By now you probably know that a DVD is just a CD that can hold a lot more data. DVD/CD reader drives have been standard components in most PCs for the last couple of years. And since CD Writers have become the new holy grail of PC backup, a lot of people are wondering "shouldn't I get a DVD Writer instead?

My answer for now is: probably not! Manufacturers' marketing claims notwithstanding, DVD Writers still have a way to go. 

For starters at $500, they still aren't cheap. More importantly, the manufacturers are only now beginning to harmonize their various recording formats, which will allow you to reliably read the DVD your friend created on another PC.

Record your video to a DVD today and chances are not good it will playback on your friend's TV top DVD player.

DVD Writer technology is one of the hottest in the market today. I suspect later this year we will see the first semi-reasonably priced units that survive the format wars. In the meantime, hang on to your money. A recommendable DVD Writer is probably just months away.

That's not to discourage two types of users. 

Those who simply want to backup their data and consequently will playback the DVDs they write only on the same drive, should have little problem.

Would- be DVD genealogy publishers can safely start building their collection of "video assets" (video clips, sound clips, the all-important script) now on hard disk now, planning to copy it to DVD next season.