+/- drives. are they just slowing down technology???

[MonteLDS]

Dean Sanderson, HP's director of product marketing for DVD, says that in the long term, maintaining multiple formats will be tough and will slow the evolution of the technology.
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,111328,00.asp

Do think dual format drives are slowing down their being a 1 stander for DVD media...

I think this might. But just not sure if we will ever see just 1 media for DVD.
(PS i was very tired when I wrote this thread so i don't have much to say right now.. )

[vbl117]

Well , if you want i bet you that in one year DVD+R/+RW format will have replaced DVD-R/-RW format ( a bottle of wine ? ) . Now most new DVD burners are either dual formats burners either DVD+R/+RW burners .

[dodecahedron]

Well , if you want i bet you that in one year DVD+R/+RW format will have replaced DVD-R/-RW format ( a bottle of wine ? )

a bet for a bottle of wine.
how charming.
how typically French.

[Dartman]

I think they have just admitted that we all don't want to just go with the standard they are trying to ram down our throats and there's good money to be made in dual format drives.
Whichever one ends up selling best will win no matter which is really better.
Look at the Betamax/VHS wars. Beta was technicly better all around but it had bad tape length restictions and everyone else wanted a peice of the pie so VHS came out and they gave a 2 hour tape at the beginning, plus everyone made VHS decks. Also look at what happened to the PC when the platform was opened, then look at Apple

[tazdevl]

LOL no. Dual format drives are one of the reasons why the format is moving forward.

[burninfool]

I have a Sony DRU-500A and I think dual format is the only way to go because you can buy whatever media is on sale and for DVD player compatibility.
I think more models on the market means companies will have to come up with new features and lower prices(READ:CD writers) in order to stay ahead of the competition and we the consumer end up winning.

[lgmayka]

Isn't it a bit absurd to take seriously what "HP's director of product marketing for DVD" has to say about DVD formats? HP has a lot of money invested in +, and has refused even to offer dual-format drives AFAIK. Obviously anything he says is going to be extremely biased towards maximizing HP profits.

The fact that *media* sales are roughly even between + and - is an *excellent* reason for manufacturers to offer dual-format drives; and more and more are doing so. They are making precisely what customers want: something flexible and obsolescence-proof.

The most obvious analogy is with flash memory standards: CompactFlash, Secure Digital, the obsolescent SmartMedia, the anomalous Memory Stick, etc. Whichever one(s) people decide to use, it makes *excellent* sense to buy an all-format reader/writer, especially since they are now just $20 (even with a USB 2.0 connection).

[dolphinius_rex]

DVD-R will never die, because that is what Princo makes. It's sad but true. TOO many people really on Princo media, even though it's about as crappy as it gets. Until Princo starts producing DVD+R media only, it is unlikely that DVD-R will die.

[vbl117]

Well , if you want i bet you that in one year DVD+R/+RW format will have replaced DVD-R/-RW format ( a bottle of wine ? )

a bet for a bottle of wine.
how charming.
how typically French.

I live where most french wine is producted ( but this is the lower quality french wine i must recognise , producted for everyday/everyweek drink , there is no great wines producted in my area ) . I don' t drink wine myself ( sometimes beer ) because i don't love it .

[VEFF]

I own three DVD burners: a +RW, a -RW and a dual burner. This allows me to have dual burning in both my PCs.
I originally did this so as to allow me to use the cheapest, quality * media available at any given point in time.

* I have been using Verbatim, TDK, Fuji, Maxell etc for some time now; I don't buy lower-rated brands such as KHypermedia or Princo anymore.

HOWEVER, it appears that +RW is the one most stores are now favoring. In fact I don't think the major retailers carry -RW anymore, and even Pioneer, who was the primary backer behind -RW technology, has come out with a dual format DVD burner.
In addition, much of the quality media is getting cheaper again now that supply is catching up with demand again.

Examples:
Just picked up TDK 100 4X DVD+R for $129 + tax, NO rebates.
OD had two 15 packs of Verbatim (- or +) for $32.77 instead of $34.23 for ONE, about a month ago.
Also bought Fuji DVD media a while ago for $1.33 inc tax, after rebates,
and Verbatim +R for as low as $1.00 a disc + tax, AR.

Therefore, IMO, getting a DVD+RW burner is probably sufficient , as long as your DVD player handles them, which the large majority of new DVD players do.

[jase]

DVD-R will never die, because that is what Princo makes. It's sad but true. TOO many people really on Princo media, even though it's about as crappy as it gets. Until Princo starts producing DVD+R media only, it is unlikely that DVD-R will die.

Quite right.

And the thing is, Princo will NEVER produce DVD+R. They've as much as said so. Princo HATE Philips. There is no way in the world they are going to produce DVD+R unless they absolutely have to.

And as for +R discs selling in equal measure to -R; not in my neck of the woods they don't. -R is outselling +R by something like 12:1, and the ratio has not gone down significantly in recent months either.

People here are actually avoiding the +R-based NEC 1300A precisely because it is picky with -R media (and specifically does not support Princo media).

Even Sony, one of the main backers of +R in the early days, have got cold feet BIG STYLE recently. The new standalone recorder supports -R and -RW but only +RW (no +R). That is a very strange move, and must be an indicator of where Sony see the market heading.

I can see +RW taking over from -RW, but -R just has too much momentum over +R. Sony seem to agree with me. Don't forget it was +R supporters (Sony, NEC, Sanyo) who "blinked" first when it came to producing dual-format burners. Pioneer (and shortly Panasonic and LG I guess) are simply bowing to public demand.

If -R is not still around a year from now I'll eat my hat.

[wicked1]

i have never found 4x dvd-r anywhere except online. I wish as thats almost all i burn.(20 or so a week) I do use dvd+rw for my personal backups due to the blazing speed 2.4x dvd-r is harder to find for me too bad cause it reads in anything i have ever put it in.more than can be said of +r.

[lgmayka]

Just the other day, my local CompUSA was selling 4x Fujifilm DVD-Rs, at a special Fourth-of-July price ($16 for 10 in jewel cases).