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Philips' JackRabbit32 DVD/CD-RW External Drive
James Bell writes "Designtechnica.com has just posted a brief first look of Philips new JackRabbit32 external DVD/CD-RW drive. This appears to be the first information leaked on the net about this product from what I can tell. This drive has multiple video out ports for hook up to a television or other video sources. There is also Dolby Digital 5.1 support as well as USB 2.0 and Firewire support. The drive can also play audio or MP3 CD's as well. Since the decoder is onboard, it should be easy to get the Jackrabbit32 to run under Linux I would imagine."
A DVD/CD-RW? That's sooooooooooooooooo 2001!
I'm holding out for DVD-R/CD-RW's, like Apple's Superdrive, baby.
Seems pretty expensive ($299) for a external cd burner. I guess it is a dvd player too, but $299 is a good chunk out of a new Dell laptop (they have one in the $800 range now).
Nice to see the Slashdot Advertising policy in full effect.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
:( Always disappoints me.
I hear there are aftermarket plans to convert it to beta/8-track formats...l33t g34r
Does "SeamlessLink" leave gaps when it resumes burning like the other "BURN-proof" technology? If so, have fun reading these burned cds in older drives.
Pioneer DVR-105 Speedzter5 External Firewire/USB 2.0 Combo Drive for PC or MAC - PIDVR105SPD5
I suppose that'd be a nice product. I dunno if I'd spend $299 for it, though...
Finally, my dream portable home theater! All you need is a cheap laptop.
The article doesn't state if the drive will be either Firewire or USB or both? Nice option is that it will be self contained for portable player, but what laptop doesn't have the DVD/CD-RW option already. I think that I need to sue for using a likeness to my nickname.
So now I can watch DVD while burning a CD!
(DVD/CD)-R?
Or DVD/(CD-R)?
Forget that, I want a CD/LP-RW)
How about an external 8-Track reader/8 inch floppy drive (with USB support)?
Contact Me (got tired of viruses emailing me).
If this thing doesn't do component video output and preferably progressive scan video, then it's not worth the price. I already have a stand-alone DVD player that does DD5.1, DTS, and all of the lesser Dolby types, progressive scan video, etc. And it has a cool blue LED. I already have several DVD-ROMs in my PCs, and I have a CD-R (bah, who needs CD-RW?). In other words, this thing is pretty useless, because the people that would be buying it likely already have all of the functionality it can provide and more.
You're not going to see Joe Sixpack picking this thing up at the store for $300, because he can get a decent DVD player for half of that, and he doesn't have a computer with USB2.0 anyway. You're not going to see the technically savvy pick this up either, because they already have the separate components this thing replaces. No, this is going to appeal to the "toy" market (which is not a bad thing, and in fact they could get away with charging much more than $300, but it's really not going to go anywhere mainstream).
The drive can also play audio or MP3 CD's as well.
Pluralizing a word does not give it an apostrophe, contrary to popular belief.
The JackRabbit32 will be available in January 2003, and will cost $299.
Hey, that's just in time for Valentine's Day! Now I've got the perfect gift!
He: Look dear, I got you a JackRabbit32!
She: Um, that's nice, but what about....
He: Hang on, let me show you what this baby can do. It can burn a CD, or play one!, Or you can...
(Sound of door slamming.)
Things like that are crude, and uncalled for. :)
Besides, everyone here has probably already seen it.
And, to remain on-topic (so don't mod me), the drive is too expensive for my tastes
Contact Me (got tired of viruses emailing me).
The drive can also play audio or MP3 CD's as well.
/. troll>But can it play ogg??? Can it? Huh?</OB /. troll>
:)
<OB
No, I don't care if it plays ogg. Why would they integrate MP3 playing ability into this CD player anyway? You have to have it hooked up to a computer to use it (I think) and there are tons of free players to use. Oh well, I don't care.
Mark
Philips already has a version of this called the JackRabbit (no 32) that appears similar but without the DVD player. Here is a link to a pdf describing the product.
Now this is one of those few products that you see from time to time that could really come in useful.
That's emphasised when the drive is priced at $299 which is quite a steal considering you don't have to power on your PC OR be limited to your PC monitor OR lug your PC next to your television so you can hook up the TV-out from your Video card.
