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

When does this quote get old...

[c_oflynn]

Thought this was kinda funny:

from this breakneck speed...

Kinda like when the blazing fast 166 MHz pentiums come out, you know in a year people will be scoffing at 8x DVD speed ;-)

speed is not a concern

[Anonymous Coward]

Who cares about speed? When will we see DVD-9 DVDs, so we can backup copies perfectly, isntead of having to resort to "shrinking" them to fit on a DVD-5? Is it even theoretically possible to burn multi-layer on a consumer device?

Re:speed is not a concern

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, doesn't anybody read DVD sites around here? Phillips has already demoed a 16X and in RPMs that's roughly equivalent to a 48X CDR, so it's not all that amazing.
And as for the dual layers, that's a known quantity as well. The 8.5 dual layer 8 speed drives are supposed to be hitting the shelves before March 04. As for the price on the dual layer media, well that's another issue. Personally, I'm watiting for it though. No hurry. When the media is good and cheap I'll be good and ready.
And BTW, DVD media production costs for 8X media are currently around US0.30 cents a disc. So, if you're paying fifty cents or more consider how much markup you're forking over.

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.

DVD++R

[gmania]

Actually ...

its DVD+R at 8x and DVD-R at 4x

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.

In about three months

[Anonymous Coward]

Both the minus and the plus consortiums have announced such players, and have them in demo versions.

Philips intends to release to oem's its dual layer writer around about the same time it releases its 12X drive - which is sometime in febuary. Expect them on the shelves in March.

(The dual layer writer will only go at 2.4X at first though - and when you're burning a single disc and it takes two hours, you will care about speed.)

the slowdown in writing is dirty media

[Selecter]

If you get any fingerprints, scratches, etc on yer disks they are not going to burn anywheres close to the rated drive speed anyways. Most poeple dont get the benefit of higher speed burns becuase they are slobbish :)

Id like to see two ratings for burnable media. Something like 8X when new and clean, 2X when smeared with grape jam and peanut butter or somethin. :D

Plextor's 708A works just fine at 8X

[Jarnis]

I've had the Plextor drive in question now for bit over a week. Works like charm. Using Maxell's 4x DVD+R discs, which the drive detects to be 'good enough' for 8X, I've now written about a dozen of these with zero problems. It's a Plextor after all, which roughly translates to being the Ferrari of the optical drives...

So yes, based on my personal experience, while Plextor's 708A costs an arm & leg compared to low end DVDRW drives, it works as advertised and burns at 8X without problems to DVD+R discs. Have not tried DVD-R yet, but according to documentation, it's limited to 4X.

Always the way

[Frodrick]

"It seems that the next speed level for DVD Writers is here."

Of course it is - I just bought a 4x DVD burner yesterday. 8+(

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...