DVD NEWS-(C)1999-2003 DVD NEWS. Distributed for AM Newswire Inc via M2 Communications Ltd (www.m2.com).

Sony Electronics announced two new Dual RW DVD drives that support 8X DVD+R recording.

Its latest duo of high-speed burners underlines Sony's DVD drive ingenuity and market leadership. In fact, The NPD Group ranked Sony number one (based on dollar market share) for DVD burner sales in the combined U.S. retail and reseller markets during August 2003.

Sony's award-winning Dual RW drives, which started shipping a year ago this month, were the PC industry's first combination drives to support the DVD+RW, DVD+R, DVD-RW and DVD-R formats. Speed takes center stage with Sony's fourth-generation Dual RW drives -- the internal DRU-530A and the external DRX-530UL -- which are capable of recording to compatible DVD+R discs at speeds of up to 8X, enabling users to burn an entire 8X DVD+R disc in about ten minutes.

The new drives also support up to 4X DVD+RW and DVD-R recording, as well as 2X DVD-RW, 40X CD-R and 24X CD-RW recording, making them among the fastest and most proficient on the market.

"Sony is the pioneer of dual-format DVD drives," said Robert DeMoulin, marketing manager for branded storage products in Sony Electronics' IT Products Division. "While others are only just now introducing dual-format DVD drives, we have released our fourth generation of Dual RW burners. With the new 530 models, we are continuing to provide consumers and businesses the utmost in recording functionality and playback."

According to IDC, with an expanding consumer and professional appetite for high-capacity applications, stand-alone and PC-attached DVD recorder purchases are expected to grow from five million in 2002 to 19 million in 2003, a more than-threefold increase over last year. IDC further anticipates that the DVD recorder market will grow to over 100 million units in 2006, including over 60 million PC DVD burners.

"DVD recording is at the threshold of mass adoption with consumers in the U.S.," said Wolfgang Schlichting, Research Director for Removable Storage at IDC. "DVD burners are appealing primarily to consumers who are looking to upgrade the multimedia capabilities of their computers, but also to commercial users looking to improve their backup systems."

A popular application for Sony's Dual RW DVD drives is transferring VHS tapes to DVD. They are also ideal for recording and distributing corporate training programs, which can save a company the expense of having a large number of employees travel to headquarters for training.