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The Ulltimate DVD Burner?
prostoalex writes "The DRU500A by Sony burns DVD-R/-RW, DVD+RW/+R, and even CD-R/CD-RW discs. The price sticker is relatively high, but for those worried about the compatibility issues of DVD burners this one looks like a solution." FYI: I recently ran a poll on this very topic.
you can piss of both the MPAA and RIAA at the same time. Simply beautiful!
Some MPAA lawyers just had a sudden unexplained sense of euphoria and their eyes turned to '$'s.
"Da ist ein Technölüst in mein Unterpanten!"
what about people (like me) that have two DVD players that do not play CDRs, CDRWs, or burned DVDs (both DVD players in this apt do not have this capability).
So I not only have to pay steep prices for the burner, I also have to pay for a new DVD player? Bah humbug!
Am I the only one?
If not, I'll stick to my Pioneer drive, thank-you-very-much.
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
Does it explode discs at high-speed writing sessions? :D
"Mod, mod, mod...and another troll bites the dust."
But does it make julian fries?
This is not the sig you're looking for
I love their monitors, but their drives? Worse than Western Digital. Their support truly sucks but the drive will be successfull and will trigger a flood from other manufacturers. So, wait it out for 2-3 months when other offerings at cheaper prices will abound.
Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it. -Samuel Johns
I don't own one and i dont know anyone with one, how long does it take to burn a full DVD, is there a difference in between the standards, what's the write speed, average time, etc?
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
Looks interesting. $350 isn't that bad considering what you're getting. But I want to wait and see if Plextor will make a similar drive. Plextor, from my experience, has always had a quality, albeit a little more pricey, showing with their drives.
I hope that they are working on a similar product. This type of thing sounds like it would be right up their alley.
THAT's what I really want. If they manage to innovate the rest of the alphabet in there too, hot damn.
aside: the acronym situation is totally out of control. It's an RIAA ploy. When we can't tell what we're buying anymore, suddenly the piracy will stop...
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
Ask me how..
'Ultimate' has 1 'L'
Yet it is one hundred dollars cheaper than the very first 4-speed CDR burner I bought.
----
"Those who quote others are more likely to one day be quoted" -Tom Planter
I can see the connercials now: It slices it dices - julianns frys! It Burns CD's DVD's Fake IDs.... If left alone it will do your laundry, wash your car.... next year there will be a patch to cure cancer! -Matt
The supplied link leads to a Sony-page with a $349 (USD) price tag. I'm not sure that is "pricey". If it really reads/writes all of the formats, then this is just what many people are waiting for, at a decent price.
Plus, this drive may be so new that they have tested it with high-speed media, and it will not burst into flames 8^)
Being from Sony, though, I would be cautions about any DRM features that the drive may have hidden deep inside that firmware...
"Send an Instant Karma to me" - Yes
Compatibility isn't just about what I can read on my device(s), it's about what other people can read on their devices.
Sure, maybe I can write a DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, etc. etc. etc. but if I don't know what my contacts can read, it won't help me any unless I want to send them redundant copies in every format I can think of.
It'd be nice if they could just come up with one standard and make it universal, or at least compatible with other standards.
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
So how exactly does one duplicate commercial DVD's? I'd like to "backup" some of the ones I own...
it doesn't burn itself up too..
http://macnn.com/news.php?id=16490
THAT is the ultimate DVD burner - burns a DVD, burns a CD, burns itself up too.
guns kill people like spoons make Rosie O'Donnell fat.
However, don't expect it (or the available software) to be either as simple or as nice as the iDVD interface and layout.
(One thing the Macintosh people have down pat is interface. My GOD! it's easy!)
Linux comaptibility is most likely trivial, though, on the upside. Just treat it as a CDRW that has a 4.7 GiB capacity and write to it in UDF packets instead of a Rock Ridge or Joliet stream, it should work.
Don't expect any firmware cracks for this beast either. Sony hardware is pretty hard to crack (Techtronics, probably the best site for getting modded DVD players, has to go and do chip replacement and other nasty-level cracks on standalones.) Besides that, I would presume (since Sony is one of the core members of DVD Forum) that this will automagically region code any video-format DVDs' you create, unless such coding is already required in the writable DVD specifications.
It sucks that for DVD's there won't be a company that can readily capitalize on the market and the product like MP3.com did with music.. then again, music is easier to forge than movies are...
I used to be someone else. Now I'm someone better.
Real life is underrated.
It seems to me that anything made by Sony would have some sort of DRM (you know, digital restrictions management) built in so that it would not be able to burn movie DVDs...
If it has no such restrictions (or they are easily circumvented by using non-sony provided software), this is something I would definitely think about purchasing, but if it has some sort of restrictions on what I can do with my 0's and 1's, I ain't gonna buy it...
