According to this month's issue of Maximum PC, the new dual-layer DVD recorder is due out this Christmas. Unfortunately, they could not put a price estimate on the hardware, manufactured and successfully tested by Sony. For those of you who are into DVD recording, and out with the old VHS blank tapes (now junk in my book), dual-layer DVD will be able to fit 8.5 GB onto one side of the disc. Versus the older DVD-R/-RW and DVD+R/+RW, which the laser burns onto a single layer, the dual-layer technology allows the laser to burn onto a dye surface from the outside in, and then on a transparent surface from the inside out.

This is exactly how DVD-Video was manufactured- as a dual-layer disc. The laser from the DVD player reads from the outside in, and once the read lens reaches the middle, it simply reverses its direction without stopping the disc to read inside out. DVD-Video is stamped onto an opaque surface, and then the second layer is stamped onto a transparent layer.

If any of you recall, the first DVDs were double sided, so the viewer had to flip the disc half-way through the movie to play the other side. The old DVD-Video was single-layer technology.

The best part about the new dual-layer DVD recorder and recordable discs is that Sony tested the DVD's on several major DVD home component players, and all players read the disc. I am looking forward to the new recorder's release, but I'll have to be patient and wait for the recorder and media cost to go down. For now, I'm happy with my current DVD-R recorder.

It seems like I watched a segment on TechTV on this subject. There was some debate on which standard would prevail. I can't remember who designed it, but one of the competing standards uses a blue laser. Do you have any more info on this?

Cheers!
oktalk

Thanks for asking, OkTalk. From what I've read, and don't quote me on this, there is little difference in the read/write aspect of a blue or red laser... other than speed. The blue laser has been tested at faster write speeds, but is more expensive than recorders that use the red laser. I've tried to find out if recorders/players that use a blue laser are blind to the same kind of dyes or as many dyes as the red laser, but unfortunately, little or no information exists on such comparisons. Hopefully I'll run across an article that can elaborate on that more. I, too am not sure who designed the standard that uses a blue laser.

I do know that consumer magazines are speculating that the dual-layer recorder will dominate the single-layer recorder in a few years as more and faster models are released to the market. This technology makes it easier for someone to burn a 3 hour DVD quality movie onto a single disc.

According to Maximum PC, the new dual-layer recorder succeeds where it matters most, being compatibility. Unfortunately, the media is scarce and expensive. In the near future, that will change. Also, the DVD+R recorder is the fastest recorder to date, which can burn 4.25 GB of data in 8 min 55 sec at 8x. The DVD-R recorder trailed behind at 9 min 38 sec at 8x, but the DVD-R is currently the more compatible disc.

I also found out that the Sony Dual-Layer DRU-700A recorder is currently priced at $230.

I was at Best Buy yesterday. Saw Sony's Dual-Layer DVD Recorder for $249! Looks like Maximum PC misunderstood the release date. However, the media was hard to find at Best Buy, as a dual-layer DVD+R was bundled with a 10 pack of DVD+R single-layers. Like I said, I plan to wait a while.