Panasonic launches two DVD-RAM/DVD-R hard disk players, DMR-E100 series

July 14, 2003

PCPro.co.uk reports that Panasonic will launch two new DVD-RAM harddisk DVD recorders. Panasonic still believes that DVD-RAM is a good solution and DVD-RAM is very popular in standalone DVD-recorders, however the devices will also support DVD-R. The DMR-E100 series DVD recorders will also feature a hard drive of 120GB and 160GB drive respectively and also offer slots for SD and PCMCIA cards.

DVD-RAM is indeed a popular format, but only in as much as it has been around the longest. But being designed as a format for archiving data, it may not be best choice for recording movies as many consumers would want to do with an under-the-telly box. However, Panasonic has much to gain from promoting DVD-RAM: as the manufacturer of the technology, every box shipped with such a drive adds to its IP (Intellectual Property) revenues .
Fortunately, Panasonic recognises that DVD-R is a more efficient way of capturing movies to disc (roughly twice as fast using these devices), and the media is cheaper too, although DVD-R discs can only be written to

The players also have a DV port so you can transfer data from a camcorder and another through which you can connect to the Internet to access an Electronic Program Guide to find and record shows. The devices will be available in autumn. More information can be found here. Discuss this in our Recording Hardware Forum.

Source: PCPro.co.uk