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Super-Fast Dual-Layer DVD Writing
An anonymous reader writes "If you've been putting off buying a dual layer DVD burner because they're so slow, check this out. The latest NEC drive burns dual-layer disks at 4x, writing over 8gb in 25 minutes. It also burns-single layer disks at 16x on both formats."
Toshiba just introduced the SD-R5372 with 5x dual layer writing.
What I want to know is when more of these drives will start coming out with Serial ATA interfaces. Yes, they don't need the speed, but it would be nice to buy new drives in the format they're migrating to for other reasons.
No, the drives have been cheap for awhile. It's the expensive media that makes it pointless right now. Last I checked, Ritek DVD+R dual-layer blanks were going for $9.50/each. Thanks but no thanks.
Do the "do every format" DVD writers like this just mean that there will be no single DVD format, or will one format eventually win out? Then again, with DVD writers becoming almost, if not as cheap as CD burners, is there really any point in waiting to get a DVD burner?
I wonder when the dual layer media is going to reach a sensible price.
With the recent constant reductions in price the writers will be cheaper than the discs before long.
-- MartinG To mail me: echo kewyjlcxyzvjfxbqwh | tr bcefhjklqvwxyz
The pioneer DVR-108 has a 4x DL and a 16x for both single layer formats. I bought one for $10 less than the 107 which doesn't do DL.
This drive rocks! It's quiet, fast, and I've flashed the firmware to make it both region free AND faster than factory.
Newegg for $77, what could be better?
Back when I had a 1x writer. It was a deal and a half back then. Give the market some time, they'll come down to $1 a disc eventually..
Has anyone done any tests on the quality of the drive's writes? I have a Lite-On 8x DVD+/-R drive that everyone raves about, combined with 8x Taiyo Yuden media. I burn them at 4x, and I *still* have to let Nero verify the write every time, with 1 out of 8 or so being bad burns. I'm more concerned about my burned DVDs being readable in a few years than I am about speed. Maybe I just got a bad drive?
Report to the nearest disintegration facility for processing in accordance with WTO resolution 57 subsection C.
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Here is an extract from this story http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/10540/
Whilst we wait for dual layer media to tumble in price, we can satisfy our craving by contemplating this news release from PC World. According to this article, Sony has cast caution to the wind and developed an 8 layer 200 gigabyte Blu-ray disc. Although they have not decided whether to commercialize such a product, they are saying a 4 layer 100 gigabyte version is expected to hit the consumer market within the next 2 years.
Do you think movies will be distributed on this media? DVDShrink compression ratio will be like 1% !!!
Mystika
on a maxed 1st generation G5, right?
sig!wind down the juuice, let the tubes roar with the glow of alternative powers, not they that be." me, today...
I've had my 3500A for about a month now. It offers a great performance/value ratio in theory. In practice, Dual Layer media is prohibitively expensive, as are high speed Single layer DVD+-R so I'm still burning single layer at 4X...
It's nice to know that My Nec is able to do much better though.
I heard a rumor that part of the reason blank Dual Layer DVD's are so expensive (besides the fact that the technology is new and that margins are probably high at the top of the performance curve) is that production yields of dual layer blank platters are currently very low . . . Has anyone heard anything similar? Or was this a groundless rumor?
Anyone have experience with a dual-layer drive and a G5? Are the drivers there? Does Toast support them?
"How perfectly Goddamn delightful it all is, to be sure" Charles Crumb
As it happens, the most cost-effective high-capacity storage technology remains the hard-drive based on magnetic media.
Scroogle
Great but what about Blu-Ray RECORDABLE discs?
:)
Can anyone tell me of a press release stating that Sony or one of it's partners plans on selling discs you can burn any data too? Or is Blu-Ray a read-only solution? I have not seen any edvidence that Sony plans to put BD-DVD burning tech for the PS3 or any other future product of thiers.
I only ask this because I got this dumb for brains friend who's 'waiting' for 30GB rewritable discs to come on in the next 2 years. Trying to explain to him that this $79 NEC is 'da bomb' is pointless.
I can't help but wonder if it's possible to write to both layers at once.
4GB/200GB = .02 = 2%, not 1%
Normally I'd say herrie.org, but it seems he's been craxx0red.
Belief is the currency of delusion.
One of the big problems now are the high cost of decent tape backup systems. The drives are expensive, and the media is expensive, but it is about the only choice out there.
Backup needs to be as large as, or close to, the size of disks. Backup media have to be cheap enough so multiple copies of the data can be made, and some of it stored offsite.
