Another DVD scheme emerges...
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news.com
By Stephanie Miles
Staff Writer, CNET NEWS.COM
May 26, 1998, 12:50 p.m. PT
news analysis Just when it seemed the DVD (digital versatile disc) world had abandoned its standards battles and settled into a tenuous detente, a technology announced today from Multimedia 2000 gives developers yet another DVD option.
DVD Multiplay bridges the gap between standalone DVD players for the TV and drives that come bundled in PCs by allowing the same disk to play in both. Currently, the two are not compatible.
Today's announcement from Multimedia 2000 could be momentous for the DVD world, as consumers are holding off from becoming "early adopters" until software titles proliferate and the standards battles are over.
"For those people who are torn between buying a standalone drive and watching DVD on their PC, this is the best of both worlds," said Richard Doherty, an analyst at The Envisioneering Group.
DVD is primarily available as a read-only high-capacity storage medium, which is attractive to consumers looking to view high-quality games on their PCs or movies on their TVs. But the market is awash with a panopoly of competing technologies.
The difference between DVD Multiplay and DVD-ROM, DVD-RAM, DVD+RW, or Divx is that Multiplay allows developers to reach a broader audience with the same platform.
Rewritable DVD, or DVD-RAM, is beginning to become available in selected upgrade kits and high-end PCs. Another flavor of recordable DVD, DVD+RW, will hit the stores early next year.
To further complicate matters, Divx, a limited-use version of DVD developed and supported by Circuit City for consumer rental purposes, is expected to become widely available this summer.
It's no wonder that consumers are confused by the panopoly of DVD options, and are waiting for the dust to clear and a victor to emerge before buying in, said Doherty. "We're suggesting that people hold off from [buying DVD-RAM drives] unless they really have to have it," he said. "If you take a disc from a DVD-RAM drive, you can't plop it into a DVD-ROM drive. They're not compatible yet."
DVD-RAM drives will be backwards compatible, according to Ken Weilerstein, an analyst at DataPro, meaning they will be able to read CDs, rewritable CDs, and DVD-ROM discs. However, existing DVD-ROM drives will not be able to read DVD-RAM discs.
"The thing that's holding up DVD-ROM is that there isn't a compelling need for read-only drives," Weilerstein said. "But if you had a drive that could read DVD-ROM and write DVD-RAM at a price that's competitive with CD-recordable, that would be a very competitive product."
Multimedia 2000 may help spur developer interest, and in turn attract consumers to DVD, Weilerstein speculated. "They're making it easy as a developer to reach a lot of people," he noted. "By reaching two different kinds of machines, they're expanding the potential range of customers. It could help the DVD market in a small way."
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