Just my $0.02 worth... (and you get your money's worth...)
-RickTheWizKid
At $349, you'd be wasting your money. I paid only $249 for a Sunbeam Gas Grill. At 40,000 BTU/hour, it will easily burn DVD-R/-RW/+RW/+R/ROMs, CD-R/CD-RW/CD-ROMs, floppies, Zip disks, Jaz disks, books, magazines, motherboards, DVD/CD drives, keyboards, hotdogs, steaks, dead rodents, old shoes ... just about anything.
And if you get tired of all the burning, you can choose to turn it down a bit and go with golden brown.
"but for those worried about the compatibility issues of DVD burners this one looks like a solution."
It's from Sony. I'm more concerned with their possibly crippling the device in one way or another, possibly with DRM crap.
Arrrrrrrrrgh! Where's me pot o gold!?
anybody ever hear Howie Carr?
A cigarette lighter burns everything! CDR, CD-RW
even ordinary CDs!
$349 is not terribly expensive by DVD recorder standards. But having recently bought a recorder, one thing I'd really caution folks about is buying one to create video dvd's without really researching it. Most software that comes with burners is complete crap. MyDVD, which came with my Pioneer and is also bundled with the Sony, is a good example of this. It is incredibly limited in terms of adding basic functionality like chapters or even customized menu design. So if you don't want to create something that looks like 'Bobby's first DVD', you are quickly looking at software packages that cost more than the recorder itself (and they still don't have a lot of the functionality you'd expect at that price). Add to that the fact that you need heinous amounts of hard drive space and CPU to work on this stuff, the total price tag quickly jumps way beyond the initial investment.
Where is my dual layer support? Until I can write a full 9.6GB standard DVD, I'll be wary of buying any DVD±RW drive. I don't know what I'd put on a 9.6GB DVD right now, but I want it just the same.
[PowerPoint] is a tool for capitalist presentation
$349.99
as low as $10.40/42 pmts
Financing Details
I have bad credit! Crap.
SCO (noun.)- A Slimy Corporate Ogre. Often seeks free money.
Availability: On or before 11/01/2002
Can't wait... it'll save me a drive bay!
So how exactly does one duplicate commercial DVD's?
Step 1: Move to Canada. (This has its own drawbacks.)
Step 2: Get a CSS descrambler.
Step 3: Follow the directions in the documentation to rip VOB and IFO files.
Step 4: Burn all files ripped from the DVD to a new blank DVD.
Step 5: Enjoy your backup. DO NOT distribute it to a third party.
Will I retire or break 10K?
OK, so it works on windows. Any word on Mac support?
I don't care about being able to record in every writable dvd format available.
I care about being able to burn one disc, and have it usable in every dvd reader I come across.
This is not a good thing. This is simply a less-bad thing while we wait for these bozos to decide on a single recordable dvd format. Unfortunately, I don't really believe that will happen, so this may be the least-bad option available.
Adding to the bad side, as has already been commented, it's a Sony. What kind of restrictions does it come with, anyway? Simply by putting the Sony nameplate on there, you know it isn't your hardware. It belongs to Sony, they are just letting you use it in a few restrictive ways for a little while.
This is my sig. There are many like it but this one is... Oops. Frank, I've got your sig again! Where's mine?
I can just imagine the conference call with the heads of sony pictures and sony music bitching at the head of sony electronics. How are the poor bastards gonna pay for the yacht with the heli-pad with all the stupid consumers wrecking thier business model?
"...more and more of our imports come from overseas." - G.W. Bush
Etymology: Medieval Latin ultimatus last, final, from Late Latin, past participle of ultimare to come to an end, be last, from Latin ultimus farthest, last, final, superlative of (assumed) Latin ulter situated beyond
Damn! I knew I should have bought a burner before the MPAA made 'em illegal...
You can't take the sky from me...
Shouldn't this have been titled "the ultimate optical recording drive", since it burns DVDs (DVD-R and DVD-RW), non-DVD high density optical discs (DVD+R and DVD+RW), as well as "low density" CD-R and CD-RW.
I'm tired of people whining and moaning about how there is no standard for writeable DVDs when it is in fact documented on the DVD Format and Logo Licensing site (http://www.dvdfllc.co.jp) - the standard formats are DVD-R, DVD-RW, and DVD-RAM. That's it. Nothing else. There is no other DVD writeable format available. Anything else (DVD+R, DVD+RW) is simply similar to DVDs, though not properly DVDs.
* As is generally the case, my opinions do not reflect those of my employer.
Forgot about that one, didn't they?
My, how quickly they forget.
And if it DID burn DVD-RAM, I'd ask whether it can handle both Type 1 and Type 2 DVD-RAM. (Don't ask...)