Yeah, I know a DVD player does the same - but this does what a DVD player doesn't do for all us poor folks out there who are still watching DVDs on their PCs. Here, we basically have a DVD player with CD burn capability. The difference is that you can use the a nice GUI from the PC (your favorite burn software) to control what you want burnt - very useful I say as compared to a standalone burner which would basically be limited to duplicating discs.
I do have one complaint though - It seems to me that the physical drive itself has very few controls ON it. I'm also not sure if the little red piece of glass between the 2 buttons is a display of some sort or an IR receiver - the latter would make more sense and be more useful (think remote control). This would mean though, that the drive does not have a display of it's own which can be a little inconvenient at times.
But it's definitely a step in the right direction. Phillips has been quiet on the CD front for some time - it's nice to see them in the limelight again. Now hopefully, they'll get the guts to go ahead and combat those copy-protection schemes head on.
Find a job you like and you will never work a day in your life.
Since the decoder is onboard, it should be easy to get the Jackrabbit32 to run under Linux I would imagine.
Spoken like someone who knows NOTHING about getting ANYTHING to run under Linux!
I hope that this one will be better though. With all the features that this device provides it sounds like it will replace (or at lease be a cheap alternative) for a home theater reciever/cd player/DVD player with built in writing capabilities, which for the not so rich consumer can be a good thing. It can also be hooked up to the home computer so you can take it with you on trips as a cd-rw. But it seems like every Philips product I have ever purchased seems to crap out after a few months, and spending $300 on a product that will do that does not seem feasable to me. But if philips has worked out all their bugs I may have to pick one of these up.
"The two most abundant elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity." -Harlan Ellison
...we nickname this rabbit 'Bugs'.
I saw the JackRabbit at Philips hotel suite, and can provide a little more info:
They eventually want to put in a DVD+RW drive in the unit.
The unit is meant to not only hook up to your computer, but to your TV as well via SVideo or Composite Video.
Here's a pic.
Aliens? Magnetic Rings?! Bah! Who needs that when we have
Sure apple gives it a new name and calls it superdrive and overcharges you.
But the absurd thing is that your post suggests that you may not konw that dvd-r and cd-r/rw burning drives already exists other then the Pioneer's drives.
Hmmm... Pie...
You're going to spend, what $300 for the newest top of the line video card? (not $600) But you're going to use that thing every day. The DVD/CD-RW, however, you probably wont use as much.
I wonder if there is a relatively cheap way out there to make your own vinyl records?
Anyone?
I suppose one option is a Firewire drive kit and a $50 DVD-ROM drive. Still fairly expensive though.
Random is the New Order.
Who wants to spend $20 on a DVD when I could burn 40 DivX movies for the same price.
I'm a writer, a poet, a genius, I know it. I don't buy software, I grow it.
yes. because, as you should know because you so skillfully typed it into your browser, this is slashdot.org, and not amnesty.org. people dying in china is horrible, but this is /. would you like it to be a mirror for amnesty.org?
i sell illegal drugs
The included remote will also prove useful here, and help it compete with stand alone DVD players.
This'll work on your computer and your TV, but it doesn't really join them up in any sense. You'd think they'd try to make it more of a bridge between one box and the other, the TV and the computer, rather than just a hybrid device at a price. Seems like the idea is using it separately as a stand-alone DVD player, with that remote and all. (They let you "configure the drive" with the remote hooked to a dumb monitor. Not sure what you'd be configuring.)
I dunno... Do you want to go upstairs and pull plugs behind the computer to watch a movie on the TV with this in the living room? I don't know anyone who plays DVDs on their PlayStation, and that's already hooked up. (Does anyone have their TV right next to the computer shrine? Outside of dorm rooms and those who already own video editing setups?)
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
Somehow I managed to read only the name and the Linux reference, so I was thinking "Cool, another game to play on Linux", and then found it has nothing to do with Jazz Jackrabbit. For those who don't know it's an old and fun platform game.
When connected to your computer...
When connected to your computer?!! It practically is a computer! (Although I'm not sure a beowolf cluster of these would do any good...)
