Phillips unveil 8X DVD-R/W+ technology

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Posted on Tuesday 7th of January, 2003 at 17:05 by SirQUK
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Source: CDFreaks

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Even though the 4X DVD-R recorders just hit the streets last fall, and 4X DVD+R upgrades have just been released, Philips Semiconductors is already putting the pieces in place for 8X DVD+R and 4X DVD+RW recording with an integrated chipset, optical pickup unit, firmware, and reference design. Philips introduced the Nexperia DVD+R/RW solution in November.

Philips has made the speed jump possible by moving the write-strategy generator to the same board as the laser driver, eliminating the data bottleneck that limited recording speed, according to Nathalie Criou, business development manager for optical storage, multimedia, and connectivity at Philips. The company made sample Nexperia DVD+R/RW kits—which include the PNX7850 DVD processor, TZA1039 analog processor, TZA1047 laser power controller, and an OPU66.20 optical pickup unit—available immediately, and planned to start volume production in early 2003. The kit will cost $65 each in volumes of 100,000 units.

"The OPU is the most important factor in the new solution," Criou says. "We migrated write management directly into the device, so that it reads for defects during the write process. This means that when it encounters defects, the most common of which is fingerprints, it will immediately compensate and adjust the laser." Criou says it's Philips' hope that this will result in higher-quality recording, which in turn will mean higher compatibility; she also says the new OPU is less vulnerable to environmental changes during recording, including temperature, shock, vibration, and tilt. "Recordings will never be error-free, but we're looking at much higher quality than before," she says. Though the DVD+RW alliance still hasn't issued 8X recording standards, the Nexperia kit is backwards-compatible with 4X units.

Even though it only supports DVD-R/W + Media, this is a sure sign that DVD recording technology is firmly on its way up to faster speeds. Who knows, 16X by the end of the year?

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