Audio Video News

Dual formats or dueling formats? As recordable DVD gains momentum, consumers are apt to be confused by differences between DVD-RW ("DVD-rewritable") and an alternate version called DVD+RW ("DVD plus RW").

The "plus and minus" are not the equal-but-opposite positrons and electrons of the DVD realm, but recording formats promoted by two different industry coalitions. The two use visually identical blank media, which only adds further to the confusion. Philips, HP, Sony, Ricoh, Yamaha, Mitsubishi, and Thomson have all endorsed the DVD+RW format. Philips intends to bring its recordable DVD products to market sometime this coming summer.

Rather than allow a format war to begin before recordable DVD technology achieves significant market penetration, a group calling itself the RW Products Promotion Initiative (RWPPI) has been formed with the purpose of promoting compatibility between the two. One goal is the adoption of dual-format recorders by major manufacturers, according to RWPPI general secretary and Pioneer Electronics executive Masao Sugimoto. His group wants "to minimize any possible confusion" among consumers about the nature and capabilities of recordable DVD, Sugimoto told journalists at the recent Consumer Electronics Show. (A Pioneer executive we spoke with at the Consumer Electronics Show assured us that although recording techniques differ, any DVD machine—plus OR minus—could read the results.

Forty-one companies have signed on with RWPPI so far. Plans are in place to examine the feasibility of making "dual compatible" -RW/+RW recorders and of creating computer peripherals using the DVD-RW standard. At the press conference, Sugimoto said that reducing confusion is RWPPI's primary motivation, with hardware and software operating compatibility a secondary goal. One possibility is that three types of DVD recorders will appear: DVD-RW, DVD+RW, and dual-format compatible machines. A compatible recorder would use either type of disc. Sony will likely debut a dual compatible recorder by summer 2002, according to representatives at CES, and where Sony goes, the rest of the electronics industry usually follows.