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Watch out VHS—the recordable video disc is about to arrive. NEC plans
to launch the first digital disc recorder for the home in Japan in September.
The catch? It could be one of four rival standards. NEC’s Multimedia Video Disc
is incompatible with the official standard for DVD-RAM optical discs, which are
already available for computers. Panasonic has promised to produce a DVD-RAM
video recorder, while Philips and Sony plan to support a third standard called
DVD+RW and Pioneer threatens a fourth, called DVD-RW. All are capable of storing
around four hours of video.