As it seems the war is not over. More compatibility tests must be done to determine which format is more compatible!

(in reply to john)

Has anybody else noticed that all the dual DVD-Writers (both standalone and PC based) include DVD-R. You either get ones that support DVD-RAM and DVD-R, or DVD+R and DVD-R. So no matter what, you can use DVD-R if you buy a DVD-Burner. I think that's pretty big deal!

(in reply to john)

Well, you now have what you wished for MP3Mogul! Sony has come out with a DVD recorder that supports all recording standards. Its called the Sony DRU500A which is selling at around $324 in the US.
But I'm waiting for the NEC DVD Recorder to come out. It also supports all recording standards and is supposedly faster the the Sony DRU500A.

Here are the Sony DRU500A Specs.

CD-R & CD-RW recoding & playback
4x DVD-R, 2.4x DVD+R/DVD+RW and 2xDVD-RW speeds
24x CD-R writing with 10x CD-RW writing
8x DVD-Rom reading and 32x CD-ROM read speeds

Records on DVD-RW, DVD-R, DVD+R and DVD+RW Blank Media
Uses the single layer 4.7GB DVD-RW (ReWritable) & Once only DVD-R System

(in reply to john)

I just picked up a DRU-500A Sony from Circuit City, and man am I lucky! These things are flying off the shelves! Already Sony Style is out, Best Buy is out, and CC only has a couple of stores in all of LA, Orange, and Riverside Counties with [iany] left![:0][B)]

Not too suprising, I guess. [^]

John - WE REALLY NEED A REVIEW HERE![:o)]
And the NEC drive will be needed, too ..... (IF it ever actually ever makes it to stores!)

(in reply to john)

quote:

---

Originally posted by arklab
John - WE REALLY NEED A REVIEW HERE![:o)]

---

SONY delayed its shipmenet in Europe so there will be delay...

(in reply to john)

John and All -

Well, I got my Sony DRU500A and ether:

1) It's the one made on Friday one minute 'till Quiting Time (ie: a lemon)[:(!]
or
2) We have another case of "a loose nut on the wrong side of the screwdriver" (ie: I'm screwing things up! [yet again!] - much more likely than #1)) [:I]

Quickly, when this particular drive is conected to the end (or middle) of any ATA100 cable (I've tried four), and conected to ether IDE port, using ether cable select (all drives) or master or slave (again, all drives) WindowsXP refuses to boot!

I'll try to get my old Celeron 300A / Windows Me together tonight for one more attempt prior to returning this one and ordering another.

(in reply to john)

THE WAR IS OVER![:I]

The (smaller) Winner is the Multi-Format Drives

But the BIG WINNER is all of US!

(And, of course, Lite-On who have already anounced their version of this type drive for an introductory price of $200)[8]

The LOOSER here will be the CD-RW only drives, which are no longer needed. [:0] [xx(]

(in reply to john)

quote:

---

Originally posted by arklab

John and All -
Well, I got my Sony DRU500A and ether:

---

Lucky you...[:I]

(in reply to john)

Well as a complete non know it all, what formats do the home dvd players use, or do they vary. Incidentally, mines a mustek.

Frosty

(in reply to john)

I want a disc that is compatible with my PC & my home entertainment system, therefore I want +R.

The price difference is temporary & -R's low cost is probably due to subsidies to push the format. Remember a lot companies have vested interests in the format war & the winner claims the royalties. Once we have a single format the price will fall. HP's VP on www.dvdrw.com discusses this, listen to some of the presentations, very persuasive.

In the meantime, hedging the bets with a dual recorder sounds the best strategy because you've still got a viable drive after the bloodshed. It's so similar to the V2000/Betamax/VHS wars it's uncanny as the electronics heavyweights slug it out for our hard earned cash.

(in reply to john)

Hello!

