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Industry Leaders Provide Update
on Support for DVD Compatibility Specifications
DVD Multi Ensures Compatibility of DVD Products for Consumers
NEW YORK CITY (June 25, 2002) - Senior executives from the world's largest
DVD manufacturing firms gathered today to provide an update on their
support for the DVD Forum's DVD Multi specification and to announce
the availability of DVD products that provide consumers with the widest
possible playback compatibility with installed and future DVD drives
and players. Speaking at the Recordable DVD Council (RDVDC) press briefing
at TECHXNY/PC EXPO here this afternoon, officials from Hitachi, Samsung,
and Panasonic confirmed that they are shipping, or will soon be shipping,
DVD products that support the DVD Forum's DVD Multi standards.
The new DVD Multi DVD products, as well as a broad range of other Forum-compliant
recordable DVD products and solutions, will be shown during TECHXNY/PC
EXPO at the Recordable DVD Pavilion, Booth #2422.
The press conference began with RDVDC Deputy-Chairman Dr. Shyh-Yeu Wang,
R&D director of RiTEK Corporation, providing an overview of the
RDVDC and announcing that the consortium of DVD technology developers
and manufacturers has grown to 94 members since it was formed early
last year. The RDVDC was formed to expand the understanding of the Forum
Recordable DVD formats and the new DVD Multi specifications.
Following the opening remarks, Tony Jasionowski, RDVDC North American
Program Director, welcomed Andy Parsons, Pioneer U.S.A. Senior Vice
President, as a guest speaker, saying, "I am pleased to have the
participation of Andy Parsons as a guest speaker to present the expanding
market and applications for DVD-R, which provides the greatest degree
of compatibility and affordability with existing DVD video players and
DVD-ROM drives."
"Playback compatibility with existing DVD players is the most important
characteristic to PC mass market users because we believe the vast majority
of them want to use writable DVD for
archiving personal video content," said Andy Parsons, Senior Vice
President, Business Solutions Division , Pioneer Electronics USA Inc."
We very much appreciate that the potential of DVD-R/RW has been recognized
for use in DVD-Multi products."
The DVD Multi specification covers all currently developed formats which
have been approved by DVD Forum including DVD Video, DVD-ROM, DVD Audio,
DVD-RAM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, and DVD Video Recording. The DVD Forum is an
industry association whose more than 200 members include all major DVD
manufacturers as well as major DVD software developers and DVD media
producers around the world.
Previously, the specifications for these formats did not define compatibility
with each other. As the number of DVD formats for different applications
and DVD products of various types increase, a compatibility problem
could arise, which is why the DVD Forum developed the DVD Multi specification
at an early stage.
The press conference continued with Jon Peddie, president of Peddie
Research, outlining the consumer electronics and PC recordable DVD markets
as well as trends in personal video production. He noted that multifunction
DVD drives are already available with a street price of only $329, and
most inexpensive DVD-R media has already dropped to $1-$2 for two-hour,
4.7GB discs that will play in virtually every DVD drive and player.
He also pointed out that feature-rich video editing, authoring and DVD
production solutions are readily available for under $100.
At the end of the press conference; representatives from Samsung, Hitachi,
Toshiba and Panasonic demonstrated the ability to capture video on a
DV camcorder, record it on a DVD Multi drive and play the video on a
DVD recorder, set-top DVD player and personal DVD player. Video was
also captured from a DVD recorder and played back on a number of DVD
players and computer DVD drives.
"The DVD Multi specifications were developed to give people a simple
way to identify DVD products which offer a consistent and high degree
of compatibility among the various media specifications of the DVD format,"
Jasionowski commented. "This includes interoperability between
DVD Multi products designed for consumer electronic and personal computer
environments.
DVD Multi products have two categories:
- DVD Multi Players -- required to play all DVD Forum-approved formats
- DVD Multi Recorders - required to record and play all DVD Forum-approved
formats
Both categories include products for consumer electronics and personal
computers.
The nearly 95 members of the Recordable DVD Council (RDVDC) are dedicated
to advancing DVD Forum-standard recordable DVD technologies, specifications
and products worldwide. Through its educational programs and activities,
the RDVDC helps consumers and businesses, as well as software and hardware
vendors gain a better understanding of the recordable DVD formats Visit
the Council's Web site at http://www.rdvdc.org/english
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