DVD+RW Prototype Drives Unveiled at Fall COMDEX 2000

Nov. 14 -- Hewlett-Packard, Philips Electronics and Ricoh Company Ltd., three of the six CD-ReWritable technology industry leaders supporting the DVD+RW format, today displayed prototype DVD+RW drives during a breakfast event held at Fall COMDEX 2000. DVD+RW supporters MCC/Verbatim, Sony Corporation and Yamaha Corporation also participated in the event.
The gathering marked the first time the DVD+RW format's compatibility was demonstrated in the United States by burning content onto a DVD+RW disc in real-time using a DVD+RW drive installed in a personal computer and then playing that disc using standard "off-the-shelf" consumer DVD video players. To further demonstrate the convergence possibilities of the DVD+RW format, another real-time recording was made on a consumer DVD+RW video recorder and played back in both a DVD-ROM drive installed in a personal computer and the consumer DVD video players.

"We are confident that DVD+RW will emerge as the consumer's choice in the alphabet soup of confusing acronyms and jargon surrounding rewritable DVD," said John Spofford, vice president and general manager, HP Personal Storage Solutions. "Simply put, DVD+RW protects the consumer's investment in DVD equipment and like CD-RW, it offers the ability to record many times on the same DVD disc, something consumers really want."

Right Format at the Right Time
Although critics of DVD+RW have questioned the group's ability to deliver product on the same time schedule as competing formats, the six companies echoed the opinions of industry experts who believe consumer demand for rewritable DVD will begin to grow in late 2001 at about the same time when DVD+RW players, drives and media will be available to consumers.

"The positive price/value relationship for rewritable technology is clearly in the CD business right now. Sales of CD rewritables are up 68 percent over last year at aggressive price points for both hardware and media," said Stephen Baker, vice president of technology products research and analysis, PC Data. "DVD-ROM's popularity is growing very quickly now. In August, more than 18 percent of desktop computers and 48 percent of notebooks sold at retail included a DVD drive. By next year, we expect this popularity will evolve into increased consumer demand for rewritable DVD."

"DVD+RW is the format of choice for consumers, and that means providing product when the market is ready and when the technology can deliver what the market demands," said Robert van Eijk, general manager, Philips Optical Storage North America. "The technology industry has been notorious for pushing technologies to market just because they could -- DVD+RW is coming to market because it should."

The COMDEX event was part of an ongoing series of DVD+RW initiatives. For more information concerning DVD+RW, interested parties can visit www.dvdrw.com.

Source: PR Newswire