HP bring DVD+RW a step closer

1999-09-10

DVD may be taking off slowly in Europe, but it is still taking off. The reason may well be this simple – what do we do with all that space?

Hewlett Packard has announced its DVD+R/W drive, which will be available in the UK from the end of November. The price is not yet announced, but the SCSI device is expected to come on the market at about £500. According to HP, the device will be able to read existing DVD-ROM disks, but current DVD players will not be able to read disks written by the DVD+R/W. This is not due to technology incompatibilities, rather it is a software issue. HP are currently in discussions with other DVD-ROM manufacturers to see how the situation can be resolved.

Despite the continued improvements in these technologies (the spindle speed is on the up, for example), DVD has so far failed to take the European market by storm. A recent survey, from analyst firm Strategy Analytics, showed the European take-up of DVD to be lagging behind the US, expecting 4% of european households to own a DVD, compared to 11% in the US. Why is this?

DVD disks can store 3Gb of data on each side – that’s a total of 6Gb, giving each disk the capacity of 60 zip disks. The potential for DVD is huge, both in the corporate markets and for consumers. All it lacks is the Killer App. CD-ROM is largely adequate for most uses, and while I would be delighted to replace all those MSDN disks with a single platter, it is not that much of a problem to me. Similarly, at home, most european computer and video users are still content with CD-ROM and VHS. It is only a matter of time, of course, before our information appetites overwhelm the capacity of the lowly CD, but in the meantime we are quite content to wait and let the prices drop a little.

There remains the outstanding issue of the ongoing debate between DVD-RAM and DVD+R/W. These are competing, incompatible technologies, but there is an inevitable market for DVD+R/W as the disks will be (software glitches aside) compatible with existing DVD-ROM drives.

So – no big bang for DVD in Europe, not just yet. Despite this, the future seems bright for DVD – the market is expected to grow exponentially over the next three years. HP is leading the pack with its products so, given its good reputation in the removable storage arena, the company seems well placed to deal with the rush when it comes.

(First published 10 September 1999)