Two DVD-recordables.....................................
digitaltheater.com
The Spin On DVD -- Two competing formats already are jockeying for vendor share
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COMPUTER RESELLER NEWS via NewsEdge
Corporation : The problem with every new
technology is simple: If you build it, will they
come?
Digital videodisc (DVD) is starting to take its
place as the high end of storage medium,
above CD-ROMs. DVD-ROM already is
established and buttressed by a universal
standard for reading data.
"But the problem with DVD is the
inconsistent writable format," said Mark
Hardie, senior analyst with Forrester
Research Inc., Cambridge, Mass. "[DVD] is
not going to replace CD-ROM without a
single or consistent standard."
The current installed base for DVD is
low-perhaps no more than 1 million units
after being on the market for several years,
Hardie said. DVD may reach seven to 10
million units by the end of 1999, with volume
being generated by such heavy hitters as
Philips Electronics Co., San Francisco;
Mitsubishi Electronics America Inc., Cypress,
Calif.; Panasonic Computer Peripheral Co.,
Secaucus, N.J.; Sony Electronics Inc., San
Jose, Calif.; and Hitachi Computer Products
Inc., Santa Clara, Calif. Other players to be
watched include Creative Labs Inc., Milpitas,
Calif., and Pioneer New Media Technologies
Inc., Long Beach, Calif., said Hardie.
The break between rewritable formats comes
with DVD-RAM and DVD-RW (rewritable), two
functionally similar technologies. Vendors are
choosing one format or another, often
making that choice based on how well they
can leverage existing technology carried
over from past experience making CD-ROM,
CD-R (recordable) and CD-RW drives. To
these vendors, where you stand often
depends on where you sit.
Creative Labs is in the DVD-RAM camp. "We
are 85 percent of the upgrade market," said
Chris Smith, DVD program manager. "We are
sticking with the endorsed format for now."
That endorsement comes from the DVD
Forum, a standards consortium made up of
10 companies. "They are a bunch of cats
herded together," Smith said. The breakaway
companies-Hewlett-Packard [Co.], Philips
and Sony-are backing the competing
DVD-RW standard."
DVD-RAM offers 2.6 Gbytes of rewritable
space, with media expected to be priced at
$25 for single-sided discs, $40 for
double-sided discs, Smith said.
Creative Labs is already in the market with
an unveiled DVD-RAM product that it initially
is selling off of its Web site. Creative Labs
will offer its DVD-RAM upgrade kit on a
broader basis this summer. That kit will
probably carry a price tag of around $500,
company officials said.
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