DVD RAM Splits, But Products Still Coming

Jon Pepper

Just when it looked as if DVD RAM was sailing along smoothly as the next standard for writable storage, a rift in the group of key vendors backing the standard has created serious questions for end users. A trio of companies -- Hewlett-Packard, Philips, and Sony -- have decided to come up with an alternative format to DVD RAM, the recordable version of DVD video.

The new format, which will be called DVD+RW, is incompatible with the one approved by the DVD Consortium and differs largely in its higher recording capacity, as well as in its recording technology. Nevertheless, major companies, such as Toshiba, say they're on track to release products based on the original standard by the end of this year.

DVD+ RW will handle 3 GB on a single-sided disk, and twice that on a double-sided disk, versus 2.6 GB per side for the Consortium DVD RAM standard. At press time, Mitsubishi, Ricoh, and Yamaha had all signed on to the renegade standard, providing momentum for this proposal.

Could the split in the DVD RAM standard be a replay of the infamous Beta-versus-VHS battle? Possibly, but it almost certainly portends unsettled times for buyers of DVD RAM products. Several other major players, such as NEC and Toshiba, have not announced any intent to support this new standard. "Toshiba is pretty much in line with the original schedule to commercialize this technology and introduce products into the market by the end of 1997," says Ken Ishihara, vice president for Toshiba America. "We are currently not going with those three companies and are [not] working with that [other] format."

Werner Glinka, director of marketing for Hitachi's Storage Products Group, says his company has already delivered samples of its GF-10 00 drive to key customers, who will sell Hitachi's drives under their own labels. Like Toshiba, Hitachi's drive is based on the original standard.

Glinka admits that the rival standard provides for slightly more storage space at first, but he says the DVD Consortium has announced plans to provide up to 50 GB of storage space over the next 10 years. "What counts in the end is broad availability of products from a number of companies," he says. "Broad availability will solidify the standard." Sony isn't currently saying when it will ship drives that are based on the new format -- only that it will support it.

Why the split? Sources who wish to remain unnamed said there are several possible reasons. One is that Sony was unhappy with its cut of the royalties from the original standard. Others say Philips and HP wish to cast confusion in the market so that more people will buy their multisession recordable CD drives.

Whatever the reason, the rift might give even more impetus to solutions such as Iomega's Zip drive, which stores less data than DVD per disc, but more than a floppy. Unless you must have the first writable DVD product, it may be better to wait and see for sure.