DVD-RAM compatability
The consensus I've heard is that existing DVD players won't be compatible
for DVD-RAM disc playback. First, there are two RAM media types under
consideration; MO and Phase Change. It's unknown what the reflection
range will be, especially with MO, and whether existing pickups will
track it. There has to be "defect mapping" for rewritable media which
existing players don't handle. DVD-V players also don't handle the
non- sequential recording modes used by the UDF file format that
record files in linked blocks. There is much more flexibility with
DVD-ROM drives, where many of the logical layer problems can be fixed
at the driver and application level in the computer system.
-Kilroy Hughes ([email protected]), DVD FAQ
maintainer