I think DVD- is the better thing, because itīs more compatible and the media is more cheaper than +

I hope, DVD- will be the winner, because i would earlier buy a pioneer-DVD than a Ricoh-based

(in reply to john)

Scour: I agree with you! I certainly hope that DVD+R doesn't become the standard, but all signs are pointing that it won't. I think DVD-R is currently holding 75%-80% of the recordable DVD market (or VERY close to that) based off of DVD-R sales to DVD+R sales.

The only thing that is worrying is that DVD+R is ready for 8x recording and possibly faster, and DVD-R isn't... or hasn't boasted it yet.

Still, only time will tell!

(in reply to john)

Hello!

The hope dies at last

I hate Microsoft and Philips for pushing DVD+, teh more expensive standart [:(!]

(in reply to john)

Scour: Could you be a little more specific about what you mean??

(in reply to john)

The conflict between DVD-R and DVD+R has taken a few interesting twists and turns recently! here's what I've heard:

-Philips will be lowering the cost of their royalty on DVD+R/W media, effectivly making it comparable in price to DVD-R.
-Mitsubishi Chemicals Corp. will be "paying" their royalty on DVD+R/W media in raw materials, and possibly an increased production of high quality DVD+R/W media, thus driving the overall quality of the media up, and the price of the media down.
-Microsoft has joined the DVD+R/W Alliance, this is scarey for so many reasons! anyone who actually thought DVD+R/W was good should now know without a doubt that it is evil! otherwise Microsoft would be backing it
-DVD+R/W is more prepared to advance the speed of their media to 8x and beyond then DVD-R/W is.
-DVD-R/Ws are still the most popular media being produced and sold throughout the world (in the recordable DVD field that is)
-Sony appears to have their own agenda in the recordable media market, since they appear to be double crossing the DVD+R/W alliance with their new Violet Laser DVD Writer (since it is only backward compatible with DVD-R/W and not DVD+R/W or DVD-RAM)
-The most popular DVD Writers still appear to be the Sony DRU500A and the Pioneer A05
-The average consumer still doesn't know that there is more then one format of recordable DVD!! (I *HATE* this!)
-DVD+R/W, DVD-RAM, and to a point DVD-R/W may all be seriously obsolete within the next 2 or 3 years, if what Sony has planned comes to pass.
-Recordable DVD camcorders continue to support only DVD-R and DVD-RAM
-DVD+R/W doesn't appear to have any cool shaped media yet, as in 8cm or business card shaped media, both of which exist in DVD-R format.

(in reply to john)

I'm am curantly working on a paper about multimedia in the livingroom wich include the DVR on in conection the DVD writers. So I'ver been studiing the information i could find on the net.

thank you CDR-info I wil shurely mension you in my references.

I had a few remarks on what I read on the forum. First the comparison of the latest standard war and the war between Betamax and VHS. The Idea that Betamax was superior is a mith. There was a slight difference in qualety but this was not so big. The point was that consumers were not looking for Qualety , and the fact that the movie industry wanted to put one film on one tape, wat was difficult on the 1 hour Betamax tapes. So when the video rental stores went for VHS the consumers followed.
This will however not be the case for DVD since al recorders will have no problem reading other disks. Only when you want to write a DVD for someone else (or one of your other players )you could get into trouble.
Another difference is that these days the Pc users (and mac users to[:p])will have a say in the establishment of a standard.

After studing al information, my personal guess is that the DVD-RW is verry good for the replacement of the Video Cassette especialy with the VR mode, and the DVD-ram seems the ideal media for computer market. But The DVD+RW (if the media prices drop) is the best compromise. It has an inferior compatibilety (86%) to the dvd-R (97%)but a comparable to the DVD-RW (88%) (source cdr-info). It is much more easy than the -RW since you don't have to finalyse your disk what can take up to 55 min. And you can use it like the DVD-ram just like a removable hard disk , so no more writing and erasing session.

one other thing , CDR-info should change it name maybe something like R/RW-info (bad luck incase the DVD-Ram wins in the end).

(in reply to john)