Remember the old CD burner wars. When 4x was the top dog. It"s back again, but this the CD burner war is the DVD burner war. Philips announced that they have created the world"s fastest DVD burner. This burner has a speed of 16x which can burn an entire disc in less than six minutes.
Philips Electronics has launched the world"s first 16-speed DVD writer, which can burn a disc in less than six minutes, the Dutch group said on Tuesday. U.S. computer maker Dell will be the first customer for the new DVD burner, sources familiar with the Philips activity told Reuters. Philips and Dell have a partnership to supply each other with products.
Philips said it planned to produce 600,000 of the devices every month. Computer makers will pay between 80 and 90 euros ($97-$109) per DVD writer when buying in large quantities, while consumers will have to pay around 180 euros. The product, which has two layers that take the maximum storage capacity up to 8.5 gigabytes or four hours of DVD quality video, will be a mainstream feature in personal computers by the end of 2004, Philips said. Until now, eight-speed burners were at the top of the range.