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HP DVD+R Writers Examined
tedgyz writes "CDR-Info has an article on the new DVD-writer lineup from HP - the dvd200i and dvd200e. Both of these models include support for DVD+R. In light of the recent review by "The Tech Report" noted in a recent slashdot article, this is a very important step in the evolution of recordable DVD." I've got a USB HP external burner which works great - I'm strongly considering buying one of these.
Pioneer DVR-AO3 can be found at pricewatch for under $380; DVD-RW media can be purchased for $4 each, again found through pricewatch. These prices reflect a drive that writes CD-R/CD-RW/dvd-rw/and dvd-r... (Note that for video compatibility, dvd-r runs around 95% with current players, while dvd-rw and dvd+rw both work with around 30% of current dvd players...) At any rate, I do highly recommend the Pioneer model mentioned above... I purchased it from MicroPro.Com ($379) 2 weeks ago, and media from QTCCDR.Com ($4/each). To put the cost of media in proper perspective, at this price, you would only pay 50 cents more for a 4.7 GB of mp3's on DVD-RW vs the same on 80min CD-R's (assuming 50 cents each...)
... or any other manufacturer (Philips, for example) that put out a 1st generation DVD+RW drive and refused to honor their promise to support DVD+R on those drives.
To make a long story short, HP, Philips, and others marketed their 1st gen drives as being DVD+RW, with DVD+R supported by a to-be-released firmware upgrade. Now, six months later, they (quietly) claim that the drives are physically unable to write to +R media, and are being elusive in making good on their promise to support that cheaper, more compatible media.
dvdplusrw.org is a great place to get more information on the media and current state of the community. It will also give you updates on what these manufacturers are doing to support their early-adopter customers.
... i would have checked the article but im pretty sure that i can't get it cause it's been /.'d - but can you wrtie more than 4.8gb's yet? dont dvd's currently support 2 sides 2 layers per side making them capable of hold up to 18gb of info (roughly anyways). I'm all for the dvd writters when i know that they will do the full disc and not just one side one layer...
oh... just got the article - but damn is it slow comming... here's what it says....
Hewlett-Packard Compan today announced it will ship its latest super combination DVD writers, which allow customers to create and share custom CDs and DVDs using video, digital images, music and data. The HP DVD Writer dvd200i, a powerful internal drive, and the HP DVD Writer dvd200e, HP's first external DVD writer, include features making them very easy for consumers to use and enabling the creation of DVDs by notebook PC owners.
Now, consumers can safely save their cherished memories -- everything from photos to custom-made home movies(1) -- with the confidence that they can't be erased or copied over. This new protection is made possible by the drives' support for the new DVD+R format. Additionally, DVD+R discs offer increased compatibility with most existing and future DVD-ROM drives and DVD video players.
According to a recent IDC report,(2) DVD writer shipments are expected to grow from 3.9 million units this year to 35 million in 2005. While consumers use rewritable DVD for a variety of applications, a primary benefit of HP's new products will be simplifying the transfer and editing of home video. In fact, in a recent HP consumer survey, 66 percent of respondents indicated video applications were the primary appeal of DVD writers.
``The idea of sending video highlights of a child's soccer game to Grandma on a personalized DVD really arouses consumer passion for DVD writers,'' said Dean Sanderson, product portfolio manager, HP Customer Business Organization, North America. ``As such, we are bundling with our DVD writers software that gives customers a quick and simple way to edit movie clips and allows anyone to produce great video.''
Also included with the drive is the latest MyDVD software by Sonic Solutions that offers powerful Edit-on-DVD technology, making it simple to change content already on a DVD+RW disc without going through the time-consuming process of rewriting an entire disc.
To support the variety of ways consumers use DVD writers, these new drives can write to several different media formats, including DVD+RW/+R and CD-R/RW. And, with the industry's fastest write speeds, the HP DVD Writer 200 series burns those discs quickly -- allowing consumers to write three hours of video to a DVD in less than 30 minutes.(3) The drives offer speeds of 2.4x (write), 2.4x (rewrite) and 8x (read). In addition, CD recording is simple and fast with 12x CD-R (write), 10x CD-RW (rewrite) and 32x CD (read) speeds.
Furthermore, the HP DVD Writer dvd200e drive allows customers to choose a connection type -- either IEEE 1394 or USB 2.0 -- with the flip of a switch, making it easy to install and share the drive on a desktop or notebook PC.
Pricing and Availability
The HP DVD Writer dvd200i drive is expected to be available at major retail outlets in the United States by mid-April at an estimated U.S. street price of $499.(4)
The HP DVD Writer dvd200e drive is expected to be available at major U.S. computer retail outlets in May at an estimated U.S. street price of $599.(4)
HP DVD+RW discs are currently available nationwide at an estimated U.S. street price of $10.99. HP DVD+R discs are expected to be available in April at an estimated street price of $5.99. At the same time, HP also will release a three-pack of DVD+RW discs at an estimated U.S. street price of $25.99 and a five-pack of DVD+R discs at an estimated U.S. street price of $27.99.
and look, nothing that I can see about recordable sizes... anyone else got any info about this?
They're going to call it Super-Duper Drive.
I've been searching via google for a while now and trying to find information on burning dvds with linux. There's cdrecord-PRO but its only for data.
... the color space limitatino of DV (4:1:1) coupled with the MPEG2 artifacts of DVD make the two in combination somewhat undesirable for me. I'd rather burn a half hour of good quality video onto a DVD and be required to use a computer to watch it (hell, my computer IS my television, anyway), at better resolutions and without the ugly artifacts, than accept the compromises of both DV and DVD just so I can play it in grandma's region-coded, MPAA crippled DVD player. Far better to build her a small computer with the appropriate software on it, instead.
It is also impossible to get any information out of the author on how to actually go about paying the $100 he wants for cdrecord-PROdvd, as I and many others who wanted to buy the product discovered. The author didn't answer any of the three separate emails (on three different occasions) I sent, nor any of the questions posted in public forums (USENET in particular) by numerous people. One guy who asked he flamed into oblivion, others he told "email me", and still others, myself included, were simply ignored.
This delayed my purchase of a Pioneer DVR-A03 DVD-RW burner by about a year. However, three days after the Free Software Foundations fork of cdrtools, entitled dvdrtoos, made its appearance I purchased a Pioneer drive (since that is what the software fork's author has) and have been burning data DVDs ever since.
The author's goal is to support the burning of video DVDs, but the software isn't there yet. However, I'm still waiting for a better CODEC was well
So here's to holding out for ogg-tarkin!
In the meantime, at least I have a place to burn my high-bitrate MPEG4 recordings of Star Trek Enterprise to (two episodes a disk and far better quality than videotape will allow, though still with enough annoying artifacts that I don't want to use it for my own work).
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
Remember, Beta was the better format, VHS won because of better marketing.
Beta
was not discernibly better than VHS, and originally, the tapes only came in 1 hour's. This was a big problem. Also, some people attribute VHS's success to the porn industry, whereas Porn was not allowed to be distributed on Beta.