With disks growing far more than any other media, tape is barely catching up, and optical media (Rewritable CDs, and rewritable DVDs) is way behind.
What we need is to have a reasonably prices read/write medium as large as existing disks, so one can keep a daily backup (5 work days or 7 week days), and an offsite monthly backup.
So, we need a standard format Rewritable DVD media that is 40 or 80 GB, and the technology to grow quickly to keep up with 120 and 250 GB disks.
(Before you say USB 2.0 external hard drives, these are good and all, but you need many of those to have a daily backup and some of them offsite too).
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only $372 for a 30 pack of dvd-r dual layer disks. http://www.meritline.com/dl-dvd-r-dual-double-laye r-verbatim.html what a bargain.
I bought the Pioneer DVR-108 with my new computer that I built, mainly because it has 16x +/- DVD burning, the DL was a plus. The driver was cheap but I have yet to see media for it under 9 online and all the local computer stores dont even have it in stock. Id love to burn in DL mode just to get some stuff off my harddrive though.
... plus tax today in California. Saw the same drive at Fry's for $159_after_rebates. Now to find some of that 16x media on the cheap.
Man, I hope that Sony packages these discs in protective containers like MiniDisks. One little scratch on one of these babies and you'll have wiped out a GB. Ouch!
hands down the best spot to buy media . . . as low as $1.85 per DL-disc
http://meritline.com/dvd-r-blank-media-94.html
harmonious design
This is news? More like a thinly veiled advertisement. The drive isn't even that new.
I bought this DVD writer for my Dad for his birthday for $85.00 shipped from Newegg.com. Writes highly reliably at DVD-R 8X (Taiyo Yuden media). I bought mine a week later in a different color also from Newegg.com for $81.00 shipped. Newegg.com has great deals on OEM versions of this drive, and they ship Federal Express Saver which is cheap and fast. I highyl recommend this drive along with Taiyo Yuden media from rima.com. I have not seen 16X DVD-R media yet, nor have I found anyplace that sells dual-layer media for under like $14.00/disc. I'll not be doing dual-layer writes until the price comes to about $1.00/disc. We'll see it probably soon though.
"Some mornings, it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps." ~ Emo Phillips
I am personally waiting for drives that can burn to dual-layer DVD-R media. The steering committee of the DVD Forum just approved version 2.9 of their dual-layer DVD-R specification in a meeting that occured on September 22nd. It shouldn't be too long now. Getting a drive that supports both dual-layer formats is more important to me than the cost of the media itself.
I haven't had any problems with burning DVDs at 4x--in fact, my drive refuses to burn at anything less. Which is why all this talk of 16x writers worries me:
Check out the Samsung TS-H552. For a price tag of under a hundred dollars one can't go wrong. Don Model Samsung TS-H552 Manufacturer Samsung Drive Type DVD+R9 Enclosure Type Internal CD Read Speed 48X CD Rewrite Speed 32X CD Write Speed 40X DVD Read Speed 16X DVD Rewrite Speed 4X DVD Write Speed 16X Summary Samsung TS-H552: Read DVD - 16x, CD-ROM - 48x, Write: DVD+R -- 16x, DVD+RW -- 4x, DVD-R -- 12x, DVD-RW -- 4x, DVD+R9 -- 2.4x, CD-R -- 40x, CD-RW -- 32x.
Is it likely that these DVD+R DL capable drives will have a firmware patch to give compatability with DVD-R DL discs when they emerge? I bought a DVR-108 and I'm still waiting for a Mac flasher to get the latest firmware.
I'm currently using cheap Princo 4x media. (Not too nasty so far, no coasters out of about 15 burns, but who knows how long it will last). So far I'm very very happy with the drive, but I'm certainly not pushing it to its limits.
I did see a strange MCI device problem where neither videos or DVDs would play. Reinstalling sound/media drivers didn't help. Nor did uninstalling and reinstalling the drives. What did help strangely enough was disabling the new drive and re-enabling it. Windows XP pro basically got its knickers in a knot registering the devices somehow. That took a couple of hours to sort out. I don't believe it was an issue specific to this drive but I can't be sure. Once i got it working it works very well.
Of course it would be a worry if I had the drive this short a time and had too many issues. Only time will tell how durable it is.
Note the drive is new but its not THAT new. I mean I can get it in Australia so its been out a few weeks.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
If the ND-3500 is anything like the 2510A, I highly recommend NEC dvd burners. I bought the 2510A about a month ago, and have used it quite a bit to burn Data-CDs and homemade DVD-Video. Haven't tried out the dual-layer capabilities, because I am unable to find dual-layer media off the shelf. It burns fast, reliably, and they are reasonably priced.
