formatting that you need to do. If you need software I recommend Nero.

As for storing AVI and MPEG video's, if you're going to store them as data then you can burn them to a CD/DVD like you would any other file. Once they're on the DVD you can use Media Player to view them. If you want to play the video in a DVD player then it will have to be converted and burned as a video DVD. Nero can help you out with that.

Hope this helps...