"..Hitachi announced today that has completed development of its 4.7 gigabyte (GB) DVD-RAM drive for PC applications. Samples of the new GF-2000 drive will begin shipping in January 2000.

For rewritable data storage, the GF-2000 accommodates single- and double-sided DVD-RAM media complying with the new specifications approved by the DVD Forum's Steering Committee. This media has a single-sided storage capacity of 4.7 GB, and double that for a two-sided disc. The new drive will be shown at Comdex '99, held in Las Vegas November 15-19.

Features of the GF-2000
- Complies with the DVD Forum specifications for the 4.7 gigabyte rewritable DVD format standard.
- Provides read- and write-compatibility with 2.6 gigabyte DVD-RAM discs.
- Can play DVD-ROM, DVD-R and DVD-Video media.
- Can play multiple CD formats.

Outline of Specifications
- Format: 4.7GB DVD-RAM
- Laser wavelength:650 nm (DVD) / 780 nm (CD)
- Writing rate: 4.7GB DVD-RAM disc: 2.77 megabytes/sec 2.6GB DVD-RAM disc: 1.38 megabytes/sec
- Writable discs: 4.7GB DVD-RAM 2.6GB DVD-RAM
- Readable discs: DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-Video,CD-ROM, CD-Audio, CD-R/RW, CD-Extra