/^([Ss]ame [Bb]at (time, |channel.)){2}$/
Actually, 4.7GB / 200GB = .0235, not 2%. Rounded to nearest 0.5% = 2.5%.
I got my LaCie d2 drive (with the NEC 16x, Dl, blah blah) last week. Been using it with 4x media burning backups, but it is a lot faster that my old Pioneer 104 drive, noticeably so, that backing up (using Retrospect) which took a week or so on the Pioneer took 1 day using the new drive (about 68 GB of data, with delays for sleep and other breaks between disc inserts).
Biggest hassle was that the driver from Dantz to support the drive is better using the old driver and not the updated one (why I dunno). But from personal experience (this is a dual Firewire USB external enclosure), the NEC does what it says.. damn glad it was a useful purchase...
...dual layer burners are now cheap and abundant. But production of dual-layer DVDs hasn't really ramped up yet. Result? You have a large market who, even if they each just buy a few dual layer discs, is enough to keep the price high.
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
Nah, all high density storage devices have extensive error correction. The higher the capacity, the more error correction they throw at the problem. Minor scratches probably won't result in data loss, especially if data is arranged on the disc to minimize the loss caused by localized damage (for example, by spreading the ECC around the disc).
Hey, thanks for the info!
Get some.
I thought that they degraded quite fast? Then again, if the backups are per day/week, I guess that they'll be replaced in plenty of time.
I already have a Pioneer 108 DVD-Writer, that does 4x dual layer burning, have had it for nearly a month now, and I live in UK (usually a 'little' behind america)
:)
NEC is a bit slow
Have a nice day!
this is really an intresting point, the UK is becomming a lot cheaper than somes places for media.
I buy my stuff from PriceBusters (i dont know the web site, because their warehouse is VERY close to my house, to I just go and buy it direct)
But DL disks are about £4, a stack of 25 +R/-R are usually about £10 (Verbatim brand)
And you can get 50 TDK Cdrs for about £8.
but yeah, some people who came from USA/Canada recently, and were suprised that we get such low prices (at first they though it was the same price, until they realised all UK prices INCLUDE tax)
Have a nice day!
The problem with dual-layer burners at the moment isn't really the speed but the price of the blank media. I got an NEC 2510a for the ridiculously cheap price of 80, which burns dual-layer at 2.4x - more than acceptable in my book. However, while I can get good-quality single layer blanks for around 60c each, dual-layer blanks are around 6. So I'll be holding off on those for a while, I think....
P.
Get them while they are hot
You keep going until you die..."Me".
The only reason to get one is if you need one.
Now this may sound simple, but just because a DVD burner costs So the real question becomes, do you need it? I had a coworker who wanted in on an order to newegg a couple of years ago. He wanted a new 30 GB drive, and they had just dropped in price. I think they were still around $100 though. He got the drive and because he was lazy, he never used it. Cut to a year later, when I bought a new 120GB drive for the same price, and he still hadn't installed that drive. A total waste of money on his part because he bought something he didn't need.
Do I regret buying my DVD+-R drive for $100? No way, I have gotten some good use out of it. I was doing some archiving on CDs, and the switch to DVDs made a huge difference. I was able to burn some DVDs of my wedding and give them to family. I don't know why I would need a dual-layer drive yet, but when I do, I am sure they will be cheap. And more importantly, maybe the media will be cheap.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
I've been reading reviews on CDRinfo for quite a while and it looks like every drive has drawbacks.
Some have low CDR/CDRW writing speeds, some have slow DAE, some have high error rates, some cannot deal with popular copy protection schemes, some cannot overburn, some balk at cheaper media...
It almost seems like you need to get several different optical drives for optimal performance.
I hope that Plextor's upcoming model is worth waiting for.
With the price of DL blanks still way too high, and a write speed that gives 8GB in 25 minutes, I think I'll stay with single layer for quite some time. ...
I can write 8GB of data/video to 2 single layer 4x disks in just under 12 minutes.
Pioneer DVR 107D with the 1.16 firmware so I get 8x on 4x disks. Plus 8x blanks are cheaper than 4x now anyway.
Go ! you early adopters
Buy a LG or other multi format drive. My drive cost about $100 (back in march) and does all the formats you mention except multi layer.
Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
From my experience, scratches do seem to play a role. DVDs seem much more susceptible to scratching than do CDs. I have a few dvds that don't play any more and have seen many xbox games with problems.
I just think that putting a nice protective container around it would make lots of sense.