Something like this would be great for presentations or for showing videos to people while traveling. Don't get me wrong, powerpoint is good and all, but this thing is SMALL in comparison to a laptop. I like how it shows images on the video out port as well.
Wow! So I can record CD's and play DVD's on this thing, is that really right?!?
And it might be able to work under Linux!!! Did I read that right???
Is this truly the only Earth I can live on?
(wait for it)
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
true.. solaris is the only way to go... because only a complete drooling loser woud use that crap called windows from that microsoft place.
Sheesh what moron or idiot would want that unstable betaware called windows they sell... it's always out of date, is never secure, is easily broken and is too difficult for even their expers to learn.. Look at the MCSE's their experts... most of the time they cant fix it they just get on a phone and call some tech support place.
I agree brother! Solaris is the only OS...
I'll wait for Apple's external version of the SuperDrive.
Of course data CDs have nothing to do with Red Book. Neither do DVDs.
That's all well and good, but my girlfriend's JackRabbit has rotating pleasure beads and vibrating bunny ears.
Beat that Philips! ;)
This is so close to a perfect product... if it only supported DivX, I'd buy two.
So, basically, this is a DVD player that just happens to be able to interface to a computer as well.
Nifty idea, I'd buy one. I have both USB2 and Firewire ports on my system.
It was apparently shown at Comdex
/ comdex_day_3-06.html
http://www6.tomshardware.com/business/02q4/021121
I've seen lots of DVD drives that can play a CD-ROM with mp3s on them. Are there any stand-alone players that can play DVD-Rs with mp3s on them?
If not, are they in the making?
Thanks
"A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
Really, It looks 1998.
Am I the only nerd around here that has realized I can buy an external firewire/usb2.0 case for about $50 and a CR-RW/DVD drive for about $50 as well?
Granted, no video output, though that does appear to be a luxury. Maybe the video can be used by all those managers in presentations? Or, if I had kids, they could watch movies.
Oh, forget it, i'm digging a hole and falling in.
Not to bag on your comment specifically, but is it really funny every time we point this out?
Isn't this just a general understanding by now? Slashdot needing to make money, and using what they do best to accomplish that.
As a business owner myself, I feel almost.. proud of Slashdot. This means they are being a little more responsible and realistic in how the business is ran, and as such, will (hopefully) be around that much longer for *our* enjoyment.
If you're visiting a web site every day, and atleast getting fifteen minutes entertainment out of it.. then the health of that site is not to be taken lightly.
Rob, please do not hesitate to instate a monthly/annual billing system sooner rather than later. I would rather see it done when there are still some cash in the reserves, than as a last ditch method that hasn't gotten the chance it needs to ramp up.
I'm all up for paying $1.95-$3.95/month to Slashdot if it can keep you around. Add the feature, and let it run for a few months with no access stipulations as cause of subscription--everyone is equal access (perhaps if you pay, you don't see the other ads) -- and if that works out well, then stick to it. If it doesn't work out well.. play with the pricing until it does, and from that point figure out your future strategy.
But by God, ignore these people that laugh at you/Slashdot for trying to run an honest business. We really do appreciate what you have done here.
Jason Fisher
[aka BloodHawk, oldschool #4am IRC'er]
That's my question. Probably no BIOS support?
Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
Having a CD burner inside your DVD player adds no value whatsoever other than saving a bit of space. Now if it had VIDEO IN and could burn a (S)VCD directly without PC intervention, that would be different. But as it is it's just a box that happens to have two different devices inside that cannot take advantage of each other in any particular way. No particular synergies at all.
4.7 gig of MP3's would mean a lot less disks to tote around.
And as others have commented, make it burn DVD's, too..
The law is a weapon of the government, not a protection for the likes of you. Surely you understand that.
I wonder if the device has a Rabbit microprocessor in it? Many drives do use Z80 compatible processors (eg Toshiba) - but on the other hand, perhaps the name is unrelated.
Note that the article does *not* state that the DVD playback can go through the digital interfaces to the computer and I highly suspect that the DVD playback is only in "standalone" mode (perhaps with computer control? I doubt it though.)
Way to hype!
>:^o
*whoops*, I stand slightly corrected...The drive does come with PowerDVD to do DVD decoding on the computer...So technically you could play DVDs from this drive through the computer (but I strongly doubt DVD decoding is done on the drive in this case.)
