History 2003: All Rewritable DVD Standards in One Box

Three rewritable DVD standard, entirely incompatible with each other, currently co-exist on the market: the DVD-R/RW, the DVD-RAM – these first 2 promoted by the DVD Forum – and the DVD+R/RW, spearheaded by the DVD+RW Alliance.

Initially, thus, there were 3 different drives. Then we saw the appearance of dual DVD drives, i.e. devices that worked with 2 of the 3 standards, either DVDR/RW and DVD-RAM, or DVDR/RW and DVD+R/RW.

Now, according to Takutoshi Fujiwara, president of the Japanese analyst and consultant company Fujiwara Rothchild, the first device accepting all 3 standards, along with, of course, all CDs, CD-Rs and CD-RWs should appear sometime this quarter.

Hitachi-LG storage (HLDS), a joint venture between LG Electronics and Hitachi of Japan, are apparently behind the new product designed to help everybody get along.

It’s hardly surprising to find LG behind the operation, since the firm has a strong connection to Philips, and thus the DVD+R/RW, while Hitachi is still hanging on to its DVD-RAM.

The design of a chip permitting universality never seemed that unattainable, given that the 3 standards are technically similar to each other.

The universal drive will be a godsend for users who prefer not to wait to see which format will have the final say.

We still recall the Betamax/VHSN2000 battle that ended with the death of 2 of the standards, with only VHS prevailing (in the consumer market). It was impossible at the time to imagine a multi-function VCR. Things worked out better in the Pal/Secam/NTSC power struggle, with the arrival of dual and tri-standard VCRs and televisions.

The forthcoming arrival of universal rewritable DVD drives is also a boon, but it won’t resolve every issue. For one thing, manufacturers will be obliged to pay 3 different sets of royalties, to each of the DVD consortiums, no doubt driving up end user prices for the devices.

For instance, Philips demands $8 per drive for its DVD+R/RW format, and the same amount for DVD-R/RW, for which it also in charge of recovering royalties.

Sony is nevertheless is selling an internal version of its DVD-R/RW/+R/RW unit for as much as $349.

None of this will prevent the war from continuing among media makers. Since users can buy any of the 3, -R/RW, +R/RW or -RAM, and since it is certain that they will all be useable on everyone’s devices, as compatibility becomes widespread, consumers will clearly opt for the least expensive.

Prices have already fallen dramatically on writable DVD media, particularly with DVD-Rs, which have dropped below $1.

The standard that will win, ultimately, is not the one that will sell the most drives, but the most discs. In order to prevail, defenders of each standard may now be inclined to reduce the media royalties, currently 10 cents per disc. We can already picture the Taiwanese chomping at the bit.

This article is an abstract of news published on issue 180 on January 2003 from the former paper version of Computer Data Storage Newsletter.