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HP DVD100i DVD+RW Burner Tested

Posted by timothy on from the hardware-lust-spirals-upward dept.

An anonymous reader writes: "I'm fairly sure this is the first review of a DVD+RW drive. Looks like it fared well in testing. The only downsides to the 100i are slow DAE with audio CD's, lousy manuals, and it can't read DVD-RW (note the dash instead of the plus) discs. Still a tad expensive at 599USD though. Are you reading, Santa?" I want this as a heavy-duty *external* drive :)

6 of 209 comments (clear)

  1. Comparison to Apple SuperDrive? by Outlyer · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Just for a point of comparison... how does this differ from the Apple SuperDrive DVD writer (you've seen the ads) which is included in high end Powermacs? According to Apple's website the SuperDrive is a DVD-R drive, which I was told, couldn't write DVD-Video... so how are they accomplishing it?

    --
    ----------------- "I have a bone to pick, and a few to break." - Refused -------------------
    1. Re:Comparison to Apple SuperDrive? by martin-k · · Score: 5, Interesting
      Well, there is:

      * DVD-R & DVD-RW (Pioneer/Apple)

      * DVD+RW (HP, Ricoh et al.)

      * DVD-RAM (Panasonic)

      Ignoring DVD-RAM (it needs cartridges and is not really DVD at all), and DVD-R (there are no DVD-Rs available AFAIK, but all DVD-R recorders can also burn DVD-RWs), it boils down to deciding whether to go with DVD-RW or DVD+RW.

      If I had to decide NOW, I'd choose DVD+RW for the simple fact that it can burn at 2x while DVD-RW will always be written at 1x.

      Better of course to wait for a couple of months for prices to come down and speed to go up ...

      -Martin

      --
      SoftMaker Office for Windows|Linux|Android
  2. Re:Heavy Duty External? by Jeffrey+Baker · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There are plenty of advantages to an external. First: an external must by SCSI, 1394, or USB, so it won't use up one of your limited motherboard IDE ports. Second: you can swap an external between many systems -- beats having to transfer gigabytes of data over a network. Third: you can turn an external off when you aren't using it. My external CD-RW has probably been on for less than 2 days in the three years I've owned it. This will extend its life. It also saves energy. Fourth: with all external drives, you can have a pizza-box computer. If you want hard disks, cd, cd-rw, dvd, and dvd-+rw in the same case, it has to be an enormous tower.

  3. Other reviews (prior art :-) by eddy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    cdrinfo reviewed the Ricoh 5120A (CDRW and DVR+RW) months ago. Then they did the Philips DVD+RW 208.

    The current review is of a 32x writer, the Mitsumi CR-480ATE, so no need for a "Woow! First review of a 32x writer" in two months :-)

    --
    Belief is the currency of delusion.
  4. Importsnt questions not answered. by Lumpy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What is best for writing dvd video discs?
    the only reason I want a DVD-R or RW or +rw or a r*(rw/r)^rw or whatever they want to call it this week is to make my own DVD flicks (Ok and maybe backup my PS2 DVD's..) but mainly for taking my DV cam's video and spitting it to a nice disc for friends, relatives, archival... basically to completely remove any need for VHS.

    What drives will write a disc that is readable in any DVD player I wander up to?

    what drives are supported under linux?

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  5. Re:PC Magazine Review by elinenbe · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Ug! Why don't people do research before they blindly post. The DVD-R drives burn DVD-R disks that can play in a MUCH greater number of players then a DVD-RW disk.

    Here are some compatibility charts:
    DVD-R compatibility in DVD standalone players (apple.com)
    http://www.apple.com/dvd/compatibility/

    DVD-RW compatibility in DVD standalone players (ricoh.com)
    http://www.ricoh.co.jp/dvd/cope/video.html

    Personal test of DVD-R, DVD-RW, and DVD+RW compatibility (labdv.com)
    http://www.labdv.com/en/hardware/dvd_player.php

    -eric

    -eric

    --
    -eric