What will happen to Pioneer DVR-A05 owners if the '+R/W' format becomes the standard?

[catback]

Since the A05 does not support the + format, will we simply be out of luck? I know a standard hasn't been reached yet which makes me hesitant to purchase the A05 right now but how realistic is this situation?

[Gil T Pleasure]

Get a Sony multi-format drive like the DRU500. It supports both DVD+ and DVD- formats so if one of the formats dies (highly unlikely) you're still covered.

[leisuredoc]

Was it not Sony that came up with the Betamax format for video tapes? What happened there? I'm not dumping on Sony but in the end, the format that's adopted will be the one that can be played on most of the past, present and future DVD players (there will have to be backward compatibility) and according to what I have read, that's currently DVD-R. It's a shame given the speed with which DVD+R can be burned. Unfortunately, logic isn't always followed in market trends in technology, or Zilog would have been a larger company than Intel and Zenith or Apple larger than IBM.

leisuredoc

[gooki]

There is no format war, there will be no one standard.

[Gil T Pleasure]

Betamax is physically incompatible with VHS, whereas DVD+R and DVD-R are compatible with DVD players/roms once they are finalized. So whichever format you choose, you can bet it will be compatible with your DVD players/roms. If you're really afraid that you'd be stuck with a bad drive, then get a multi-format drive like the Sony's. Just like removable flash cards, the two will co-exists until Blu-Ray or whatever format arises to replace DVD.

[markrb]

Was it not Sony that came up with the Betamax format for video tapes? What happened there?
Ok so this big arrogant company Sony puts out this great product for home recording. However they refused to license the technology to any other company so they would be the only one able to sell this product and of course the only one making money. Well along comes JVC and says "hey we are going to make our own format and license it to anyone that wants it."
JVC does make a VHS recorder and like they promised they licensed this new recorder to any and all that wanted to build one. Competition starts to take hold and VHS recorder prices start to fall fast, features are added and overall the VHS product becomes more appealing while the, superior in many respects, Beta stays at this very high price until it's too late and nothing Sony could do would save this puppy from going away.


What will happen if one format wins over the other. Well most likely your screwed, but I don't see this happening anytime soon and there are enough burners of both formats out already to keep companies making discs for awhile anyway.

Mark

[Doom9]

later this year the first 8x DVD burners should start appearing (provided that there's a standard for the required high speed discs), and in 2004 we may see 16x burners. Considering the average lifespan of a burner (2-3 years imho) you will replace your current drive before any of the two formats even risks to be abandoned so I wouldn't base any buying decision on "what if"s. The only place where you can really go wrong in the DVD burning business are blanks.. there's a lot of crap around, especially in the DVD-R department.

[TRILIGHT]

I couldn't agree more, Doom9. For better or worse, technology is a "jump in with what you want and hope for the best" type of hobby. I got my 104 burner almost a year ago and it's been good to me. :) I'll probably use it for another year and sell it for whatever else I feel is the best solution for me at the time.

[alexnoe]

It's a shame given the speed with which DVD+R can be burned. I can't follow you.
DVD-R: 2x and 4x
DVD+R: 2.4x and 4x

For DVD-R, you have the possibility to use cheaper 1x media (if you want to, while dvd+r does not leave that option to you), but it's you alone who decides which discs to buy :confused:
I haven't seen 1x discs for some time, but others prefer to safe money and wait a bit longer for the disc to be finished.

Alone for the propaganda the dvd+alliance spreads and poisons peoples heads with (such as that "dvd+r supports vbr, while dvd-r does not"), it deserves nothing but vanishing to subspace. If dvd+ is so much better, then it would not be any problem to stick to real advantages, no?

But as you said, logic is not what will make the decision, so people continue to queue in shops which happen to have some sony dru500a on stock...and i probably also would, if i would have to get a dvd writer now.

[leisuredoc]

I couldn't agree more. By introducing something new, and I swear that Sony has controlled production volumes and been selective with their distribution, the only places that you can actually buy a -500A will charge the same price as Sony (list). I had been following -500A pricing and availability on the internet for over 2 months and finally decided I was getting too old for this. Got an 'A04 at a computer fair at a savings of about US$80.

1X works for me! Maybe I have been fortunate, but I have not received a crap lot of DVD-R's after buying 100-packs of Optodiscs, silver/purple ACCU's (has a Sony lead-in) and even Princo's from various internet suppliers. Though, I bought a 10-pack of Princo DVD-RW's at a computer fair that ended up in the trash after the third one couldn't be erased. I always burn my video to a Pioneer DVD-RW first and try it of my two desktop players (Sony DVP-NS300, which is really picky, and a JVC HR-XVC1U, which is a dual VHS/DVD player).

If I'm really cheap, the movie then goes on a Princo, if I'm feeling more generous, the Optodisc gets it, and when I'm a philanthropist, it goes to the ACCU/Sony. If this precious gem of a movie makes me lose sleep at night, well then it goes on a Memorex (Taiyo Yuden lead-in), though you can get TY's at rima.com for only a little more that double the cost of a Ritek. The only coasters are erasable ones, and if the PVC -RW works on these players, all of the above do as well. Yes, cheap works for me!
;)