Panasonic Praises OSTA For Establishing DVD-RAM ""MultiRead"" Optical Drive Specification

13-Apr-00

Panasonic, a leading producer of DVD-RAM products, today praised the Optical Storage Technology Association (OSTA) for its actions to end consumer confusion related to rewriteable DVD compatibility.To support the industry's steady migration to DVD technologies, OSTA has extended the capabilities of its ""MultiRead"" optical drive specification. The new MultiRead2 specification states that CD- and DVD-conforming drives will read 2.6GB DVD-RAM rewriteable media.""To protect consumers from compatibility issues and eliminate confusion, OSTA has developed a single standard that ensures media interchangeability of recorded media,"" explained Dr. Paul Liao, Chief Technology Officer of Matsushita Electric Corporation of America, for which Panasonic is the principal brand. ""After completing all necessary testing, OSTA issued MultiRead 2, which validates DVD-RAM. This specification paves the way for DVD-RAM to reach the tremendous potential the DVD Forum envisioned for it.""DVD-RAM is the industry's first rewriteable DVD format, and it provides a number of significant advantages over other removable, rewriteable storage options. These include:- A DVD-RAM disc provides a read/write capacity of 5.2GB (about 8 times that of CD-R/RW) on two sides (2.6GB single-side media).- DVD-RAM media offers extremely inexpensive storage at less than $0.01 per MB.- Rapid data transfer at 1.385MB/second for DVD-RAM, 2.77MB/second for DVD-ROM and 20X CD-ROM read speed- High-speed access at 120ms or better for DVD-RAM; 85ms or better for DVD-ROM and CD-ROM- Unprecedented media interchangeability - DVD-RAM drives can read discs currently accepted by CD-ROM, CD Audio, CD-R, CD-RW and video CD drives, as well as DVD-ROM, DVD videos and DVD-R drives- More than 100,000 write/overwrite cycles- A technically-proven growth path - next-generation media will provide a single-side capacity of 4.7GB; ultimately, higher capacities will be availablePanasonic began shipping its DVD-RAM drive in April 1998, and was the first company to deliver a DVD-RAM drive fully compliant with the DVD Forum specification. The company now is projecting that industry-wide DVD-RAM drive sales will reach 1.5 million units by the end of 2000. In January, Panasonic announced plans to market its first DVD-RAM-based video recorder, which will offer consumers exceptional picture quality, multi-disc playback, digital recording and random access when connected to home theater components.Additional information on Panasonic brand DVD-RAM drives and media is available through Panasonic Document Imaging Company, 201 392 6355, truppim@panasonic.com. Details on Panasonic DVD-RAM drives and media for OEMs are available from Panasonic Industrial Company, 408 945 5600, berzind@panasonic.com.Panasonic is the best known brand name of Osaka, Japan-based Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (NYSE: MC), one of the world's leading producers of electronic and electric products for consumer business and industrial use. Additional information on Panasonic and Matsushita Electric is available at www.panasonic.com.

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