Plus and Dash are just formats. The drives you play your backups on decide which format they like or you will get a displayed message like:
No disc
Dirty disc
Wrong region
Wrong format
Illegal disc.
Encountering any of those messages after inserting your backup into a stand alone player,switch to the opposite format. Make sure it's quality media like Taiyo Yuden or Verbatim. Some players will have problems with lower quality media.
Most drives may prefer the dash format,the non booktyping drives. But certain drives have bitsetting capability to booktype. These are the booktypers: Benq,Plextor,Lite-on,LG,some NEC,some sony. With these drives,the plus format is way superior because they can be set to Dvd-rom,the most universal of all dvd formats. It actually fools players into thinking that an original dvd-rom format disc has been inserted,making it highly compatable.
pretzel: Most brand named media outsource their media. This means up to 4-5 different manufacturers can make media for the exact same brand name,format and speed rate.Example:
Maxell +8x
+8X MADE IN TAIWAN: RITEK-R03
+8X MADE IN JAPAN: MAXELL-002-00
+8X MADE IN JAPAN FULL HUB PRINTABLE: MAXELL-002-00
+8x Made in Taiwan Full Hub inkjet printable: Prodisc
+8x Made in Taiwan: Cmags
All +8x media,but around 5 different manufacturers and quality will vary. Those Maxell-002-00 are the maxell hitachi and very good media. Prodisc,very poor and PIF errors add up. Cmags,also give people problems. Ritek,prettty decent.
Memorex,HP,TDK,Fuji,Sony,Staple's,and most other brands do the same thing. You can have Ritek-R03 on some Maxell,Memorex,Fuji,Office Depot,Ridata,all in the +8x speed rating.
Cmags in some of the Memorex,Maxell,Staples,HP,TDK.
That's why Ligitimate Taiyo yuden and verbatim are highly advised. But,there's some Fake taiyo yudens out there,so watch where you get them.
Verbatim: Easy to find locally,On sale this week for $13 a 50 pk at bestbuy,and higher quality standards.
New Drives: I only get booktyping drives that way I know my backups have a 95%+ shot of playing in any drive that I desire- Stand alone players,pc drives,and game consoles. Plextor PX716A is rated among the finest burners. Same goes for the Benq 1640A and 1650A.They'll burn anything you throw at them.
These drives are no longer produced,but can be had on Ebay. If you can't find them,get a lite-on. Newegg.com has some great prices on them and usually under $40
Most of the newer plextors-above the 716 models are rebadges.These are rebadged drives that you pay the extra for the word Plextor on them.
There's some crap drives out there and they will have a lower stand alone player compatability,weaker burn,more playback issues. They also issue very few firmware updates. Firmware updates are needed so drives know how to handle the newer/faster media that comes out. They can also be fussier on certain media.