hardware.fr via MacBidouille reports that we can expect dual-layer (DL) DVD burners to hit the market sometime during 2005.

Current models support 4x or 2.4x writing of the 8.5GB DL discs, while burn speeds of standard DVD-R/DVD-Rs race ahead at 16x. Toshiba currently offers an odd-ball 5x burner, released recently.

However, although dozens of new burners are featuring support for writing DL discs, prices haven't plummeted in the way 4.7GB blanks have recently. For instance, Ritek 8.5GB media generally costs around $10-per-disc with a coupon discount, or about $13.00 without. At those prices, burning coasters isn't an inexpensive exercise. Some users also report that some DL discs, while they may burn perfectly well, cannot be played back in certain home DVD players.

But the media is likely to grow more reliable and DVD players more compatible with home-recorded DVD-9 discs as plain-vanilla 4.7GB burners recede into history, just as CDR writers were ultimately overtaken by combo CDR/CDRW burners.

The pace of write speed technology has greatly outgunned the speed with which media manufacturers can ramp up production of suitable media. For example, Pioneer's recent release of the DVR-108, its first foray into DVD-9 burning, saw the company supplying recommendations of suitable 8x media for 16x burning, as the 16x discs simply did not exist.

Analysis: I think I'll go DL when the media prices drop drastically - although you can still buy the burner and just use it with 4.7GB discs.


Source : IGM