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The RW Products Promotion Initiative (RWPPI) has made further progress in its activities aimed at improving compatibility, the primary feature of the DVD-R/RW format. The RWPPI has started its "round robin tests" on DVD-R/RW-related products of 24 manufacturers, including products in the development stage, to check and verify compatibility among these products.

The 24 manufacturers out of 46 member companies participating in these tests have been divided into 4 working groups to verify compatibility from a variety of perspectives. These tests will continue until September this year, and final test results from individual working groups will be summarized and reported at the regular meeting of the RWPPI in October.

The RWPPI was established in May 2000 with the objective of actively developing and improving the product environment for the DVD-R/RW format that was established by the DVD Forum as an international standard. Since then, RWPPI members have been holding regular meetings to discuss and exchange information related to technologies and trends among users. These include regular progress reports on trends in technology development and the laws of various countries governing copyright protection in the recording and playback of DVD. Manufacturers of discs and recording and playback devices as well as content providers work together to nurture and develop a healthy environment for DVD-R/RW-related products. In addition, RWPPI members perform tests on DVD players on the market to determine their level of playback compatibility with discs recorded in DVD-R/RW devices. These results are then publicized on the RWPPI's Web site at http://www.rwppi.com/compati/index-j.html

Details on the Round Robin Tests

The Round Robin Tests are being conducted by four working groups: the Physical Format Working Group, the PC Drive Logical Format Working Group, the DVD Recorder Logical Working Group, and the Playback Compatibility Working Group.

The methodology of the test is as follows:

DVD-R/RW discs recorded by participating companies are sent to all other companies in the same working group and then verified in a round robin manner for the recording and playback conditions, until all discs are verified to ensure compatibility.

Manufacturers participating in the Round Robin Test as of June 11, 2002 (in alphabetical order):

CMC Magnetics Corporation, Hitachi Maxell, Ltd., InterVideo Japan, Inc., LG Electronics, Inc., Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Mitsui Chemicals, Inc., NEC Corporation, Victor Company of Japan, Limited (JVC Media Co.), Orion Electric Co., Ltd., Pioneer Corporation, Pioneer Video Corporation, Prodisc Technology Inc., Ritek Corporation, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd., Sharp Corporation, Shinano Kenshi Co., Ltd., SKC Co., Ltd., Sony Corporation, Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd., TDK Corporation, and Teac Corporation

Round Robin Working Groups and Test Outlines

(1) Physical Format Working Group

Investigation into characteristics of recording and playback between DVD recorders and DVD-R/RW discs (tests on recording and playback characteristics such as errors, jitters, and modulation levels between all participating brands of DVD playback devices and DVD-R/RW discs; and tests on linking characteristics)

(2) PC Drive Logical Format Working Group

Investigation into compatibility among drives for PCs (incremental writing, initialization, and finalization tests; tests on compatibility among drives; tests on multi-border writing and playback compatibility)

(3) DVD Recorder Logical Format Working Group

Investigation into compatibility among DVD recorders (incremental writing, initialization, and finalization tests; tests on recording, playback, and editing compatibility)

(4) Playback Compatibility Working Group

Investigation into compatibility of DVD-R/RW discs with DVD players and computer drives (tests on DVD-R/RW discs produced in the other three working groups for playback compatibility with DVD players and computer drives of all participating companies)

RWPPI will make efforts to call upon the companies in all the related industries to join in the Round Robin Tests to actively develop, and expand the product environment for the promotion of DVD-R/RW format products.