That format has been more broadly accepted by manufacturers. However, it wouldn't serve as a substitute for people who use the same videotape over and over to record missed TV shows. So, manufacturers are gearing up for a marketing battle. Each is trying to get other manufacturers to back their rewriteable DVD technology, hoping to reap a fortune in royalties. We're all technology providers.
Retailers are unhappy about that prospect.
Few want to risk winding up with expensive DVD recorders that have been rendered obsolete by market forces. We'll do seminars for our customers about the products, but we're not going to get financially committed until the manufacturers settle on one system. In the struggle, both Matsushita and Pioneer are reaching out to computer manufacturers after noticing that compact-disk recording took off when personal computers were equipped with recording drives. At Comdex, Pioneer will announce a DVD rewriteable drive that can be sold as an option for personal computers. Matsushita is touting the speed of its DVD rewriteable format.