please help. dvd+ or dvd- it just wont work

[zeroclue]

i know nothing...exept this....i bought a duraband LEDVDR0702 dvd recorder. it didnt work so i took it back. i have another the same. knowing nothing i got a pack of discs. it asks me to format, i say yes, it does, i press record, it records. i press play, it plays. i finalise. i take to watch on dvd player in bedroom and NO. it cant work. i see square pics of my recordings but cant play them. .....so...i got info, was told to buy new player to watch on. not understanding why when my player worked on bought ones, but still i got new player. still not able to see my own recordings from tv. sought more info on tech help from seller, was told i was using dvd-r and need dvd+r.

so i buy more,both dvd+r and dvd+rw and some dvd-rw for good measure. they all work of the unit itself record and playback, finalised or not) but ony one rewritable one worked on either of my players finalised or not. by this time ive wasted heaps of dvds recording 5mins of news on each. not knowing which discs i should use im unwillimg to record all of home movies and old tv vids from vhs to disc. although they will work on the machine that can record them, if it breaks, they are useless. so its safer to keep them on vhs for now.

meanwhile, i sought help again, was talked into buying another new player. this time a phillips ("simply plays everything") player. well, no it doesnt. some it plays finalised or not some it plays one day then dosnt then if i return them to the recorder they are suddenly errors. i had enough info hunting and got back on with life without dvd. then when a series came on that i wouldlike to save to see when ive time, and keep, i took to recording it on DVD+r (that also have a little rw in a box for some reason even though they are not rewritable) then flipping to the plus 1 channel and recording it again on dvd-r. ...i figure this way i should have a copy i can use oneday??? i still havent looked to see if they work upstairs. but....

then i ran out of asda dvd+r discs so bought some at tesco. all the same, still say rw in a dark box but are +R single use. i format and record ok on day one, then do the -r disc, then on day two when my programs is on again, i put disc in for second show, press record, it starts, i wash up, it stops. i see, press record, it looks like it will but doesnt. i press play, it does nothing. i press menu, nothing. i eject, it does nothing. 20 mins, it kicks out, i give up on the days +R recording , flip channel , put in disc for -r recording, press record, all appears ok. hour later, i press stop. it stops. it faffs as usual for something while some bar fills on sreen. then i ask it to play to make sure all ok. but no, it does nothing. acts like ive not asked a thing. i use remote, i use buttons, nothing.i eject, it opens , closes, reloads and says disc error. on both discs.

WHAT IS GOING ON???? i am a technophobe. i am just a skint person who wants to record my programs then take them upstiars to fall asleep to and to keep them on dvd. i dont have sky plus, cant afford it. but have sky. cant afford new gadgets really, but got dvd at asda coz videos are been laughed at. in past i put tape in, pressed record, puled tab off tape, watched whenever i wanted. still works. for dvd, is it not possable to just put in, format, record, finalise, watch.....i thought that dvdr meant tape with tab pulled off for ya for ever. and dvd rw was meant to be tape with tab ya can selotape over again to reuse by finalise and then unfinalise if wanting to.

are tesco discs somehow diferent ?
what am i doing wrong?
im sick of buying discs and players amnd have already changed machine twice. cant afford new high tech good name of product. what am i missing? (other than money and a clue)

thanks for reading, pleasd help. zero

[Moderator's Note: ASDA and TESCO are UK supermarkets and the disks will be rebranded]