Ugly bugger init. Well there again so were the first generation (and second) of portable CD players. That was mainly due to the battery of the time. If only it had a pcmcia slot big enough for a micro drive and well, next years model perhaps or a built in HD with built in CD copy and portable storage, naaaaa no chance. Still a very fine product with a nice niche filled. I await the attachable screen aka PS-one style to allow portable viewing soon - clearly has expansion space hidden in that case somewere.
Since the decoder is onboard, it should be easy to get the Jackrabbit32 to run under Linux... Does this mean when u use a copy pretected cd, instead of crashing your whole computer, it just wipes out the whole onboard firware of your drive? lotta money goin 2 waste
DVD burning contest!
Why have a full 5.1 Dolby/DTS decoder etc on the CD/DVD drive? For an average user they are not going to have the 5.1 speaker set or need the decoder even if they do.
If they DO have a 5.1 spaker set, the higher up ones (like the Logitech Z-680's) have a hardware decoder built in.
You can also have a soundcard with the decoding built in.
With any 5.1 soundcard (like Turtle Beach Santa Cruz/Videologic sonicfury/xplosion, Live!5.1 and up, Herc Fort etc) you can get software decoders like in PowerDVD and WinDVD to do the decoding for you.
Thats four levels of Decoding already - will people actually pay for it on the drive, if in fact they either don't need it because not enough speakers, or don't need it because they have 3 other ways to decode the audio alrday?
It supports mp3 dvds
Aliens? Magnetic Rings?! Bah! Who needs that when we have
*cough* karma whore *cough* *cough*
Maybe you should wait for other people to keep you up to date. Just making - wrong - guesses does not do a lot.
:)
Furthermore, since DVD movies are just seen as (encrypted) files on a DVD drive, you might have guessed that DVD playback on a computer would not be a problem.
IMHO this is might be a nice product, albeit a bit expensive. Especially with an ultra portable (no cd player) this drive may be usefull. You won't be needing a special connector and you can still use the drive as standalone MP3/DVD player or on another computer.
With an USB II interface you can use it on any computer with an USB connector. It looks like it will support Mt Rainier too, so if M$ hurries a bit you can transfer files without hassle from any computer.
I heard a linux mt rainier driver is also in the make, though I could not find it.
Maarten
ps. forgot loginname, is somewhere on my palm (now where is my palm
Mod parent down, please. This is stale, and not funny in the least. Give it up already!
Anybody know how much more it would have cost for it to work with Firewire rather than USB2.0? I'm just totally turned off by the USB2. Isn't USB2 just a copy of Firewire designed to make money for Intel at the industry's and consumer's expense? Wouldn't Firewire be 10 times more common if Intel hadn't been pushing all the manufactures to hold off for the arrival of USB2? Isn't USB2 way more CPU intensive? No way in hell would I go out and buy a USB2 card.
On another note...This would be a good time to buy a CDRW that you intended to keep for while since, according to Tom's Hardware, CDRWs have arrived at a point where their speed can't really go up anymore do to some kind of inherent physical limitations.
There is also Dolby Digital 5.1 support as well as USB 2.0 and Firewire support...Since the decoder is onboard, it should be easy to get the Jackrabbit32 to run under Linux I would imagine.
What, you think the DVD alliance suddenly decided to allow a manufacturer to create a device with unencrypted output over FireWire? Nuh-uh. This thing will be accessed over the FireWire/USB2 ports the exact same as any other FireWire/USB2 drive. The decoder will only be useful when you're using the analog outputs on the drive; the PC-component portion of the thing will act as any other RPC2 drive, I imagine.
± 29 dB
...You mean, unlike the GPL community that has GIVEN them software to do the same thing? (See: Red Flag Linux)
Routers don't kill people, people kill people.
(Oh my god, I sound like a glibertarian!)
okay, then post stories on them and stop getting -1:offtopic's from posting comments about them on a story about a cd burner
i sell illegal drugs
The error of youth is to believe that intelligence is a substitute for
experience, while the error of age is to believe experience is a substitute
for intelligence.
-- Lyman Bryson
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