| Pioneer New Media Technologies, Inc. has announced the development
of what it says is the world’s first combination recordable DVD/CD drive
for PC use. The third-generation drive reads and writes four recordable
formats including DVD-R (write once), DVD-RW (re-recordable), CD-R, and
CD-RW, and offers up to 4.7 GB of storage capacity per DVD side. In addition,
the R-new drive is capable of recording DVD-R discs at twice normal speed
(2x)—another industry first, according to the company. The new unit will
begin shipping to the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) market during
the first quarter of this year.
The DVD-R and DVD-RW formats are members of the DVD Forum’s family of
DVD specifications. DVD-R is a write-once format that is compatible with
most DVD Video players and DVD-ROM drives, and DVD-RW is a re-recordable
format that allows users to record, erase, and rerecord their own DVD discs
more than 1,000 times.
“The driving force behind both DVD-and DVD-RW has always been compatibility
with standard DVD playback systems,” said Andy Parsons, senior vice president
of product development and technical support at Pioneer New Media Technologies,
Inc. “Pioneer believes that interchangeability between recorders and players
is the most important attribute any recordable DVD format can offer, since
the ability to use content in various places is the essence of a removable
storage medium. And, by supporting multiple recordable DVD and CD formats
in a single product, we believe users can now select the most appropriate
medium for a given application without cluttering up their computer with
several drives.”
With its expected low cost and compact design, Pioneer’s DVD-R/RW drive
targets digital video editing and archiving as its “killer application”
as well as traditional data and digital image storage applications, according
to the company.
Source: Pioneer New Media Technologies, Inc., Long Beach, CA, 310/952-2111;
http://www.pioneerusa.com. |
