Hello
I'm trying to help a friend (he doesn't have an Internet connection now. that's why i'm here)

His new Philips DVDRW 824K a stamp says in the box that it reads & writes +R and -R formats

By now it is only writing +R format. Nero identifies the drive only with +.
during a search we made in a official site we realized that he must pay 7,5€ (of royalties) to have a new firmware that accepts the 2 formats.

Is this true?
Is there any other way?

Thanks

The €7.5 is for the licence fee for the DVD-R/RW format so no, there are no other (legal) ways. Current BenQ/Philips drives are much better with the DVD+R/RW format though so I really don't see much point in updating the firmware for DVD-R/RW.

Hi
There is a new Philips DVDRW824 version, which already has out-of-the-box +R/-R support (Box.Label Philips DVDRW824k/40, PCInfo "PHILIPS DVDRW824DP P3.0"). And it's even cheaper than the former version available (€79.90 in a Lisbon retail store).

The tests I've made it's a bit slower than the best 8x DVD-RW out there (NEC or LiteOn or Plextor), but it seems to burn quite well even with total crappy media like Sky (Media ID GRUPOCONDOR).

Also burns some +R 4X certified @ 8X and with quality (MCC 002) and totally flawless CD-R. And it supports booktype setting (not on Nero, but using DVDInfoPro 2.54)

But it's just a one day usage opinion...Anyone has any experience with this DVD-RW