JVC to ship 2x dual-layer DVD-RW discs next quarter

[PC-GUY]

CES JVC today announced the world's first single-sided, dual-layer DVD-RW media will ship in Q2 - more than a year after the company unveiled the technology.

The new discs will support 2x recording speeds, JVC said, but it was quick to point out it has already developed a 4x version in its labs.

The 2x products will provide DVD-RW users with 8.5GB of re-writeable storage capacity - provided they have a drive compatible with the discs, of course. Presumably, JVC's submission of the technology to the DVD forum has reached the stage where there's a specification drive makers can use to prepare 'DVD-RW DL' writer hardware.

JVC would not say when 4x discs will come to market. Like the 2x discs, the 4x products can be produced using conventional manufacturing equipment, JVC claimed.

JVC's DL disc uses a "highly sensitive" recording medium and a new recording method the company is provisionally calling 'N-Strategy', both based on JVC's proprietary phase-change design technology developed for high-speed DVD-RW discs, the latter to "enhance erasability".

The new recording medium allows enough 650nm laser light to pass through to read and write to the second, upper layer; but, unlike traditional DVD-RW media, it has the right absorption characteristics to properly form and erase data dots when the first layer is written to or erased. The disc's second layer uses a standard DVD-RW recording medium. ®


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