Pre-recorded DVDs like DVD-ROM and DVD-Video discs have been around for some time now but it has only been recently that recordable and re-writeable DVDs are becoming most talked about.
At the moment there are several re-writeable formats that exist such as DVD+RW, DVD-RW, and DVD-RAM. But out of the three formats, the two that are most strongly competing for the rewritable DVD market are DVD-RW and DVD+RW. DVD+RW is the most recent standard, which was developed in co-operation by HP, Mitsubishi, Philips, Yamaha, Sony, and Ricoh. DVD+RW manufacturers are targeting makers of both desktop PCs and set-top DVD video players. The makers claim that discs created on a DVD+RW drive can be played back in the majority of PC DVD-ROM drives and set-top DVD video players. However when DVD-Video was introduced, no DVD+RW test discs were available for manufacturers of DVD-Video players to test full compliance with the DVD+RW standard. Some manufacturers did not manage to be fully compliant and therefore not all DVD-Video players currently in the market are cpable of playing DVD+RW discs.
DVD-RAM and DVD-RW/-R formats are both promoted by the DVD Consortium, which includes Hitachi, Pioneer, and Panasonic. DVD-RAM discs can only be read by DVD-RAM drives (but not by other drivers or consumer DVD players), while DVD-RW discs need to be erased entirely before you can store new files. Compatibility with existing hardware is of paramount importance. Both the DVD-RW/-R and the DVD+RW/+R groups realise that the vast majority of consumers are concerned with whether their recordable DVDs can be read on different machines. Findings have suggested that there is a higher compatibility between desktop PC drives than there is with set-top DVD video players. It also seems DVD-R is more compatible than DVD+R as it has been around for much longer.
At the moment it is difficult to pick a winner in this contest and the best solution for a particular consumer depends on the intended use for the drive. It's also hard to look into the future because there are many questions that need to be answered. For one, will DVD+R achieve DVD-R's level of compatibility?
Just recently Microsoft announced it would be adding support for DVD+RW into future versions of Windows. According to the Microsoft Web site -support for DVD+RW in Windows has been designed to become the standard storage solution for the PC and consumer electronics environments". This could really prove to be important in determining a winner between all the standards.
7%
3%
