Low down on recordable DVD

By: Rob O'Connor

In a previous article, I discussed some of the fundamental technical aspects of DVD players and disks. One issue that was noticeably absent was lack of information regarding Recordable DVD. Recordable DVDs do exist - in fact TOO many exist - which is the major problem with their uptake. In this piece, I will attempt to explain the current state of the technology and how it might proceed in the future.

Perhaps the best thing to do at this point is to take a little historical perspective on the whole thing. Many readers will remember the VHS/Betamax conflict during the late 70s and early 80s. These two incompatible standards were competing with each other for the home video recorder market. Large multinationals such as Sony, JVC and Philips spent vast amounts of money promoting their adopted standard (either Betamax or VHS). In the end, VHS proved to be the popular choice, but experts have commented that Betamax was actually the superior technology. The companies that backed VHS won out and those who promoted Betamax lost a lot of money. This 'war' created an element of mistrust with consumers who purchased Betamax video recorders for the industry in general, since they were left high and dry when VHS became the standard. One would imagine that companies would have learned from this experience, however a similar situation seems to be arising once again.

There are no less than 4 standards of Recordable DVD vying for consumer attention and similarly to the VHS/Betamax situation, they are mostly incompatible with one another. Let us look at each one of these in turn.

1. DVD-R is the most basic of all the formats, since the disks only have a "write-once" feature. This means that you may only write information to the disk once. After that, it becomes like an ordinary read-only DVD. However this format offers a high level of flexibility since DVD-R disks can be played in most DVD devices.

2. DVD-RAM drives resemble virtual hard drives with random read-write access. You can write to a DVD-RAM disk more than 100,000 times. However, DVD-RAM disks can usually only be read by DVD-RAM drives and generally do not function in other DVD devices.

3. The DVD-RW format is similar to both DVD-R and DVD-RAM in some respects. Disks can be written to up to 1,000 times and there is relatively large level of compatibility with other DVD devices. This format has been endorsed by the DVD Forum (www.dvdforum.com) and is supported by products from many of the major manufacturers, such as Sony.

4. DVD+RW is another recordable DVD format, which appears similar to DVD-RW in its functionality. Hewlett-Packard initially supported this format, but its list of promoters has grown as of late. The DVD Forum does not approve of this format.

So the question facing consumers is not "which Recordable DVD format should I buy?" but "should I buy a Recordable DVD at all?". For those who wish to purchase one immediately, I would opt for the DVD-RW format since it seems to be the most versatile and useful of the options. Some manufacturers are now producing devices that support multiple formats, but these are quite expensive and perhaps too costly for the average person. Personally, I would wait until the dust settles and purchase one when the standards have indeed lived up to their promises (and been 'standardised'). And I would imagine that those who bought Betamax would agree with me!