Optical chip makers in Taiwan are planning on crashing the party beginning early next year andcausing prices to drop on set-top DVD"?RW" recorders. They expect that their entrance into the market will move the current prices for such machines down to ~$300 from its current range of $600-$1000. I’ve meandered the aisles in places like BestBuy looking at these mammas, and they’re sweer to be sure. All hail the death of the VCR! ALi looks to be the leader in Taiwan right now, with others not far behind:
ALi will release samples of its DVD read and write processor in the first quarter, with an integrated TV encoder and compatibility with DVD+RW/-RW formats. The chip will link with its in-house analog front- end chip, for reading RF data from a laser detector and converting it to digital format, and a MPEG-2 encoder/decoder for data compression and decompression, which was developed in-house from its own intellectual property. Small-volume production of the chip set may start by the end of the second quarter.
Of course,DVD?RW technologies on the PCare getting cheaper by the week. I’ve been eyeing thePioneer A04for quite some time now, sometimes tempted to the point of almost giving in, but frankly this whole DVD-RW vs. +RW thing is causing hesitation (hence my use of "?R" above). When and how will this be resolved?
