LG and Samsung to make DVD+RW writers?

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#1

I just posted the article LG and Samsung to make DVD+RW writers?.

The Korean companies LG and Samsung which are currently producing DVD Multi (DVD-R/RW/RAM) and DVD-R/RAM drives consider making DVD+R/RW drives too according to The Electronic Times…

Read the full article here:  [http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/5099-LG-and-Samsung-to-make-DVDRW-writers.html](http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/5099-LG-and-Samsung-to-make-DVDRW-writers.html)

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#2

This confirms what I have said for about one year that they will produce DVD writers that can also write to DVD+R and DVD+RW media when they start mass production in earnest. The English translation’s somewhat awkward but I haven’t found the original news link. (DigiTimes is also a local Taiwanese newspaper and about 15% of the newspaper articles are translated into English in-house.)

#3

It also signals the potential very beginnings of a death nail in the coffin for the minus camp! And it’s not only the major customers that want the + format, it’s the majority of Joe public as well. Having said that there’s possibly no reason why both formats shouldn’t survive, as long they are compatible as they can be with DVD-ROM and DVD players…what the hell, you only need to know what type of blanks to buy, and since DVD-RAM can be discounted as it’s compatible with nothing, it only leaves a choice of two. Not difficult, even for the layman. Having said that the un-computer conversant can have real difficulties grasping basic concepts.

#4

DVD-R, DVD-RW, and DVD-RAM will also survive. DVD-RAM is incompatible with most standalone DVD players but there are many DVD-ROM drives that can read DVD-RAM. DVD-RAM is a few times more expensive than DVD-RW and DVD+RW media but they are for different markets and different purposes. Companies that have traditionally supported DVD-RAM are not going to give it up all of a sudden and it is understandable. Companies that have not can afford to go directly to DVD+R/+RW or DVD Dual (both - and +).

#5

I’m not quite sure where you get the intention from that major customers want DVD+ … you probably mean rich customers …

#6

Maybe major customers like HP and Dell. :slight_smile:

#7

Well then MrStimpy why did Sony who was producing +RW follow up with a drive that could do -R/RW as well? If it considered minus dead it wouldn’t have gone to the effort of doing that. :4

#8

Sony was selling Pioneer-made DVD-R/-RW drives for their VAIO PC and notebooks while selling Ricoh-made DVD+R/+RW drives in the retail market. It was a successful Sony-style business decision to create their own quadruple-format DVD writer drives instead of borrowing technologies from their own competitors such as Pioneer and Ricoh.

#9

I have finished reading the original Korean-language news just now. Here is the summary. 1. LG Electronics will deveop a optical storage product that can write to DVD+RW and DVD-RW and commercialize it in the second half of 2003. The decision is primarily because LG’s major customers (PC makers like HP and Dell) prefer DVD+RW. LG is also developing standalone DVD-RW recorders. 2. Samsung Electronics will debut DVD Multi drives in early 2003 and it has recently begun the development of optical storage drive that can write to only DVD+RW (meaning DVD+R, DVD+RW, CD-R, and CD-RW) and will finish it during the second half of 2003. 3. Both LG and Samsung are waiting for loyalty fees to be lowered because they definitely think they are so high that there is no room for business. That is, the manufacturing cost is too high for mass production yet. Each format requires over 10 USD per drive unit. (This does not they will delay more. It is just to bring the loyalty fee down.)