Sony Shows off Double Layer DVD Drives

[Kent Pribbernow]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.com.com/2100-1041_3-5174122.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=news' target='_blank'>http://news.com.com/2100-1041_3-5174122.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=news</a><br /><br /></div>"The internal DRU-700A and external DRX-700UL drives will offer almost double the storage capacity of current, single-sided discs, the company said. The forthcoming devices will let users record up to 8.5GB of data, which translates to 4 hours of video or more than 2,000 songs. They will have a double-layer data-recording speed of 2.4x initially, and also will feature the ability to record using both the "plus" and "dash" formats at high speeds (up to 8x DVD+/-R)."<br /><br />Impressive, but for some reason I just don't quite trust Sony's format. A standard for Dual layer format has not yet been reached, so right now the landscape is rather disparate. :?

[Suhit Gupta]

Yeah, it is interesting they chose the + format. Anyways, I am a bit dubious about this as well, and am afraid that this may be yet another money making gimmick. I mean, note how they conveniently don't mention anything about cross compatibitlity of the burner or the media with single layer DVDs.

Suhit