AfterDawn: News

Verbatim ships DVD-R Dual Layer

Verbatim starts shipping DVD-R Dual Layer media for consumer. Speed rated at 2-4x and fully compatible with the DVD Forum specs. It is interesting to see when will the prices of Dual Layer media start to sink.

CHARLOTTE, NC (May 24, 2005) – Verbatim Corporation announced today that it is now shipping 2-4x DVD-R Dual Layer (DL) media for consumers. A pioneer in developing advanced DVD and Dual Layer technology, Verbatim has been providing media samples of the new discs to leading drive manufacturers and software developers for tuning their products and confirming drive/media compatibility. Fully compatible with the DVD-R DL specification approved by the DVD Forum, Verbatim DVD-R DL media provides a capacity of 8.5GB on a single side. At 4x speed, an entire disc can be filled in about 25 minutes. NEC, Pioneer, Plextor, Sony and others have announced burners that support the new 4x DVD-R DL format.

By offering two recording layers, Verbatim’s new DVD-R DL discs provide a capacity increase of about 80 percent, compared to 4.7GB DVD-R media. With the higher capacity, businesses, content developers and consumers will be able to store up to 3.5 hours of DVD-quality videos, over 120 hours of MP3 audio or 8.5GB of data without having to flip the disc. The higher capacity that the DL discs provide also make them ideal for corporate backups and archiving.



Recently identified as the leading suppliers of recordable CD and DVD media worldwide*, Verbatim and its parent company, Mitsubishi® Kagaku Media (MKM), have consistently been first to bring DL technology to market. To ensure high performance without sacrificing reliability or compatibility, Verbatim and MKM developed unique dye materials and coating techniques, as well as manufacturing techniques for stamping the grooves into the media that guide the write and read processes. Broad compatibility is maintained by using a thin layer silver alloy that serves as a reflector in the first layer. The technologies developed by Verbatim/MKM allow the laser beam to pass through the first recoding and reflective layers to write to the second layer. The result is consistently reliable write/read performance for each layer.

Pricing, Availability

Verbatim 2-4x DVD-R DL media is available on the Verbatim web site, www.verbatim.com with an estimated street price of $24.99 for a 3-pack in jewel cases.

About Verbatim

Verbatim Corporation, a Mitsubishi® Kagaku Media Company, is an international organization that develops and markets innovative, high-quality products for storing, moving and using digital content. Known for its leadership in the removable storage media and related accessories markets, the company provides reliable, unique technologies and products that are highly sought after and broadly distributed worldwide. For more information, contact Verbatim at 1200 W.T. Harris Boulevard, Charlotte, NC 28262, (800) 421-4188, FAX (704) 547-6609; or visit the company's web site at www.verbatim.com.

Verbatim is a registered trademark of Verbatim Corporation. Other company and product names contained herein are trademarks of their respective companies. Specifications subject to change without notice.

Source: Verbatim

Written by: Lasse Penttinen @ 24 May 2005 11:28

• Previous article

• Jobs demoed iTunes v4.9

• Next article

• Decriminalise filesharing for personal use?

• 18 comments

• Ludikhris

  And they still wont be selling many until they are about a dollar a disc....... I cant imagine it costs so much to make a DL disc, I wonder why there isnt more competition in the DL DVD market yet.
  
  Ludikhris

  24.5.2005 15:38 #1

• six.6.six

  How long has it been? Dl burners have been out forever it seems, yet the price of of media, outrageous. When the first single layer burners came out media was a little high but you could swallow it, $24.99 a 3 pack DAMN! Maybe if it were $24.99 for 15, 3 NO WAY.....

  24.5.2005 16:19 #2

• Molder

  $24.99 for 3, that will workout at about $11 each Aussie$, the same as DL+.
  
  Hmmmmm
  
  M

  24.5.2005 20:10 #3

• thelox714

  i work for macmall. and i got a customer today looking for these. we got em for 18.99 for the 3 pack.
  i told him the price and he ordered 10 packs!
  so, 3 discs X 10 packs = 30 discs
  10 packs X $20 = too much freakin money!!
  lol
  $200 for dvds.. i'm sorry.. but that's too much money.
  for that much you could've gotten an external hd.
  if you're backing up stuff, it would make more sense to buy hd and back it up. at least for now while these damn prices are so high.
  
  those are my two cents
  

  24.5.2005 20:42 #4

• daemonzx6

  Really.
  There is no point in even making a -R DL format when the prices are still so high that still nobody will buy them.

  25.5.2005 01:52 #5

• domie

  It´s obvious why the price of so high...law of supply and demand, there is a reason why there is little availablity....the industry is already gearing up for the launch of HD-DVD/Blu-Ray (or whatever name they decide on) DL-discs are doomed before they take off, at an average of 6-7 $ each , they can´t compete with single layer, no other major company is even thinking about them as they are focusing on the next generation discs already.
  Only sales will be novelty, curiosity or those who want to duplicate a movie over 3 hours long and don´t want to lose any quality.Anyone who buys then for data storage has money to burn.

