DVD Sta nds for DiVideD

Political wrangling over incompatible DVD formats keeps "standards" out of reach.

Russell Kay

Last year was not the year of DVD, after all. DVD (digital versatile -- or video -- disc; even the name isn't settled) has enormous potential to replace CDs for archival storage and mass distribution of software and entertainment. The 4.7-GB-per-side DVDs offer a clear advantage for many applications, and they play all current CDs, too. Today's expensive DVD drives and MPEG-decoding hardware ($500 per kit) will become more affordable.

In 1998, many new computer systems will come with a DVD-ROM drive as standard equipment instead of a CD-ROM drive. However, no recent technology has seen such a continuing, contentious, and confusing standards battle, a soap opera of Wagnerian proportions featuring competing equipment vendors, content providers, and merchants.

Just a year ago, the major obstacles (primarily copy protection) had seemingly been overcome. But just last summer, Hewlett-Packard, Sony, and Philips proposed another new standard for recordable discs (DVD+RW) that was incompatible with the DVD-RAM standard the DVD Forum (an industry group including Sony and Philips) had agreed to only three months previously. Then NEC floated yet another rewritable format. However, it may align with Sony. Ricoh, Yamaha, and Mitsubishi have all indicated support for DVD+RW. Matsushita, Hitachi, and Toshiba are sticking with the DVD Forum.

DVD-RAM uses a "land groove" format (recording signals on both the grooves formed on the disc and in the lands in between grooves) to store up to 2.6 GB per side. In con trast, DVD+RW uses signal-phase changes to get 3 GB per side and reportedly handle both RAM and ROM functions.

While it's hard to even imagine money influencing a technology decision, some in the industry do believe the dispute is grounded in royalty payments and marketing concerns, not technology. But there's one bright spot: Both systems read current DVD-video discs.

In the realm of DVD-audio, there are also competing standards, lined up just like the RAM versus +RW fight. And then there's the 4.7-GB-per-disc DVD-R, a write-once format aimed at developers, not consumers.

The beat goes on. The latest proposal, Divx, is based on a marketing model akin to video rentals. You pay a small fee to have a movie loaded on your DVD and can play it for up to 48 hours thereafter. Divx requires a modem connection to authorize playback and -- of course -- it's incompatible with current hardware. The system would be a clear nonstarter if it weren't backed by Disney, Dreamworks SKG, Par amount, and Universal. Divx has clearly muddied the DVD waters and has almost certainly pulled back the growth potential (or at least the timetable) for all DVD technologies.

I would be tempted to predict that DVD will never realize its potential, if there were any good alternative on the horizon. But there isn't, so 1998 looks like another year of slow growth and infighting.

---

Where to Find

Robert Lundemo Aas's DVD page:


Internet: 
http://janus.unik.no/%7Erobert/hifi/dvd/


Main newsgroup: 
news://alt.video.dvd




Information on products in the 
storage
 category

HotBYTEs
 - information on products covered or advertised in BYTE

---

DVD's Many Flavors

DVD's Many Flavors
Format	Capacity per side	Hardware backers	Software backers
DVD-Video	4.7 GB	DVD Forum (Hitachi, Matsushita, Mitsubishi, JVC, Pioneer, Sony, Toshiba, Philips, Thomson)	Time-Warner, MGM/UA, Columbia TriStar, Polygram, Disney
Divx		Matsushita, Thomson, Zenith	Paramount, Universal, Dreamworks
DVD-R	4.7 GB	DVD Forum
DVD-RAM	2.6 GB	Toshiba, Matsushita
DVD+RW	3.0 GB	Sony, Hewlett-Packard, Philips

---

DVD in 1998

illustration_link (11 Kbytes)

AT A GLANCE: DVD is the next-generation CD, with at least seven times the storage (4.7 GB) and a near-perfect format for movies, video, and large databases.

WHO SUPPORTS IT: All the usual hardware suspects are pushing DVD players, though copy protection concerns delayed their introduction. But the industry is split over incompatible, competing standards for recordable DVDs.