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Digital Linear Tape (DLT) has, for some time, been the de facto standard as an input medium for DVD mastering and replication. DLT's capacity and reliability-combined with its affordability and speed that's more than adequate for high-- precision mastering environments-- have been major reasons why many replicators aren't too anxious to switch to a new medium. In the long-term, however, could DVD-R become the mastering-source standard for DVD replication that CD-R became for CD-ROM replication? Veterans of early CD-ROM publishing recall that CD-R, like DVD-R, wasn't always ideally suited for making masters. But as the format evolved, so did the replication community's acceptance of it. Will the same thing happen to DVD-or has it begun happening already? Now that 4.7GB DVD-R (version 2.0) media has been available for some time-and further upgrades are imminent-has the replication industry begun to embrace the optical format as a valid alternative to DLT?
According to the replicators, the answer is a unanimous and resounding "not yet." While most of the major replicators have upgraded their equipment to handle titles submitted on DVD-R and other alternative media, very few titles-to-be are actually arriving on anything but DLT. "Ninety-nine percent of material that we receive is still submitted on DLT," says Bob Friedman, vice president of technical operations at Crest National. "The industry itself is still very much DLT-- based." Even though replicators are seeing some titles that are submitted on DVD-R, DLT tapes by far still outnumber the titles that are sent in on DVD-R discs. "Although we are seeing some 2.0 DVD-R media, 98% of what we receive is DLT," says
Michael Strange, director of video entertainment at Sony Disc Manufacturing (SDM).
growing pains
DLTs monopoly as an input medium for mastering and replicating DVD titles began because it was, quite simply, a format that worked. DLT supplied replicators with a reliable format that had enough size and speed to guarantee the effective transfer of the large files associated with DVD-Video. Because DLT has proved itself to be a dependable media, DVD authors and replicators have almost exclusively used the tape...