DVD-Rs go 8x

DiZASTiX writes "It seems that the next speed level for DVD Writers is here. "The race for Xs is still on and Plextor has gone into the lead with the PX-708A, what Plextor claims is the first commercialized 8X DVD recorder. At this speed, a 4.5 GB DVD+R takes under 9 minutes to record. That is about the same as a CD in just over a minute. What we wanted to know was whether the reliability and compatibility of blank supports suffer from this breakneck speed...""

Comments

Advertising

[Anonymous Coward]

The present media won't stand it. I've yet to see a 4X writer, standalone or SuperDrive in a Mac, that will be 100% reliable at 4X. And if it's not the media, it's the writing technology.

This would be a major breakthrough if it works. IF. I'm skeptical.

buffer

[iamthemoog]

8x is a pretty damn fast write speed for a 2MB buffer. I know Plextor have introduced a whole bunch of buffer under-run stuff, but I for one would be happier with a bit more. (especially since my hard drive is so horribly fragmented....)

8MB wouldn't (shouldn't?) be out of the question for a top of the line product such as this.

Re:DVD-Rs go 8x

[RonBurk]

1. price: the cost per GB of DVD-R crossed hard disk prices recently, though they are still very close.
2. durability: DVD is not as susceptible to physical shock and magnetic fields as a hard drive.
3. movability: more PCs can read a DVD-R than have a slot for inserting a removable IDE drive.
4. size: when what you want to store fits fine in 4.7GB, a DVD is a much nicer form factor than an IDE hard drive (so far). (e.g., daily incremental backups extending back for a full month.)
5. movies: I can't create a movie on a hard drive and then stick it in my consumer DVD player (so far).

However, DVD+RW and DVD-RW would certainly be more attractive for general data use if the operating system actually supported them as random access devices. Don't know about *nix, but Windows does not support such access until the next version (XP supports drag and drop, but simply copies files to a temp area, and then waits for you to tell it to do the One Big Burn).

Re:DVD-Rs go 8x

[general_re]

What will you say when you can hook your iPod into your TV and watch movies from it? The parent is dead on: removable media is obsolete and outdated.

So when I want to send my mother a video of her grandson's birthday party, I'll just drop my iPod in the mail for her? Don't think so...