DVD Tips #1



*1.   PART 1 OF 5----MORE INSIGHTS INTO DVD-RAM 

After a little more hands-on time with the latest DVD-RAM drives, 
I have some more information to pass along. I'll mention my 
latest revelations over the next few days. 

First, there's an interesting rumor about DVD-RAM media that is 
unsubstantiated, yet worth mentioning. The optical storage 
industry seems to be whispering about the compatibility of 
DVD-RAM media with fourth-generation DVD-ROM drives. Everyone 
freely admits that only the single-sided 2.6GB DVD-RAM media--not 
the double-sided 5.2GB variety--will be playable in future DVD-ROM 
drives. But it seems that not all 2.6GB media are alike. You must 
first remove the DVD-RAM disk from its cartridge before you can 
drop it into a DVD-ROM drive. Apparently, some media manufacturers 
have created 2.6GB DVD-RAM cartridges that can't be 
opened--thereby ruining their compatibility with DVD-ROM drives. 
Be sure to find out whether or not you can open the DVD-RAM 
cartridge before you buy extra media. 


*2.   PART 2 OF 5----MORE INSIGHTS INTO DVD-RAM

Software Associates, the creators of the Write DVD software all 
the first DVD-RAM products include, has built a flexible program. 
Write DVD lets you write out to DVD-RAM media in both the 
standard DVD UDF (Universal Disk Format) and the older Windows FAT 
16 formats. This means you can create archives other computers on 
your network can share even if they aren't capable of reading the 
new UDF format. 


*3.   PART 3 OF 5----MORE INSIGHTS INTO DVD-RAM 

DVD-RAM drives write out data to their disks much more quickly 
than CD-RW drives write out to CD-RW disks. In rough general 
terms, DVD-RAM drives can record data about twice as fast (in 
terms of kilobytes per second). This means your backup and 
archiving procedures happen much faster on a DVD-RAM drive than on 
a CD-RW drive. Of course, you pay for this extra speed. CD-RW 
drives cost around $200, while the new DVD-RAM drives run from 
$700 to $800. 


*4.   PART 4 OF 5----MORE INSIGHTS INTO DVD-RAM

All DVD-RAM drives can read CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, and DVD-ROM 
discs, in addition to DVD-RAM media. Panasonic's LF-D101 DVD-RAM 
drive also supports Panasonic's proprietary 640MB PD media. If 
you or your company already use PD media, keep this fact in mind 
as you choose among DVD-RAM drives. 


*5.   PART 5 OF 5----MORE INSIGHTS INTO DVD-RAM

All in all, I recommend waiting on the purchase of a DVD-RAM 
drive. The initial drives are very expensive ($700 to $800), and 
at the moment very few DVD-ROM drives are available with which 
you can share the DVD-RAM media. 

Meanwhile, companies such as Sony, Ricoh, Philips, and HP are 
developing a competitive set of products called DVD+RW drives. 
DVD+RW drives read and write 3GB (single-sided) disks. 
Unfortunately, we'll all have to wait a while before we can 
compare DVD-RAM and DVD+RW drives head to head. Sony says its 
first DVD+RW drive won't be here until late summer. 
   