GristyMcFisty used our news submit to tell us that Yahoo is reporting about something most of our visitors already noticed, the faster DVD media you are looking, the harder you will have to look for it. Currently Plextor is in process of getting their 8x DVD+R drives to distributors and Benq and NEC have also announced 8x DVD+R drives coming in the near future. While the drives are out, 8x media will be hard to find. According to Yahoo there are a couple of reasons for this.
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And once the spec is ratified, media makers must submit their media for approval (for DVD-R/RW, it must be submitted to the DVD Forum; for DVD+R/RW, it's the DVD+RW Alliance). That process often requires multiple submissions, and lasts up to two months to ensure quality high enough for wide compatibility. The issue of compatibility is a big one. Media must support not only the latest burning technology, but the slower speed drives that came before, too. And unlike drive manufacturers, media makers can't just issue a firmware update to improve the media's compatibility after the fact. The second reason for delays is the time needed to ramp up qualified media production. According to Rich D'Ambrise, director of technology at media maker Maxell, it can take another two months before a vendor can pump out media in volume. |
Recently we reported that Plextor will introduce a feature on their 8x DVD+R/4x DVD-R drive that will write 8 times to 4x media. The feature will likely only work on media of only a few brands. The reason for this is that every disc will needs to be extensively tested before a manufacturer can guarantee writing quality. Also the NEC will likely have a likewise feature.
Source: Yahoo.com
