The DVD+RW Alliance has announced the release of final draft specifications for 8X rewriting on DVD+RW media by HP, MKM, Philips, Ricoh, Sony and Yamaha. DVD+RW media and writers designed to this specification will able to rewrite a full 4.7 GB DVD+RW in less than eight minutes. The new 8X DVD+RW discs will be based on very "fast" phase-change materials, which can be rewritten at high speed. The laser of the drive must be able to deliver short high power write-pulses to achieve the right thermal balance between the erase and write steps. New DVD+RW writers and recorders that are designed to write according to the 8X rewrite specification are expected to become available from various manufacturers in the following months.

"8X DVD+RW rewriting is the next step in the DVD+R/+RW format roadmap after bringing write-once DVD+R to the maximum achievable 16X recording speeds," said Frank Simonis, Chair of the DVD+RW Alliance Product Promotions Group and Strategic Marketing Director for Philips Optical Storage. "It reflects the intrinsic strength of the DVD+R/+RW format to evolve rapidly in new functionality and performance, anticipating and meeting customer speed requirements."