What is the DVD+RW Real Time Video Format or DVD+VR?
Why are there more titles on my DVD+RW disc than listed in the menu?
Why does the disc bar show twice the number of titles?
Why does the size of my recorded DVD+RW seem to exceed 4.7 GB?
How can I preserve chapter stops when editing a +VR disc on the PC?


What is the DVD+RW Real Time Video Format or DVD+VR?
The DVD+RW Real Time Video Format, also known as DVD+VR, is the video recording format stipulated by the DVD+RW Alliance, and supported by a great number of DVD+RW hardware and software manufacturers. This format allows adding, editing, partial deleting and partial over-writing on a DVD+RW disc, while still remaining compatible with ordinary DVD-Video players. This is different from the VR format as employed by DVD-RW and DVD-RAM recorders, which is completely different from the DVD-Video specification and hence such a disc cannot be played on a normal DVD player. As the DVD+VR format was designed to be 100% compatible with existing DVD-Video players, it does not describe the way the video and audio is supposed to be encoded. This is already covered in the DVD-Video specification. It does however describe the disc layout, so that the various +VR hardware and software products know where to look for specific information.

DVD+VR also offers neatless integration of the consumer electronics and PC worlds. For example, you can record video on a DVD+RW video recorder (and thereby using its simple operation and high quality real time video encoding), and then later on edit the video, or change the menu screens, directly on that same disc using a DVD+RW PC drive and a suitable software suite.

For a more detailed description of the DVD+VR format, refer to the DVD+RW Real Time Video (+VR) Format article.


Why are there more titles on my DVD+RW disc than listed in the menu?
When you view the contents of a DVD+RW disc using your DVD-player's direct number access features, you might notice that it contains exactly double the amount of titles that are listed on the disc's Index Picture Screens. Actually, the first series of titles are the titles with the edits that you possibly have applied to them (these are also the ones that will be selected from the menu screens), the second series refer to the same titles, but then without any edits. This allows you to access the original titles on any DVD-Video player, if necessary. Note that the video is not actually stored twice on the disc, the titles are just listed double in the disc's Table Of Contents.


Why does the disc bar show twice the number of titles?
Only for Philips DVDR1000, 1500, 980, 985, 990, 1000MkII and Yamaha DRX-1.
Sometimes when you recorded or edited a DVD+VR disc using another recorder or software application than the recorder itself, it will display twice the number of entries on the recorder's front display. This is due to the fact that the titles are listed double in the Table Of Contents of the disc, as described in the previous questions. Depending on the software or hardware that created this disc, these DVD+R/+RW recorders will sometimes accidently display double the titles on the disc bar, instead of just the "normal" edits, as with discs recorded on the recorder itself.


Why does the size of my recorded DVD+RW seem to exceed 4.7 GB?
As explained in the previous questions, all titles appear to be stored on the disc twice. This is not actually the case, the first number of titles just contains referers to chapters in the last number of titles. However, to the filesystem of a computer, either of them might show up as a full title containing all the video information. This is why for example Windows may indicate that a disc contains more than 4.7 GB of data. Of course, the actual amount of data on a single side of a DVD+RW disc can not exceed 4.7 GB.

When you want to copy a full DVD+R or DVD+RW disc, it is therefore advised to use the "DVD Copy" function of your CD/DVD recording program (like the one available in Nero), instead of just copying the individual files.


How can I preserve chapter stops when editing a +VR disc on the PC?
Chapter stops created by the Philips DVD+RW video recorder are not part of the +VR specification, and therefore they are not interpreted by a +VR editing application on the PC.

However, if you apply the "Make Edits Compatible" procedure on the video recorder before you take the disc to your PC, the chapter stops are retained on the disc when you edit it on the PC. Keep in mind however that the PC application still might not notice the chapter stops, and hence it will not offer you chapter-level editing.