Talk:DVD-RAM

message: The first line of the article states that there are four competing DVD rewritable technologies, and then it specifies only three: DVD-RAM, DVD+RW, and DVD-RW.   Would someone please clarify the article?
HI, WHICH OF THE 4 DVDs CAN BE BEST SUITED FOR CAMCORDER RECORDING & EDITING? 'CAN ANYONE HELP ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO EDITING?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.142.51.239 (talk) 21:11, 6 January 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: A camcorder that uses solid-state storage. Apple8800 (talk) 08:43, 11 December 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Error in First Line of Introduction 

message: Is there any suspicion that the DVD-RAM format will be one of the formats 'lost' when the DVD shakeout ends?  Similar to BetaMax and VHS in the early video tape recording saga.
:It most certainly appears so. DVD-RAM is not as popular as it might have been, if you only consider the advantages. To most the disadvantages far overweigh those. Especially price. I mean, DVD-RAM costs 10-30 times more than a DVD±R and 5-10 times more than a DVD±RW. If one is to pay so much more, he better really need to put its features to good use. And few people care about that.
:Probably not, DVD-RAM's are still made, they are not all that expensive. They are not 5 times more expensive if you know where to look. They have always had a niche market for professionals, they are only unpopular because in the good old days they required special hardware. With new drives being able to write to DVD-RAM as well as ordinary dvd formats it is the only optical drive that can be mounted as an ordinary removable drive, without any special tricks
:DVD-RAM may be running last-place in the computer community, but since Panasonic (for one that I know of) has chosen DVD-RAM for all of its DVD recorders it appears that DVD-RAM will be getting some significant new sales volume.  This should drive down the manufacturing cost and drive further adoption in both the video and computer communities.
DVD-RAM is to quite a big extent dead, it has mainly been replaced by less capable formats, in the form of Plus and Minus, although it has established itself a market in the 8cm Camcorder disc, but overall this capable format of disc is dead.
172.142.243.19 (talk) 09:27, 15 February 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: It still has some uses where money plays no role. For example IBM System z mainframes can use DVD-RAM ( for example the z/VM evaluation is a DVD-RAM and if I remember correctly the other OS can be shipped on DVD-RAM - if you do not want tape/ etc )  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.161.49.1 (talk) 17:26, 23 April 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: In the deepest, darkest reaches of tech and video, where white labcoats are still worn, I see DVD-RAM as the de facto medium for storage between computers. TV station I worked at also used DVD-RAM in all live video capture, and have huge shelves full of just DVD-RAM. And I've worked at other TV stations that still use Betacam. Apple8800 (talk) 08:45, 11 December 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Extinction of DVD-RAM 

message: (From main page) "Unlike the competing formats DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD+RW and DVD-RW, you do not need special DVD burning software to write or read DVD-RAMs on a computer. DVD-RAMs can be accessed like a usual floppy disk or hard drive".  "No DVD burning software required in computers – discs can be used and accessed like a removable hard disk; MS Windows requires a special DVDRAM driver or InCD program, although Windows XP can write to FAT32 formatted discs directly."
I found this confusing.  The 2nd sentence seems to contradict the 1st one (IMO a special driver *is* DVD burning software) at least for MS Windows.  And XP also comes with built-in support for burning to standard CDs (and so, I'd assume DVDs?): hence I'd see XPs support of DVD-RAM as being due to XP having had an InCD-like driver added, rather than of any property of DVD-RAM (AFAIK XP licenced some burning api off some company, and the next version of windows will licence something from http://www.sonic.com/).
Also the article in general implies I could unplug a HDD, plug in a DVD-RAM, and to my operating system they'd appear the same.  AFAIK this is not the case - if the OS has support built into it, then *to the user* they may appear the same, but the hardware interface itself *is* different (http://groups.google.co.uk/group/microsoft.public.windowsce/browse_thread/thread/11e2b0f13bd2f1ad/15518136cbf6e170?lnk=st&q=dvd+ram+windows+ce&rnum=2&hl=en#15518136cbf6e170).  Hence I'd assume in other OSs support is prebuilt into them, rather than no additional support over that for a HDD being required.
I don't feel confident enough to edit the article itself (this is not my field but I have been looking into it for work) but I thought I'd raise it for discussion in the hope that someone who knows will edit it if editing is required.
New DVD-rams used in external dvd-ram drives must be formated before use (FAT 32), right click the drive and click format,no indication that the ram is being formated will be seen until (format complete) pops up.Turn off (Allow CD burning) in the properties of the drive.DVD-Rams can be used as ordinary DVDs.A ram burnt as a normal DVD or before formating MUST  be erased or reformated to use as a ram again.No special software is required with XP.
: Comment - actually this is only true for Windows, which has very poor support for drives in general.  In Linux has built-in suppport for a multitude of file systems and you can choose from several for use on DVD-RAMs.  Same goes for MacOS (although HFS+ is the default).  Use of these drives is highly transparent on either of those operating systems - not the struggle it is with Windows.
:The way I understand the "no software required and can be used just like a hard-drive or a floppy" is that it applies, provided that the correct driver is installed. It's not the same driver that is used to recognize and access HDs and floppies, that's true, because the hardware IS different. But with the driver, the user can access DVD-RAM just like a hard disk, a floppy or a flash disk - one can read and write using the standard OS routines, without loading some application like Nero or Roxio.
::So what? A driver is software.  This seems like a completely meaningless distinction. You can't use the drive without the driver, so how is that a lack of "special software"? Who cares (aside from the software developers) what exactly is going on inside of the software or which pieces of the software are doing what? —Pangolin 16:18, 3 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  No special software required? 

