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DVD-RW Incompatibilities?

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the hardware-haps dept.

rekkanoryo writes "It seems that there is some trouble brewing in the DVD-RW camps. According to CNET, new, faster 4x DVD-RW media may not be compatible with older DVD-RW drives. The DVD+RW camp is confident this won't be a problem for them, but the -RW backers think it will sometime in the future when even faster media starts to appear. Also mentioned is a dual-layer DVD+R capable of holding up to 8.5 GB of data per disc and the problem with really old DVD+RW drives not being upgradable to support write-once DVD+R media."

3 of 254 comments (clear)

  1. DVD Player incompatibilies by BigDuke · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I have noticed that Some DVD players will like to play DVD-R media fine, and not DVD+R, and vice versa for other players. I took me a while to figure out which media works best in my DVD player. I have a 3+ year old Sony player and it likes DVD-R. My friends JVC likes DVD+R.

    I also noticed that burning at 2x instead of 4x seems to play more reliably too. There is a noticably darker burn pattern on the disc if you closely inspect the 2x and the 4x burns.
    I have only experimented with 2 or 3 different players, so the study is not very broad.

  2. It's all about power and control by ZuperDee · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Calling all enthusiasts!!! Hello!!!!

    If you look at it carefully, I'm fairly certain that this mess exists not because of technical disagreements, but because of POLITICAL disagreements. I have yet to hear of a real technical disagreement that doesn't get solved SOMEHOW, even if only as a compromise in the end.

    Personally, I'd be willing to bet you this has EVERYTHING to do with power and control. Basically, we have two camps: the DVD Forum, and the DVD+RW Alliance (The Forum and The Alliance as I like to call them), and they are both vying for control of the "standard," because they both want to be able to get a cut of the royalties on every DVD+/-RW player made. If one got a MONOPOLY, it could be a real cash cow!!! Boy, I'd sure love to have a piece of that golden harvest, wouldn't you?!?!?

    1. Re:It's all about power and control by ZuperDee · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Oh yeah, and as I understand it, the +/- formats mostly use the same physical media characteristics--the main difference is in the logical track structure of the disc, so making a dual +/- recorder isn't too hard. The + discs tend to be more reliable, cause they have a comprehensive defect management system built in, which the - discs are mostly lacking.