Philips has introduced the first PC DVD+R drive that can burn to a double-layer, single-sided disc. The burner, dubbed the DVDRW885K, will record the new 8.5GB discs at a 8x speed. The upshot of all this is that until now consumer DVD burners have been single-layer, with half the storage capability of a ‘regular DVD,’ like the kind you get with movies. Potentially, these new discs and burner would allow you to make perfect backups of regular DVDs, instead of requiring two discs to store the same amount of data (or recompression of the video data to a more compact format.)
The DVDRW885K will debut in April 2004 in European markets for about 169 euros (around US $205.) No word on a release for American markets, but it is sure to happen soon. Philips will also release a 16x version of the same drive around July.
Read [via ArsTechnica]
