ABC's Of DVD Drive Abbreviations
By Jason Kohrs
The number of different formats available in DVD drives can be confusing to anyone in
the market for one. The list is much longer, but to address a few of the common formats,
we have DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM ,DVD+R DL and DVD±RW. Wow! This
list of common formats is long enough, no wonder it's confusing!
What's with all the Formats?
The reason for various recordable DVD formats is that no one group owns the technology
and different groups have chosen to support one technology over another. There is no
industrial standard for manufacturers to reference, so for the time being consumers will
have a few choices.
The first thing to address is DVD itself, which stands for Digital Versatile Disc. Some
may argue that the V stands for Video, but with the capability to store video, audio, and
data files, Versatile is definitely the keyword.
Start with the Basics
A DVD-ROM drive is the only one we will address that does not record. ROM stands for
Read Only Memory, and refers to the typical drive that can merely read DVDs, as well as
CDs (all DVD drives can read CDs). The Lite-On LTD-163-DO-R has attributes representative
of your typical DVD-ROM drive, and features a maximum DVD read speed of 16x and a maximum
CD read speed of 48x.
Before getting into the different recordable formats, let's address the basics of what
the R and RW stand for, regardless of whether there is a + or – in the middle. R stands
for Recordable, which indicates that the disk may be recorded to only once. RW stands for
ReWritable, which indicates that the disc may be recorded to more than once, and are
generally rated for 1000 rewrites under good conditions.
The DVD-R/-RW format was developed by Pioneer, and was the first format compatible with
stand alone DVD players. The group that promotes the technology calls itself the DVD
Forum, which is “an international association of hardware manufacturers, software firms,
content providers, and other users” with notable members such as Hitachi, Samsung, and
Toshiba. The DVD-R/-RW format is based on CD-RW technology and uses a similar approach to
burning discs.
The DVD+R/+RW format is a newer format, also based on CD-RW technology, and compatible
with a large percentage of stand alone DVD players. The +R/+RW technology is not supported
by the DVD Forum, and its main backing comes from a group called the DVD+RW Alliance. The
Alliance “is a voluntary group of industry-leading personal computing manufacturers,
optical storage and electronics manufacturers” with members such as Dell, Hewlett Packard,
Sony, and Phillips Electronics.
The DVD-RAM format is based on PD-RW (Phase-Differential) drives, and actually uses a
cartridge to hold the media (just like its PD-RW predecessor). Some DVD-RAM cartridges are
double sided, making them ideal for companies to use as system backup, hence DVD-RAM is
usually found only in commercial applications, and most end-users won’t ever need to use
or see this type of drive. The DVD-RAM standard is also supported by the DVD Forum just
like the DVD-R/RW format. However, because of its use of a cartridge (limiting it’s
compatibility), and the scarcity and price of the media used, DVD-RAM is a distant third
when compared to the DVD+R/+RW and DVD-R/–RW technology.
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