  25.5.2005 02:35 #6

• SadJoker

  Blu-ray / HD-DVD isnt going to be avaible as writeable media or even writers at first. Hollywood as well as the manfacturers are still bickering with each other over which format to use for replacing DVD itself.
  
  anyway, true its a story of supply and demand playin into why Duallayer DVD-+R media costs so much but also there's the factor of its new technology, it costs money to research and develop plus produce. all of which the mfc is going to pass onto the customers for awhile.. Look at what happended with CDR when it first came out : the media cost a forturne but over time the prices went down. Give the mfcs some time to perfect the technology the media and for them to find a market for the product. No mfc is going to spend millions if not more on a product that nobody has a use for or has a very very limited cusomer base.
  
  anyway, its about time The DVD Forum finalized their DL media. Now I might test out the DVD-R DL discs..
  
  /me hopes NEC updates the 3500AG FW for DVD-R DL support

  25.5.2005 06:38 #7

• domie

  It´s true that it will be a while before the media is available but i think single layer dvd can hang on until then....what´s the point in mass producing dual layer when you know already it is going to be superceded ?
  I don´t think DL discs are new technology, dvds for sale have been dual layer for years now

  25.5.2005 06:57 #8

• 72morgan

  The price is starting to come down...
  
  I saw a DL 50 pk for $100 in the weekly flyers a week or 2 back. $2 a piece aint too bad. It does not seem all that long ago that I was paying $2 a piece for a single layer disc.....

  25.5.2005 07:25 #9

• domie

  That would make a difference yes and is certainly a step in the right direction...would love to know what brand and quality those discs are at $ 2 each, here in the UK they are still $ 11 each and only sold separately.

  25.5.2005 10:36 #10

• dapirate

  It's all about supply and demand.......I'd rather have two single layer discs instead of paying that much for the dual. I think most people feel the same way. Sales won't be as strong as they want and the prices will drop. Give it time.

  25.5.2005 12:15 #11

• simpsim1

  There are some compatibility problems with +R DL formats so it's good to have a -R DL format as well. Not that I favour one over the other, but in terms of cross-compatibility, it's good to have plenty of strings to your bow so to speak!!
  
  As for price, the "Law of modern electronics and computers" dictate that the prices will come down eventually. All new technology comes at a price and it's only a matter of time before that £5 disk (UK Price) is less than a quid a shot.

  25.5.2005 12:52 #12

• A_Klingon

  I have to agree with domie - Dual Layer, whether + or -, is a doomed format. Blu Ray is going to kill it. Dual Layer *should* have been available right from the start, and so now ........ it's just too late for the format to survive.
  
  We can buy them here in my area (Canada) for about $8 each, but I couldn't be bothered. (Regular dvd recordables are going for 39c each !)
  
  No..... I take that back..... Today, I am going to purchase my first (and last) 3-pack of dual-layers, simply to *see* what *could* have been, and where the industry f----d up. I want to be able to at least *say* I had tried them out. I'll make a couple of uncompressed backups of commecial discs (my new Nero software makes this a simple process), and then I'm just going to let the dual-layer concept fizzle out.
  
  Be *very* careful when the new Blu-Ray blanks hit the market. Make SURE they have the same data capacity as the commercial (hi-def) discs, even IF it will take a long time for a ripper to be devised.

  26.5.2005 04:31 #13

• gamename

  yeah i bought a 3 pack too. just to see the difference.it did look a little better but not enough for $11.00 a disc. this was about 6 mos. ago. besides that the only dvd player that would play it was the el cheapo in the bed room.

  26.5.2005 17:47 #14

• Glass

  I see I have been away too long. Good to see some old friends, Morgan and Klingon, still around.
  
  I have tried the +R DL a few times. Their compatability is par with the +R format, meaning they work on most, but not all, of my players I use for experimenting. I hope the -R format DL is more compatable.
  
  It will take a while before enough people migrate to the HD-DVD or BluRay format to justify companies to make enough of the media to drop the costs. So, even though the DL format will be eventually doomed, it should become a viable format for the short term.
  
  Glass

  2.6.2005 06:30 #15

• A_Klingon

  Yo, Glenn !!!!
  
  I hope the transport bizz is still being good to you!
  
  Honk!"Hey! Get off the road! Eh, you there! You bums wanna get off the road?"Honk!-Honk!
  
  I'm on the boards perhaps, 5% as much as what I used to were, Glass. (So little time/energy).
  
  Yeah..... I want blu-ray too. Dual-Layer = too little, too late.
  
  
  

  2.6.2005 07:07 #16

• lajr1980

  Do you all think that the reason why the co$t of dual layered dics are not going down because of the influence from the movie industry and their battles with piracy?

  2.6.2005 08:43 #17

• bunnyrip

  Ladies & Gentleman, If you really want the Dual Layer media prices to go down, simply do NOT buy any! Thsi type of action will force the companies to lower their prices. Why would they lower their prices if they're selling their media?

  2.6.2005 18:03 #18