Both the plus and minus formats offer digital recording from camcorders via the firewire port, but not all models have one. Philips generally offer the same model at the same time twice, one with a firewire port and one without as is their current DVDR-70 and 80 range.

I’ve had a Philips for a couple of years now and find the plus format to be a little more compatible with third party DVD players than the minus version. DVD-RAM discs come enveloped in a plastic caddy the same as audio mini discs, so are therefore unuseable in a regular DVD player, should you wish to give a disc to a friend for example. The write once DVD-R discs however can be played in most DVD players.

You can get a Sony deck that will record DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD+RW, this seems to have been well received and a good performer from what I can gather.

This is the site I visit, the forum is pretty good http://www.dvdplusrw.org