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PC Hardware in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition
book

PC Hardware in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

by Robert Bruce Thompson, Barbara Fritchman Thompson
July 2003
Beginner to intermediate content levelBeginner to intermediate
874 pages
38h 13m
English
O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Content preview from PC Hardware in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

DVD Writable and Rewritable

In addition to DVD-ROM, there are three writable DVD formats—DVD-R(A) for authoring, DVD-R(G) for general recording, and DVD+R—and three rewritable DVD formats—DVD-RW, DVD-RAM, and DVD+RW. All DVD writers and rewriters can read DVD-ROM discs, but each records to its own type of disc, none of which is fully compatible with any other or with existing standard DVD-ROM drives and players.

Incompatibility between the various standards has hindered the market acceptance of all of them, a problem that manufacturers have begun to address by introducing hybrid devices that read and write more than one format. For example, Pioneer produces a combination DVD-R and DVD-RW drive that also writes CD-R and CD-RW, and next-generation DVD-RAM drives will read and write DVD-RAM, DVD-R(W), and CD-R(W). As time passes, we expect this trend to continue.

Tip

The DVD Forum has introduced a DVD Multi logo that certifies compatibility with DVD-R, DVD-RW, and DVD-RAM (although not with DVD+RW—the DVD Forum and the DVD+RW Alliance don’t much like each other). A DVD Multi drive or player can play all three formats, and a DVD Multi writer can write all three formats.

The following sections describe the competing writable/rewritable DVD formats.

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 059600513XErrata Page