Maxell: Feel free to bang this DVD around

Maxell this week announced a new line of DVD products that it says are scratch- and dust-resistant.

TDK also markets a
scratch-resistant DVD.

The 4.7GB DVD-R Pro features the company's proprietary hard-coat technology, which makes discs resistant to scratches, the company said. Additionally, Maxell said, the antistatic quality of the new DVDs means they can be used in dusty environments and in jukeboxes.

Meanwhile, Japanese media maker TDK has started selling recordable discs with a polymer coating designed to make them scratch-proof. The coating has been endorsed by the industry group backing the new Blu-ray disc format.

Additionally, at this month's Consumer Electronics Show, Imation showcased DVDs with a "memory protection" layer that guards against scratches and smudges, and which has an antistatic treatment.

"Recordable DVD technology is a key data storage platform for a broad spectrum of business customers and applications, including imaging, backup, archiving, data transfer and content distribution," Steven Pofcher, senior marketing manager at Maxell, said in a statement. "DVD-R PRO satisfies the media reliability and data protection needs of business users, as well as consumers."

Maxell said the 8X DVD-R Pro is currently available, and 16X DVD-R Pro discs will begin shipping in March.

Pricing information was not released.