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
That's damn cheap, I'd say! I'm Norwegian, and the cheapest I could find on one of the best Norwegian computer-sites costs approximately $380, and that's just DVD-R/-RW
Once the 4.7g DVD wars are over the next format of "Blue DVD" will emerge. Then I can get Titanic in 1080 HDTV on a home player.
Then we'll all have to buy new burners.
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Why won't any of these companies make scsi versions of these drives?
If somebody had brought out a combined VHS/Betamax VCR, would it have been a solution? In the short term, yes, in the long term, no, it would have been silly.
Besides that, I would presume (since Sony is one of the core members of DVD Forum) that this will automagically region code any video-format DVDs' you create, unless such coding is already required in the writable DVD specifications.
Each DVD Video title contains a set of flag bits that determine whether to block playing the title on a particular region. If your encoder software requires you to specify a region set, tell it to encode for the following set of regions: {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8}.
unless such coding is already required in the writable DVD specifications.
DVD Video is an application of DVD. I don't think the writable DVD specifications say anything about the applications, except that the Key Area (used to hold digital restrictions management keys) shall be burned with 0 bytes during manufacture.
It sucks that for DVD's there won't be a company that can readily capitalize on the market and the product like MP3.com did with music
That's because the price of producing a feature film still hasn't fallen to consumer level. (Music arrived when 16-channel trackers and wave editors came out.) Very few Flash movies you can find on the Internet are feature-length.
Will I retire or break 10K?
Whilst marketing this new drive, I think Sony have just accidently solved Fermat's last theorem :-).
http://www.dvdplusrw.org/
Jesus used to be my co-pilot, but we crashed in the mountains and I had to eat him.
An in-depth article about the formats and the Sony drive is over at news.com.
Looking for any old 8-bit Heathkit/Zenith software/hardware - http://heathkit.garlanger.com
DVDs would be more of the same. Most DVD burner users just want to save their family movies or transfer their VHS collection to a more stable medium.
Sony, among other things, sells copyrighted music.
I expect this device to contain some kind of DRM firmware that will make impossible to copy certain CDs/DVDs (e.g. Sony ones), or -worse- watermark the copied media in order to track, find and prosecute who copied it the first time.
While I still have great respect for Sony's technology (they make GREAT devices), I don't trust them enough to put any Sony product in any of my machines.
(One thing the Macintosh people have down pat is interface. My GOD! it's easy!)
My GOD! Having no options make it so easy to keep the same interface!
Piece of shit macintoshes, and the people that run them....
Sounds like someone needs to download and burn a pirated copy of Adobe Premiere. Need a copy?
DVD-RAM has built-in hardware error checking and a 30 year shelf life. Its also 11 bucks for 9.4 gigs at compusa. I wouldn't use other RW fomats just because they are marketed better- they can't go the distance (-RAM has 100,000 rewrites,-RW jsut has 1000) Another neat thing- linux thinks its a standard harddrive, you can do scheduled backups with a 1 line cron job. An overview on the formats is herea mwhitepaper.shtml
http://www.toshiba.com/taissdd/products/docs/dvdr
Yea, you and that other guy want to know!
This page
AND
This page
explain there are only double sided DVD-Rs which would add up to your 9.4GB, there are no dual layer Recordables just yet. But I'm sure somebody will come up with a way to make them, right?
because most movies are bigger than the 4.7 GB of space you get on a blank DVD recordable.
I realized this two minutes after I submitted the comment. However, you'll still find a lot of single-layer (4.7 GB) DVD movies out there.
Or you could get one of those players that plays MPEG-4 movies, such as a PlayStation2 console or this set-top DivX player.
Will I retire or break 10K?
No way! Most lawyers are perfectly capable of holding multiple contradictory thoughts in there heads at the same time. It is part of the job.
Jack William Bell
- -
Are you an SF Fan? Are you a Tru-Fan?
his anus isn't bleeding, dumbass
According to The Register, the Pioneer drives are actually the ultimate DVD burners, burning DVDs more thoroughly than any other drive... (Oh yeah, and there's only one l in ultimate)
So, I guess it's safe to assume that this one doesn't implode?
I click yes. It's okay, really.
I'll just tell them when they come to my door that hardly anyone considers what I like to be music.
/^[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,4}$/i
the little thing called DRM technology? that reports how many time you played/viewed (or tried to copy) your product and sends these statistics to the copyright holder.
Sorry Sony, but fuck you.
Would allow me to make copies of any avaliable DVD on the market, easily - 1, 2, 3. Prefreably in less than a half hour.
Can it do that? What use does it have, I doubt anyone is going to buy this so they can burn their home movies onto them... please. With the Windows software avaliable, you'll need a CS degree to do even the simplist things.
