They share the same name, but discs serve different purposes

04/18/2002

By DOUG BEDELL / The Dallas Morning News

It seems like only yesterday you added that CD burner to the home computer, right? Get ready to replace it.

Writable DVD drives are the new, hot, increasingly affordable alternative, and their advantages are hard to ignore. They can produce discs holding six times more data – 4.7 gigabytes – than CDs, making them wonderful tools for backing up hard drives. Because the discs can be played in most home entertainment DVD players, amateur moviemakers are embracing the ability to create tidy, long-lasting DVD archives of cherished moments now ensconced inside clumsy VHS cartridges. Most also handle all the functions of current CD burners.

By many accounts, the adoption rate of DVD-recordable drives is mirroring the sales of DVD players, the most rapidly embraced consumer electronics component in history. The research firm Gartner predicts shipments of DVD-recordable drives will double this year to 2.13 million, reaching 14.5 million in 2005.

At the same time, the multiplicity of formats used by these drives is confusing. Discs created in some DVD drives won't work in entertainment center DVD players, and each drive requires a different kind of blank disc for recording.

"We're getting closer to arriving at a standard, but there are some safe bets a consumer can make even as the manufacturers are trying to work out all the kinks," says Mark Eggleston, emerging technologies analyst with Houston-based Currid & Co.

Format wars

Today, DVDs created in the top writable formats can generally be played in DVD entertainment center players produced after 1998. Therefore, consumers purchasing a DVD-writable drive today are unlikely to be left holding worthless equipment if one format knocks the other into Betamax-like extinction, says Bob DeMoulin, marketing manager for Sony's Disc Storage and Peripherals Group.

"The biggest worry consumers have is to be sure they buy the right media [blank discs] for whichever format they choose," Mr. DeMoulin says.

DVD-RAM, which uses DVD-RAM discs to store data, is the oldest of DVD-writable formats. Its drives can write and rewrite RAM discs more than 100,000 times, but they won't create video discs that play in most home DVD players. And, because of that, DVD-RAM has found little acceptance beyond corporate information technology professionals.

Right now, the real competition for home computer add-ons is between the "dashes" and the "pluses":

• DVD-R/-RW, called DVD-dash-R and DVD-dash-RW, and

• DVD+R/+RW, called DVD-plus-R and DVD-plus-RW.

Pushed to be first by its clientele of high-end video professionals, Apple last year began selling $1,900 iMacs with DVD-R/-RW "Super Drives" made by Pioneer. By April 8, Apple announced it had shipped more than 500,000 computers equipped with the technology.

On the PC side, top manufacturers followed with DVD-recordable drive options for about $500. Microsoft, Dell and Hewlett-Packard have backed the newer DVD+R/+RW format. Sony, illustrating the schizophrenic state of current DVD affairs, is shipping Vaio computers with "dash" format drives while selling add-on units in the "plus" configuration.

Newer "plus" format drives are slightly more expensive but have distinct advantages that may allow them to overtake rivals in consumer popularity. Specifically, when recording data, DVD+R/+RW drives are much quicker at preparing, recording and finalizing the "burn."

Either format would be fine if consumers are interested primarily in creating video discs, Mr. DeMoulin says. But if backing up data is the primary intended use, the "plus" format is preferable for its speed, he says.

By the end of 2002, many analysts predict, Compaq, Sony and other major manufacturers will have dropped the DVD-R/-RW format.

Although blank discs in either format remain high (about $7 for a PC disc that can be used once and $10 for rewritable PC media), prices for both "plus" and "dash" drives are expected to continue a free-fall.

Add-on drives for both PCs and Apple Macintoshes sold for more than $1,000 a year ago. Today, they can be purchased for as little as $400.

"And by the end of the year, I think we're going to see this technology hit that magical $299 price point where it really gets attractive," says Mr. DeMoulin..

Upcoming innovations

Recordable DVD discs are gradually appearing in products designed for the entertainment center. These stand-alone units are designed to replace analog VCRs for recording TV programs. Basically, they function just the same way but add some enticing digital functions.

Several machines will allow users to actually edit video – including removing commercials. Most include a set of inputs for dubbing camcorder footage to disc without the use of a computer. All prohibit copying of commercial DVD movies.

Panasonic began shipping its DMR-E10 DVD-RAM-based recorder more than a year ago and is replacing it this fall with the DMR-E20, a $1,500 machine that uses both DVD-RAM and DVD-RW formats. Pioneer's DVD-RW-based DVR-7000 ($2,000) and Philips' DVD+RW-based DVDR1000 ($1,999) should be widely available by Christmas.

Manufacturers are banking that consumers will want to move video around the house much the same way they use CD burners with music. With the arrival of recordable DVD machines in the entertainment center, that becomes reality.

"For consumers, the move from a CD to a DVD is easier to comprehend than most new technologies," Mr. Eggleston says. "It's not something they're fearful about at all."

E-mail: dbedell@dallasnews.com

DVD stands for Digital Versatile Disc for a very good reason. Using various formatting options, DVD-writable drives can produce discs that can used in multiple ways to store music, video and data. Here are some of the most popular formats for DVD:DVD Audio

The latest audio format more than doubles the fidelity of a standard CD. It is expected to become the most popular audio disc. DVD+RW/+R

The DVD+RW/+R combination drives allow consumers to create custom CDs and DVDs using a single drive. Backed by Dell, Sony and Hewlett-Packard, they are similar to DVD-RAM discs in that they can be used repeatedly like big floppies for adding or deleting data files and folders. DVD-RW

Backed by Apple and Compaq, the DVD-RW also can be used repeatedly but must be awkwardly erased each time – users can't just add a file or folder to a DVD-RW disc. It can be rewritten up to about 1,000 times. DVD-RAM

This makes DVD a virtual hard disk, with a random read-write access. It can be rewritten more than 100,000 times and can be used over and over, but won't work in most DVD players for movie playback.Popularized by Apple's Super Drive, this format is used for creating movie DVDs or data DVD-ROMs. As with CD-R, users can write only once to this disc. Movie discs created with this format are compatible with most modern DVD players. DVD-ROM

Its basic technology is the same as DVD Video, but it also includes computer-friendly file formats. It is used to store data. This product should supplant conventional CD-ROMs soon.

DVD Video

This disc is for viewing movies and other visual entertainment. The total capacity is 17 gigabytes if two layers on both sides of the disc are used.