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DVD Recordable Discs Overview
Several recordable and re-writable disc
formats have also been added to the DVD family |
The DVD family would be incomplete without recordable versions. CD-Recordable discs were
introduced in 1988 and CD-RW (the re-writable version) was introduced
about 15 years after the first read-only CD was launched.
Both write-once and re-writable DVD discs have been developed
and all are now available. There are several different formats all with a capacity
of 4.7GB per side:
- DVD-R discs are write-once discs with a capacity of 4.7GB per side. Two
versions have been defined: DVD-R for Authoring and DVD-R for General use.
Note that copy protected content cannot be written to DVD-R discs.
- DVD-RAM discs are re-writable discs with a capacity of 4.7GB per side
for computer data storage and archive applications, although this format
is also used in some DVD video recorders.
- DVD-RW discs are re-writable discs with a capacity of 4.7GB per side for
consumer applications such as video recording.
- DVD+RW and
DVD+R discs are not officially part of the DVD family, but
are similar to the corresponding DVD-RW and DVD-R for General formats.
Both recorders and discs for these formats are now available and
include PC drives, video recorders and camcorders. More hardware
will be available soon and prices are expected to continue to fall.
Compatibility is an issue as not all formats will play on existing DVD
players and DVD-ROM drives.
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