What DVD format do you think will become the standard ?

[RJ]

I believe the DVD+R/+RW, although not accepted by the DVD forum, will be the standard due to its compatibility, ease of use, advantages over DVD-R/-RW and the big support behind it (Dell, HP, Verbatim, Philips, Ricoh, Sony, Thomson, Yamaha: 3 of them defined the CD-RW format).

Therefore I plan to get a DVD+R/+RW burner soon (as soon as DVD+R is available).

So what do you think will be the DVD (re)writable standard, and why ?

RJ

[RayH]

Quality and performance have nothing to do with acceptance. In video cassettes, VHS won out over Sony's Beta!

[RJ]

I think VHS was the cheapest.

In this case: The DVD-RAM disc ist the most expensive, the prices for DVD-R/DVD-RW and DVD+R/DVD+RW are similar.

RJ

[KronoLeginaire]

I want to burn dvds for cheap, vcds usualy take two cds.

[archie]

I chose DVD-RAM only because I went to Panasonic presentation a few years ago and that the medium they were showing at the time ... and know nothing about the other formats nor have heard much about it since ... so this is a wild guess.
As for VHS vs beta, my understanding is it's because Sony wanted royalties for manufacturers to use the beta format. At that time, they and Toshiba were the distributors [there may have been other]. Then VHS became available to all the others, with JVC, Panasonic, Hitachi, etc, as some of the main distributors of this format. The quality of beta was significantly better at the time. A bit later [early to mid '80s], VHS came up with a better picture using the HQ [high quality] feature making the huge difference between the two format not so great anymore for most people [it made VHS meet a minimal standard of quality]. More choices of VHS rental tapes soon became available for the consumers ... it snowballed from there.

[audiyoda]

IT comes down to this: DVD-R is fairly compatable with consumer DVD players. It won't matter a lick with computer users. The two companies that have consumer DVD-Recorders on the market have chosen DVD-R and DVD-RAM for their medium -- I guess that's your answer.

-Craig

[mbossman2]

the question is, which one is a collaborative effort between 2 or more "open" source companies...


The problem with Beta was it was made only by Sony so it got left in the dust by a non-proprietary technology...

[Toaster]

Howdy folks,
I can't say I like either format. Sony has been researching Mini-DVD using their mini-disc technology. I trust that Sony would screw this up if accepted however.
There has to be another way. A protected medium is a must IMHO.
For these reasons, DVD doesn't do the job for me and I decided to take the "wait and see" method for the time being.
I find it hard to support DVD simply because the media is unprotected and prone to disaster much like CDs.
Iv'e used Mini-disks for years for audio and find them a great alternative to other mediums. I hope to see a "protected" encased medium of the 3 1/2" variation.
Unseating VHS will be difficult unless something else comes along.

[audiyoda]

Originally posted by RayH Quality and performance have nothing to do with acceptance. In video cassettes, VHS won out over Sony's Beta!

Ahhhh....but Sony set Beta up to lose in the minds of consumers. Sony always wanted pros to use Beta, and that's what happened. Sony had a stake in VHS (they owned part of the trademark and patents along with five other companies). Sony saw early on that VHS was the better tape for consumers -- it was longer than Beta but the tapes wore out quicker, the players were cheaper to make and tougher to fix. Perfect for the consumer market -- people would have to buy more tapes due to poor quality and after a time, they'd buy more VCR's from head misalignments and such that are too costly to fix.

A friend of mine at MSU based his entire Master's thesis on the VHS/Beta battle.

-Craig