Differing formats muddy recordable DVD outlook

NEW YORK - By year's end, consumers will be able to record their own DVDs at home - reaping the benefits of vastly more capacity and improved quality in digital images, sounds and video.

Yet, typically, manufacturers have been unable to agree on a singe standard for discs and players, which could cause considerable head-scratching this holiday shopping season.

Which to buy: DVD-RAM, DVD-RW or DVD+RW?

Read-only DVDs, or digital versatile discs, broke through as a consumer product last year and analysts say the rewritable kind could easily be one of this year's hot items.

With one important caveat:

"Things are extremely confused with all the standards that we have," said analyst Tom Edwards, of research group NPD Intellect.

Last week's PC Expo trade show was a battleground for competing groups of electronics manufacturers.

Hitachi, Toshiba and Panasonic said that within a few months they would ship stand-alone recorders using DVD-RAM.

Such drives have been available for computers since early last year, but the group is now trying to move it into the consumer electronics arena.

By the end of the year, the drives would cost $US500 ($1086) to $US600, said Panasonic spokesman Andy Marken.

A price for stand-alone recorders has not yet been set.

The DVD-RAM standard has large manufacturers and software developers behind it and is the first to market.

However, the discs produced by a DVD-RAM recorder cannot be played in the DVD players that have been sold so far. They require "RAM-capable" DVD players, which a Hitachi spokesman promised would be on sale shortly.

DVD+RW, a format backed by Hewlett-Packard, Ricoh, Philips and Yamaha, does not have the same problem. The discs can be played in existing DVD players.

But there is a drawback: the stand-alone recorders are likely to be more expensive and the computer drives will not be out until next year.

Research group IDC Corp estimates that 70 million DVD players and drives will be sold by year's end.

"The key will be video compatibility and backwards compatibility," said John Spofford, of Hewlett-Packard.

Philips is bringing out a stand-alone recorder by the end of the year for about $US1000. Users will be able to connect it to a cable or antenna to record TV signals, or plug video cameras into it.

At full DVD quality, each disc will hold about two hours of footage.

For a third alternative, there is DVD-RW, derisively called "DVD minus RW" by DVD+RW backers.

DVD-RW was created by Pioneer. The recorders are already on sale in Japan and the company hopes to start selling them in the United States by the fourth quarter.

Pioneer said the first recorders would be geared towards home theatre enthusiasts and would cost about $US3000.

The DVD-RW discs will be playable in Pioneer DVD players and some players from other manufacturers. The recorders will also be able to use write-once DVDs that can be played on any DVD player.

It is likely that DVD-RW and DVD-RAM will be compatible in some way, since both formats are sanctioned by the DVD Forum, a standards association of 230 companies.

The most acrimonious fight seems to be brewing between forum supporters and the DVD+RW manufacturers.

"As far as who is going to win, I couldn't tell you," said analyst Mr Edwards.

More than one standard could coexist, he said. However, it was just as possible that the fight could resemble the video showdown between Betamax and VHS.

Links:

dvdforum.com

dvdrw.com