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HANOVER, GERMANY -- The DVD+RW Alliance is displaying a united front at the CeBIT show here, promoting its standards for DVD+RW for PCs and video recorders. The group also announced DVD+RW/+R products from some of its members, including Hewlett-Packard, Koninklijke Philips, Sony, and Ricoh.

"Our commitment is to delivering standards that are easy to use, such as DVD+RW/+R. DVD+R represents the next evolutionary step in the DVD+RW format as the best choice for video and data storage," says John Spofford, vice president and general manager for HP's consumer entertainment solution division and chair of the DVD+RW Alliance.

The DVD+RW/+R combination drives allow consumers to create custom CDs and DVDs while using one drive. The DVD+RW/+R format also begins to address the serious issue of storage with new technologies such as optical-disc authoring software that allows for editing directly on DVD+RW discs, bypassing the PC's hard drive, Spofford says.

DVD+RW, a standard for recording data and video on optical discs, is also backed by a variety of vendors, including Dell and Thomson. It faces competition from another format, the DVD-RW standard, which is being pushed by the DVD Forum, supported by Pioneer and others. The DVD Forum has published its own standard specification for DVD and rewritable formats such as DVD-RW. DVD+RW is a competing system, and not an official DVD Forum format.

Several Standards Remain

Frank Simonis, commercial director at Philips' optical-storage division, acknowledges the competition between the standards but rejects the idea that one overarching standard could be created by blending the existing standards.

"As for today, two standards do exist, but to merge them would create a third standard and won't have consumer benefits," Simonis says. "We do not believe that there is a format war going on. Any confusion on the user end is very limited, we believe." He expects that by year end, 160 million playback devices will be on the market, most of them compatible with DVD+RW.

Spofford also announced the final Mount Rainier specification for rewritable DVD drives is available for use in DVD+RW/+R drives and in PC operating systems. The specification--which has received approval by the Mount Rainier Group, led by Philips, Sony, Compaq, and Microsoft--is intended to make using rewritable optical discs more like using floppy disks, by adding additional data storage support, Spofford says.

"DVD+RW will revitalize the PC industry. From here we will remain a united alliance promoting DVD+RW and DVD+RW/+R as the easiest, most powerful solution for consumers," Spofford says.

Products Shown

Alliance members laid out various plans for releasing DVD+RW/+R products with the capability to store up to 4.7GB:

*HP will ship its HP DVD Writer 200i internal drive in April with a price point in the U.S. of $499. Its external version, the HP DVD Writer dvd200e will begin shipping in May with a price point of $599, says Christine Roby, HP's product manager for DVD writers.

*Philips will ship its combination DVD+RW/+R PC drive, the DVDRW228, in Europe and the U.S. in April, according to Philips spokesperson Jeannet Harpe. Pricing in Europe will be $615, and the price in the U.S. will be similar, says Harpe. Philips will also be release its "living room DVD+RW/+R recorders" around the same time. The DVDR980 is priced at $1143, and the DVDR985 at $1231, Harpe says.

*Fujitsu Siemens has begun including DVD+RW drives from Philips in its entire line of Scaleo computers, says Marcus Jacob, Fujitsu Siemens' product marketing manager for consumer PCs. "Our computers will be equipped from now on with DVD+RW drives. We pick Philips in part because of our long relationship and because it gives us better compatibility than other solutions now available. DVD+RW is probably the solution for the next couple of months," Jacob says.

*Sony will ship its second-generation, 4.7GB DVD+RW/+R drives, which can write on DVD+RW, DVD+R, CD-RW, and CD-R media and includes bundled software, says Clemens Schuette, Sony's senior manager for marketing communications.

The Sony DRU-120A internal ATA Packet Interface drive will be shipped in May at an estimated price of $499 in the U.S. The Sony DRX-120L is the external version and will be available in June for $599, Schuette says. He adds that the external drive will have an i.LINK connection.

Most of Sony's products come from Ricoh, though Sony is currently working on its own DVD+RW product, which it expects to come out during its 2002 fiscal year, says Hironobu Harima, Sony's product manager for DVD writers.

*Ricoh will ship the MP5125A, its internal DVD+RW/+R combination drive in the third quarter for an estimated price of $572, a spokesperson says.

*Verbatim in March began shipping its DataLine Plus DVD+R disk for between $11 and $13 depending on the market, says Verbatim spokesperson Emma Soames. "What we are really waiting for is the hardware products to ship. That's what we need in order for this to take off," Soames says.