A DVD recorder that can record one TV programme while playing back another
recording from the same disc has been developed by the Japanese electronics
company Matsushita, which markets consumer electronics under the more familiar
name of Panasonic.
The recorder will be the first that can do this. It will also use a single
laser for both recording and playback鈥攈elping to keep the price down.
Other companies are also racing to develop play-and-record DVDs, with the first
of them going on sale later this year.
The TiVo 鈥減ersonal video recording鈥� system can also play and record at the
same time. But TiVo stores its data on a computer hard disc and needs separate
heads for recording and playback. And unlike DVDs, the recordings cannot be
stored in a library at home鈥攁lthough they can later be downloaded onto a
DVD.
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The Panasonic recorder uses ordinary blank recordable DVDs. The single laser
continually alternates between high power to 鈥渂urn鈥� a recording and low power to
read one. At the same time, the laser skips between different parts of the disc,
recording onto one and reading from another.
A memory buffer allows the DVD recorder to store data while it is playing
back a programme and recording, so that it can switch seamlessly between the two
without affecting the quality of either.