Hi, I plan on buying a DVD recorder for my PC, and I've been waiting for a long time for a format to become dominant, but since this didn't happen I saw the Sony DRU500a that was perfect for me, supporting all formats (DVD-RAM is negligible anyway) so I can buy it without fear of teh future. You see, for me, when I make such an investment , the future of the product is everything. Fore example I wouldn't wanna buy a DVD-R drive and find out in 6 months that DVD+R is the format to be used by everyone... So the Sony drive solved this problem, but now I am concerned over another thing. AS everyone knows, DVDs are of 4 kinds : 1 side 1 layer 1 side 2 layers 2 sides 1 layer 2 sides 2 layers with names like DVD-5, DVD-9 etc... so as I undestand, we currectly use DVD-5 so we have 4.7 (4.37 if you prefer) GB disk space. My question is, will today's DVD recording drives be able to record the other types (DVD-9 etc..) when such discs are available? In other words, we currently write on DVD-5 discs because 4.7 GB are enough for today and the other discs are not yet in stores, OR the catual recorders that are today in market cannot write in higher capacity discs? This is very importan to me, because I would be glad to know that the DVD recorder I wil buy today, will be able to record on the future discs...I dont care if it will take an hour or more to fill a 17 GB disc, I just would like to have the opportunity whenever needed. So basicaly, will I be able to record DVD-9 and further discs when avalable with my Sony DRU500a drive (even with a firmware upgrade) or will I need to buy a new drive, and if so, when do you think such drives will make it to the market? I wouldnt want to buy a drive now and find out in 6 months that DVD-9 drives are in market... Thanks for averyone that cared to read my big post, and I hope my question was not very silly. I would appreciate an early reply.
I could bet my left leg that we will _NEVER_ see dual-layer DVD recordable drives OR discs. The technology how dual-layer is manufactured is just too different from the current recording methods that it is not possible. And no one will bother developing this, since DVD recorders as they are now, are already popular and the next generation wont be using red-laser DVD technology anymore, but blue-laser DVD technology instead, which is not compatible with current DVD players and drives.
I believe you covered me half way. I myself thought of the possibility that dual layer discs coulnd be recorded, however when thinking of the recording methods I thought that if you can use a laser beam to read the dual layer discs then why cant you use another laser ray to burn them? Anyway I am no expert and I assume you are more informed on the matter so I can understand we wont see dual layer recorders anytime soon. However you didn't answer my question fully because you didn't say if today's drives will be able to record the 2-side 1 layer discs giving us a 9.4 GB of space in 1 disc... I myself think this would be possible just by turning the disc over in the drive and thus acting liek a different disc...but I would like to be informed by a better informed guy than me... I would appreciate "another" early reply
