HP unveils first DVD+RW drive

After HPs success of their CD-RW drives, they now hope their new DVD-writer will succeed.

The DVD-writer dvd100i, which will cost $599 when it hits store shelves in September, will be the first commercially available drive based on the DVD+RW standard. With it, consumers will be able to record video onto a disc, play it on a typical home DVD player, and then erase and record again on the same disc. HP plans to incorporate the drives into its PCs later this year.

PC makers and consumer-electronics makers are hoping these types of drives will perk up holiday sales, in part, on a theory that consumers will rediscover the home movie. Two years ago, recordable/rewritable CD drives propelled PC sales. Rewritable DVD drives could do the same this year, some industry watchers believe, as well as spur demand for DVD players. DVDs can also hold 4.7GB of data, seven times as much as recordable CDs.

Looks like it's going to be war again. The three wanna-be standards (DVD+RW, DVD-RW and DVD-RAM) are all trying to become #1. The drives are not compatible with each other.

The HP drive will rewrite onto DVD discs at a speed of 2.4x and can read DVDs at 8x. The drive will rewrite to CD-R at 12x and to CD-RW at 10x. It can read at 32x speed. The drive is compatible with the most DVD players.

HP is planning to sell their media for $15.99 per disc.

We will see what happens. But also Dell is planning to use DVD+RW drives into their PCs... Will DVD+RW be the future? Looks like a fine solution to me.

Source: C|net