message: I'm curious about this particular sentence in the article:
The term DVD-RAM is a misnomer; the name is based on the (erroneous) abbreviation for RAM, meaning "read-and-write memory" - the opposite of ROM (Read-Only Memory). However, RAM actually stands for Random Access Memory (computer chips) and DVDs inherently cannot use the random access method.
What does the writer mean by "DVDs inherently cannot use the random access method"? The way I understood it, DVD-RAM differs from regular RW media in the sense that it really does allow random access writing, in the sense that you can change a single byte in a single file, just like you can on a floppy, without having to erase and rewrite sequentially, as is the case with regular RW media. Is that not random access in its true sense? How is it different from floppies or hard disk? I'm eagerly waiting for comments and explanations.
:I have no idea if indeed DVD-ram are random-access as in the change-single-byte thing, but when I read it I was assuming the contributor was talking about the relative speed of optical vs. hard drives in general. If you have a full DVD of any type, it's gonna take a few seconds to go from the inside of the disk to the outside, but I doubt the same would be true of a hard drive. --68.210.95.54 11:45, 1 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Not correct.  DVD+RW specifically supports byte accurate access for both read and write.  DVD-RW does not - that's the practical difference.  DVD-RAM does not support byte accurate access on the disc itself, but like hard discs and floppy discs a byta can be changed by reading the whole sector; making the required change and then writing it back.  Incidentally, BD-RE contains the DVD+RW technology whereas HDDVD-RW does not. 86.178.9.171 (talk) 17:05, 24 September 2010 (UTC)

text: It is not exact to say DVD-RAM are formatted like hard-disks, and the sentence "The on-disc structure of DVD-RAMs is closely related to hard disk and floppy disk technology, as it stores data in concentric tracks" in the article is wrong. In a DVD-RAM, data is in a long spiral, like in other DVDs, but it's divided into sectors (that can be accessed randomly for read or write operations, like RAM). From the ECMA-330 Standard, chapter 14.1: "Each Track shall form a 360° turn of a continuous spiral", from ECMA-330 Standard, chapter 14.2: "The Track Path shall be a continuous spiral from the inside (beginning of the Lead-In Zone) to the outside (end of the Lead-Out Zone) of the disk."--Evoisard (talk) 17:02, 6 December 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: DVD-RAM does not use a spiral track.  The tracks are annular, just like on a hard disc.  The reference you used applies to single layer conventional DVD media only. 86.178.9.171 (talk) 17:05, 24 September 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  RAM or no RAM 