Jebus, I can't believe I'm the first one to mention this, but: ULLtimate? For crying out loud...
We have a CD tower at work with ten Plextors (just CD-ROM, not CDR) in it. Even though it gets little use half the drives have failed.
Democrat delenda est
ooh you sound like an authority alright.
When's the last time you used a Mac 1986 ?
With OS X it's a whole new world.
Why don't you pull your head out and get a bit more informed before inflicting your ignorance upon us all.
"FYI: I recently ran a poll on this very topic."
/. masses think that using "CowboyNeals photographic memory for all my data storage needs" is the way to go.
Thanks for posting the link to that poll, chrisd. I was going to buy this drive until I saw that the
So far as I can tell, the hardware industry has written off the DVD format as a consumer medium. Why? Unlike CDROM drives, there are basically no SCSI DVD drives in existence. Call me a SCSI purist, but I won't buy a DVD drive until I can stick it on my SCSI chain.
DVD+RW drives can be used like harddrives/floppy disks. DVD-RW drives will never be able to do that.
DVD+RW drives can position their read/write heads accurately. DVD-RW cannot accurately position their drive heads. This means that individual sectors of the DVD+RW can be written to, erased and replaced by new information in a way similar to a harddisk.
And this means that you can use your DVDs like a HD, THINK ABOUT IT! Why the fnck do computer users have to put up with special CD burning software? It's a major hassle.
It's because CDs were designed to be INCOMPATIBLE with PCs by the music industry!!! Special CD burning software was invented to circumvent that limitation of CDs but the process is still inherently a hack, a hack that gives countless people lots of grief every day.
For example, You have to be absolutely sure what you want to store before you make the big plunge of burning the CD. Made a mistake? throw away your CD (or erase the whole CD) and start over.
If you want to leave your CD open for multisession writing, to add a small file later, you risk losing all your original files if the new session fucks up.
Not to mention that you have to use special software to use a PC storage device!
If we had to put up with HDs acting like CDs no one would use PCs anymore, but CDs have some advantages that outweigh their annoying-as-hell disadvantages.
We are at a crossroads in PC use. Do we choose for the old-fashioned DVD-RW "official" standard or do we choose for the user friendly DVD+RW standard.
Will we have to use stupid DVD burning software just to store files on a medium? Or will we use DVD+RW and just drag and drop, erase and move our files as if we were using a harddrive or MO-drive?
This is one instance where I hope that Apple will not bring about a new PC standard and that Microsoft will win in promoting DVD+RW. DVD+RW drives using the Mount Rainier standard are the future of DVD drives.
For your own convenience and as a matter of principle, make CD+RW the standard.
- -- Truth addict for life.
you have proven that once again, instead of answering ignorance with wisdom you will blow the moment and be a fuckwad. is that the cause or result of you being a loser?
I recently used Pinnacle Studio 8 to burn my first video DVD of footage from my digital camcorder.
Highly recommended. It's very easy to edit video, set up menus, titles, cool transitions, incorporate stills, etc. Then when you're done it will even burn the DVD for you.
One of the few reasons I still keep Windows on this machine.
what, do you listen to techno?
|---------------|
practically an AC
about a month over a year of minimal use, my 16x plextor died. (right before summer). Whenever you insert a disk the red light just blinks. I cannot return it either.
-metric
Not that there will be a better one a few weeks down the road, right?
You need a FREE iPod Nano
Being able to burn all those formats is great, but who really needs it?
You may need to READ all the formats from different sources, but unless you're going to know exactly what your receipients use, you'll prolly just end up burning to CDR.
I have a DVD reader, but it is on an ancillary controller with just one other device (a CD-RW).
There are a few cases where high-end SCSI drives (either high capacity HD or stuff like the DVD-R/W xyz) are definitely charged at a premium price. Has anyone tried these IDE to SCSI-3/LVL adapters that are knocking around? Are they reliable? Do they even work for non-HD devices? They add about $100 to the price but it still seems to be cheaper than the SCSI variant (if available at all).
Quicktime's Entry into the Interface Hall of Shame is all I have to say to that one.
And any attempts to circumvent the adhesive properties of the glue is considered an attempt to bypass a security measure and thus illegal under the DMCA!
WARNING: DO NOT LET DR. MARIO TOUCH YOUR GENITALS. HE IS NOT A REAL DOCTOR.
with my 2x that's a couple years older. I do a couple discs a week. I think I cleaned it once a few years ago. Too bad Apple doens't support SCSI burners anymore. grrr.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
According to Eminem, nobody listens to techno, so it couldn't be that.
I think it's only second to ultimate... now if it came in SCSI, that would make it the ultimate :(
Abdul Nabi