Wither the Superdrive?
Is anyone else starting to get a bit queasy about the future of the Superdrive?
Everyone knows the the VHS vs. Beta battle that's going on between the DVD-RWs and the DVD+RWs isn't helping matters, but recent developments on the backup bandwagon don't look good:
1. The other side includes Dell (who cares), HP, Philips, Ricoh, Sony, Panasonic and Yamaha. Many of these are names not to be trifled with. They just announced a new 4X DVD+R spec, to be followed by a 4X DVD+RW spec by the end of the year.
<a href="http://news.com.com/2100-1040-948963.html?tag=fd_ots"; target="_blank">(News.com link)</a>
In contrast, the upcoming DVD-R spec is 4X for R, and only 2X for RW.
2. DVD burning has also been slow to catch on the Mac platform since Apple restricted iDVD to new Macs only. iTunes isn't limited to the iPod and iMovie isn't limited to anything Apple. Restricting iDVD means that third parties couldn't offer hardware solutions with the Mac at a price that would seal DVD+RW's fate.
3. The fact that our DVD needs seems to be dependent on one company (Pioneer) doesn't seem to be a good thing. Shades of our dependance on Motorola for the G4 (and look how that turned out...) I have no idea if the other side uses one manufacturer only, but they've managed to innovate an 8-cm compatible disc that holds almost 1.5 GB, which I think makes the +RW side a bit more compelling.
Also telling is the fact that a company like Iomega has stayed entirely out of the DVD game tells me that either they're completely incompetent (entirely possible) or that DVD-RW licensing is prohibitive. We need an open spec with multiple vendors if DVD-RW is going to become mainstream.
So what do you think? Is the Superdrive possibly headed for a fall?
Everyone knows the the VHS vs. Beta battle that's going on between the DVD-RWs and the DVD+RWs isn't helping matters, but recent developments on the backup bandwagon don't look good:
1. The other side includes Dell (who cares), HP, Philips, Ricoh, Sony, Panasonic and Yamaha. Many of these are names not to be trifled with. They just announced a new 4X DVD+R spec, to be followed by a 4X DVD+RW spec by the end of the year.
<a href="http://news.com.com/2100-1040-948963.html?tag=fd_ots"; target="_blank">(News.com link)</a>
In contrast, the upcoming DVD-R spec is 4X for R, and only 2X for RW.
2. DVD burning has also been slow to catch on the Mac platform since Apple restricted iDVD to new Macs only. iTunes isn't limited to the iPod and iMovie isn't limited to anything Apple. Restricting iDVD means that third parties couldn't offer hardware solutions with the Mac at a price that would seal DVD+RW's fate.
3. The fact that our DVD needs seems to be dependent on one company (Pioneer) doesn't seem to be a good thing. Shades of our dependance on Motorola for the G4 (and look how that turned out...) I have no idea if the other side uses one manufacturer only, but they've managed to innovate an 8-cm compatible disc that holds almost 1.5 GB, which I think makes the +RW side a bit more compelling.
Also telling is the fact that a company like Iomega has stayed entirely out of the DVD game tells me that either they're completely incompetent (entirely possible) or that DVD-RW licensing is prohibitive. We need an open spec with multiple vendors if DVD-RW is going to become mainstream.
So what do you think? Is the Superdrive possibly headed for a fall?
Comments
personally, I would rather have dvd+rw. Not because of microsoft's major backing for it [and several major companies. speaking of which, most of them are also on the dvd-rw/r side also, ie. sony], but because of some it's features that are lacked on the dvd-rw/r side, like variable packet writing [something to this nature. i just got home, and tired......]
But today Macentral is reporting Apple stopped OWC from allowing their DVD drives to use iDVD. This is madness, if you back a standard, go all the way and don't let the other guys get anything close to critical mass. I think Apple and Pioneer have to come to an arrangement to allow widespread use of iDVD the way almost any MP3 player can use iTunes.
The SuperDrive is on top for now, but that can change quickly, especially with Christmas coming and +RW now shipping.
Whatever they do , I just hope they're orking on including Mt. Rainier support on OS X.
It could just be his DVD player that doesn't like DVD-R (but it seemed to play his 8cm Hitachi camera DVD's just fine).
The ed's replied that in fact a great many DVD players have trouble with DVD-R media. AFAIK, wasn't it DVD+RW which had playback problems in virtually all older DVD players and only worked in newer models ???
While this may be a problem of the bargain basement DVD-player manufacturers making, it would still be something that Apple (and any other manufacturer) has to live with -- SHITTY DVD PLAYER OPTICS !!! Arrghhh. I hope this isn't true, I've never had a DVD-R to test in my DVD player.
The mag you were reading was probably trash.
At the end of the day, Superdrive burns DVDs to play on standard home DVD players, which is all anyone wants from the hardware.
Also, sh!t loads of patches and fixes for DVD player, DVR 104 etc.. and ripping software becoming available for all Macs daily <img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" />
Check this link for info on all standards of DVD.
<a href="http://www.verbatim.com.au/Media/dvdwhitepaper.html"; target="_blank">http://www.verbatim.com.au/Media/dvdwhitepaper.html</a>;
But dual layer??? the lower layer holds less data, you end up with something like 8.5GB per on side. 2 layers on the same side, will it ever happen?
Yes, I do this as part of my business. I even just did my first commercial title, although it was written to DLT tape, so it's not the same things. Still, for home and wedding video, I push out to DVD-R and a majority of machines seem able to read it, although some need updates to their firmware. I've even played them on a PS2--which is hardly a high end dvd player.
CRAP!