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To: Raymund W who wrote (25690)	11/25/1997 9:10:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

M-DVD. A new type of recordable. Now there are 5 non-compatible standards...................................... Incompatibility Mars Recordable Dvd Formats At Comdex Consumer Electronics Mon, Nov 24 1997 Longer life for VHS analog VCR seems sure thing given format war fomenting among backers of 4 incompatible DVD recording systems -- and unsuitability of at least one as home digital-video recorder according to its proponents. Meanwhile, 5th wheel has joined digital recording derby -- magnetoresistive disc (TVD Nov 17 p8) now dubbed "M-DVD" by its maker. Thus with DVD standardization efforts crumbling, Comdex show-goers last week got peek at CE industry more akin to cable TV business, where incompatibility among systems is endemic. (Separate reports on Comdex events appear throughout this issue.) DVD+RW format got first formal presentation by its 6 backers at last week's Comdex show, and Pioneer's DVD-R/W format likewise made Las Vegas debut. Moves followed announcement of DVD-RAM availability by Matsushita this month (TVD Nov 3 p10) and show of support on Comdex floor with co-backers Hitachi and Toshiba. New MMVF (Multimedia Video File) format recently announced by NEC (TVD Nov 10 p12) was nowhere to be seen at show or at off-site locations, and company executives we queried were unaware of its whereabouts. DVD+RW has no potential as VCR replacement even when 3-Gbyte per side disc attains movie DVD's 4.7 Gbyte capacity, executives stressed to press and analysts at meeting to position format. Although format can store video it's not suitable for home entertainment use, said Philips Sr. Dir.-Corporate Strategy Jan Oosterveld, speaking for fellow backers Hewlett-Packard, Mitsubishi Chemical, Ricoh, Sony, Yamaha. Pioneer's DVD-R/W could become home recorder when 4.7 Gbyte storage arrives next year and consumer pricing is possible, executives said, adding that more information might be disclosed at upcoming CES in Jan. Format now uses 3.95 Gbyte disc and is targeted at industrial users. DVD-RAM could be consumer A/V recorder after disc capacity is increased, Matsushita has said in past. And NEC has stated it will market its 5.2-Gbyte system, due late next year, for home digital recording. Disc can store 2 hours of MPEG2 digital video, company announced. It's only rewritable disc proposal that doesn't use "DVD" in working title. M-DVD are latest initials joining 4 other systems for digital video recording on disc. Newcomer isn't 5" optical format like others, but 3.5" magnetoresistive removable hard disc with 2.1 Gbyte storage and 12.2 Mbyte/sec. data transfer rate. It's capable of recording 133 min. of MPEG2 video with S-VHS quality -- about 420 lines of horizontal resolution -- or 72 min. with DVD resolution, 48 min. at D1 studio quality. New format uses ORB removable hard-disc technology from Pleasantwood, Cal.-based Castlewood Systems, which claims storage device is suited for wide variety of CE, PC and telecom products, including Web-surfing set-top boxes. Mktg. Dir. Dave Swanson told us that company trademarked "M-DVD" name early this year, adding M suffix for "magnetic" to generic term for digital versatile disc. Company has backing of Sanyo, which displayed VCR-like device using Orb disc at Castlewood booth, though not at its own. Statement from Sanyo Electric Sr. Mgr. Tatsuo Tanaka said: "Sanyo is moving rapidly to integrate Castlewood's ORB drive technology into strategic products. Our first implementation of the ORB drive is the HDR-1 hard disc recorder." Latter, displayed at show, uses Motion JPEG for 35 min. recording. "In 1998, the unique versatility of ORB will enable advances in CE products," Tanaka said. Sanyo didn't show VHD-1000 recorder -- described as "digital VCR" -- as publicized earlier. Other digital recording format at Comdex was new HiFD (high density floppy diskette) co-developed by Fuji and Sony. It has 200 Mbyte capacity and 3.6 Mbyte data transfer rate -- latter suitable for MPEG1 motion video, as demonstrated at show. Format is backward compatible with existing floppy diskettes and has backing of drive-makers Alps and TEAC. (Copyright 1997 by Warren Publishing, Inc.)