message: "Long life — without physical damage, data is retained for 30 years minimum."
I wonder if it is just a theoretical claim. There're some theoretical claims about the lifespans of different DVDs:
- Expected longevity of dye-based DVD-R and DVD+R discs is anywhere from 20 to 250 years 
- The phase-change erasable formats (DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, and DVD+RW) have an expected lifetime of 25 to 100 years. 
However some evidence shows the claims may be wrong. Some DVD discs may go off just after a few years or even less.
  DVD-RAM has been around for somewhat less than thirty years so time travel notwithstanding the data is theoretical.
:I had a DVD-RAM disc that kept the data from 1998 till it's destruction by sitting on it by accident in 2006. I never formatted it, and used a particular program to write to it, though, 'til I got a Mac with OS X. That's my personal experience. I do have DVD-RAM discs from 2000 to the present that have also retained data. So, what are you getting after? Apple8800 (talk) 08:52, 11 December 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  The myth of DVD-RAM's data can be retained long 

message: The article uses this phrase several times without defining it. It might be that 'VR' stands for "video recording", but I'm not sure what that has to do with DVD+-RW... and if so, the phrase is doubly redundant: 'video recording mode recording mode'?! So it needs to be explained the first time it's used, or if it's that redundant thing it should get cleaned up. 70.231.133.38 14:07, 17 February 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  VR mode recording mode 

message: Its not clear whether DVD-RAMs are played in their cartridges or have to be removed from these out of these to do so. Are drives that support them specially constructed to accept the cartridges (or bare disks)?--ChrisJMoor 19:04, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: It will always be better to use cartridge DVD-RAMs than cheaper bare ones, especially if you want to use them for numerous writes/reads, what DVD-RAM is designed for. The reason is that any dust particle or finger print across one or more sectors will cause them to be marked as defect and spare ones to be used at their place. The amount of spare sectors is limited, and the necessity for the drive's head to jump back and forth from the main user area to the spare zones will lower the drive's performance, and lifetime. Cartridge recorders can work with bare optical disks too. --Evoisard (talk) 09:53, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  packaging + drives 

message: "It is even possible to use the ext3 file system on a DVD-RAM disc. " - This sentence comes after a sentence about MacOS, but I think it refers to the Linux part two sentences earlier. Anyone to verify in the edit history or with a citation?
--132.231.54.1 19:57, 12 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Misunderstandable part in article? 

message: Just curious as to why a cartridge is needed (or even offered) with DVD-RAM, but not with other media such as CD-RW/DVD+-RW ?
Davez621 (talk) 12:00, 25 January 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Probably because early DVD-RAMs weren't very scratch resistant. DVD-RAM is also incompatible with other DVD discs so it was pretty easy to develop a cartridge for DVD-RAM, because non-DVD-RAM-drives cannot read the DVD-RAM even if it didn't have the cartridge. Urvabara (talk) 08:29, 12 August 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Why is a cartridge needed? 

message: I do not understand. What is DVD-RAM2? There is already DVD-RAM version 2.x. Can you put some info about DVD-RAM2 to the main article? Urvabara (talk) 17:46, 27 February 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  What is DVD-RAM2? 

message: Is this Spare Area only used when UDF formated or is it used trasparently internal of the device for any filesystem?
-> SSA (supplementary spare area) can be defined when formatting a DVD-RAM, but before partitioning them (see the dvd+rw-format and mkudffs commands in Linux systems - dvd+rw-format allows setting SSA and has to be executed first, whereas UDF appears to have no concept of SSA)
I'm not confident enough about my sources to add this information to the article though.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by CrisisCorEzz (talk • contribs) 12:31, 19 February 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Spare Area 

message: After suffering three DVD-R data coasters for whatever reason, I remembered I had some DVD-RAM from 2006, and I read about the format. Seems cool...the disc worked, and I have Panasonic 2-3x discs. Supposedly there should be 5x, 6x, 8x, and 12x discs and I thought for a second, "Wow, this is cool and I can buy a new faster disc for backups."
Not so - 5x discs are almost unavailable and as far I see, development on DVD-RAM ended in 2004 with the release of the 5x discs by Maxell and Panasonic. All you can buy anywhere are 10 year old packages of 3x discs. The low low price of solid state storage and high cost of DVD-RAM means that this format has been abandoned.
Optical drives in general have been slow and less than fully reliable storage, only the physical distribution of movies and software on discs prevents the whole technology from being abandoned.76.105.131.18 (talk) 02:26, 1 October 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Extinction update - no new media 

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thread_title:  External links modified