The DVD Forum is expected to approve the proposed specifications for 12x DVD-R DL recording in November. The organization's Working Group 6 (WG6) - responsible for the development of the new specifications - has already finished the usual Round Robin media compatibility tests for the new 8x DVD-R DL media, according to the speakers of the RWPPI's 39th meeting, held in Japan last week.

The new 10x and 12x DVD-R DL discs should be able to be recorded by all the recording devices conformed to the DVD-R DL specifications, at least by 2x-speed. This was also the main target of the currently available 8x DVD-R DL media.

Note that the 12x speed is the upper limit for recording a 12cm DVD-R DL disc. In the table below you can see a comparison of the general parameters of the new 12x DVD-R DL and the Dual Layer DVD-ROM media:

General Parameters	12X -speed DVD-R for DL	Dual Layer DVD-ROM
User data capacity	8.54 Gbutes (12 cm disc)
Track pitch	0.74 μm
Channel bit length	0.147 μm
Reflectivity	16% to 27%	18% to 30%
I4/I14H	0.60 min.
I3/I14	0.20 min.
Jitter	< 8.0 %
Track Path	Opposite	Parallel and Opposite
Recording speed	2X, 4X, 6X, 8X, 10X, 12X	-
Addressing method	Wobble & LPP	-

One of the main challenges in the 12x DVD-R DL recording is the high recording power required for such high speeds, as well as some possible changes in the required recording strategies. For burning at the currently available 8x on a DVD-R DL disc, the required power is approximately 55mW, while the 12x speed would theoretically need more than 70mW. But this could make the currently available hardware insufficient for recording.

The DVD Forum is expected to approve the specifications for 12x DVD-R DL recording in November. The first drives capable of 12x recording should be available on the market in Q1 of 2007.