I found VERY good info here. MOTOTRBO uses DMR Tier2.
http://dmrassociation.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/How-DMR-Works-Conventional-Tier-2.pdf
DVSI AMBE+2TM is based on Multi-Band Excitation (MBE), i.e. a frequency- domain approach
– very low bit rate 2450 bps (voice) + 1150 bps (FEC) = 3600 bps
Protected data with 1/2 rate, 3/4 rate and rate 1 (unprotected) Forward Error Correction (FEC) acknowledged and unacknowledged
Both have 2400bps encoding + 1200bps FEC with 1200bps additional data
The AMBE +2 codec in MOTOTRBO is superior and newer vs the AMBE codec used in Dstar.
MOTOTRBO does not comply to the 6.25khz UHF requirement
MOTOTRBO S/N is lower than DStar due to 2x bandwidth at a given power
Ham MOTOTRBO repeaters preset what slot 1 and slot 2 does, where Dstar lets a user connect a repeater freely and has multiple nodes (A,B,C), bands if your radio can too.
Both formats support GPS data transport and instant caller identification
Both use Proprietary audio codecs, but use open standard formats (DMR & D*Star JARL open standards)
Both of these formats seem very, very similar. I really don't understand why in my local area there is such hatred from each group to the other. The technology seems darn near identical but with slightly tweaked uses of the data channel and configuration / routing freedom.
Anything else I may have missed? I am just trying to be very unbiased about this, as I am a lover of all technologies. I'm tired of the people of my local clubs spouting very one-sided information.