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To: Scotsman who wrote (25698)	11/25/1997 10:00:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 50808

Delaying DVD-Recordable is in the best interests of some parties. There are $100s of millions of dollars to be made off it..................... Too Many DVD+RW Formats Stall Market, Keep PC Makers Guessing; Confusion Could Play into Philips/Sony Strategy to Ride CD+RW Longer <Picture><Picture><Picture> LAS VEGAS-Comdex raised more questions than it answered about recordable DVD, leaving PC makers with little salve for their confusion about why or when to adopt the format and which of three - that's right, three - possible drives to choose from. Our best advice to desktop manufacturers is follow the wait-and-see credo and put off considering any of the recordable formats until early next year. With most system makers reporting weak sales of DVD-ROM PCs, there is little incentive to jump into another high-density format. Even Micron Electronics Inc. [MUEI], the one company reporting better-than-expected sales of DVD-ROM PCs, is hesitant to embrace the recordable format. "We're not sure recordable DVD is going to even happen on the PC," an exasperated Jonathan Weech, platform manager for Micron's consumer products group, told Multimedia Week. Weech said he's getting conflicting information from suppliers and isn't sure which drive makes the most sense. On the upgrade front, Creative Labs Inc. [CREAF] plans to release a kit based on DVD-RAM front, but hasn't set a date. The company wants to wait until the format becomes more established to allay any uncertainties among consumers. Such confusion could play into the hands of the DVD+RW contingent, led by Sony Electronics Inc., Philips Electronics Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. [HWP], which isn't expected to have samples of the 3 GB format available until the second quarter of 1998. Companies backing that standard, especially Philips, spent more time pushing CD-RW at Comdex than providing answers about DVD +RW. DVD-RAM backers such as Werner Glinka, Hitachi America Ltd.'s director of marketing, believe Sony and Philips are purposefully introducing another format into the DVD mix to prolong its adoption and get longer life out of CD-R and CD-RW. Jan Oosterveld, Philips senior director of corporate strategy, practically admitted as much by saying, "DVD may capture the headlines, but CD-Rewritable is where the real news is made and will continue to be made for some time to come." Other than citing greater storage capacity and no need for a caddy, the DVD+RW supporters at Comdex didn't provide any other reasons why their technology is superior to DVD-RAM. Echoing the statement made by vendors from all walks of life on the show floor, Michae Matson, vice president and general manager of HP's information storage group, said, "We believe we have a better solution [than DVD-RAM]." Supporters of both formats say second-generation DVD-ROM drives will be able to read discs recorded on rewritable DVD drives with a few minor alterations. Volume units of DVD+RW are expected in the fall. DVD-RAM in January Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. [MC] and Hitachi expect to have volume quantities of the competing DVD-RAM format available in January. Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. also will ship DVD-RAM drives and could make a January ship date. Executives from the triumvirate who spoke with MMW last week showed no signs of backing down from their format. Gary Bailer, division manager for Panasonic Computer Peripheral Co., said his company's DVD-RAM drive will sell as a shrink-wrapped product with an MPEG-1 decoder and encoder in software, but no MPEG-2 encoder because the technology is too expensive. To make matters more confusing, Pioneer New Media Technologies Inc. has decided to veer off from the RAM standard and come up with a third option - a 3.95 GB per side drive called DVD-R/W. Pioneer's initial target for the product will be businesses and content creators rather than consumers, and the drive is expected to cost several thousand dollars. The good news is the company's format may be mute. Andy Parsons, Pioneer's vice president of product development and technical support, said the manufacturer won't deliver a DVD-R/W product unless it gains approval from the DVD Forum. Parsons said the format offers better error correction than DVD-RAM and DVD+RW. (HP, 408/343-6316; Micron, 888/742-4331; Philips, 212/850-5000; Pioneer New Media, 310/952-2111.)

To: Scotsman who wrote (25698)	11/25/1997 10:52:00 PM
From: DiViT	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 50808

Short term we never expected recordable DVD. At least those of us who have discussed this over this past year. Even if you get the technicals for a consumer DVD recordable taken care of in 1998, you still need to deal with the Copyright & Patent lawyers (yuck). Add up another two years (look at DVD players). Bottom line: I don't see consumer recordable DVD until 2000, earliest. Other forms of recordable MPEG 2 will happen at the high end and migrate down to the consumer over the next two to three years.