Slashdot Mirror
An Exhaustive 16X DVD Burner Roundup
CrzyP writes "AnandTech has put together an extensive roundup on eight, count 'em, eight 16X DVD burners capable of writing to dual-layer media. Some of the big names on the list include Pioneer, NEC, LG, Sony, MSI, and more. They explain in detail the current technologies implemented into the newer drives, like bitsetting and error control as well as run their reading/writing benchmarks on 16X and dual-layer media."
Oh well, maybe BenQ will get their DW1650 (16x DVD±R, 8x DVD±RW, 4x DVD+R DL) out by the end of the year.
How long to go 'till we have media-cracking 52X DVD-burning?
The price of writable DVD's is much too high for me, I think I'll stick with my cheap-o CD-R's for now :D
:P
Still, though, if any of you feel the need to buy me one of those boogers, feel free, I'll give you my shipping address
well.. good luck on finding affordable 16x media.
same goes for duallayer...
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Where are the SATA drives! Finding them to buy is difficult enough, finding decent reviews of them on today's comparison-shopping-infested Web is next to impossible. :(
I'm still trying to get my 8X to burn at 4X. I'm at my third stack of media (all from different manufacturers) and all I can do is 2.4X. Only coasters at 4X (except for Maxell media which I ran out of early on).
One thing that I've always found missing is information on whether drm is embedded in the firmware, something that Sony, among others has been caught doing in the past. Whether the drm is functional from the beginning, or is designed to be turned on later through an update patch or possibly a Microsoft update (as is suspected in the Sony case), would be good information to differentiate as well.
Just add a checkmark, or code number for whether it contains drm'd firmare, and the number can signify which one, which can be explained in a footnote.
This info is going to get more and more important going forward, as drm continues to infest every layer of computing.
I have a drive capable of writing DVD:s as well as CD:s. Thing is, I never do anymore. I have never actually tried to write a DVD (the media is pretty expensive), and the only time I've written a CD lately was for Fedora 2 when it appeared, and the Ubuntu install CD. Similarily, I hardly ever read CD:s or DVD:s anymore either.
For backup I have an external USB2 HDD, as well as mirroring essential work data between my available machines at work. For media, well, the external HD is 200Gb, which I have yet to fill after a year - and when I do I'll just get a second one. It's quite a bit cheaper than buying reliable CD blanks anyway.
Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
Thanks for the info, it helped because I was waiting for Mt. Rainier (Easy Write logo) on DVD drives.
I want to use DVD's for backing up. I'm going to use DVD+RW because they'll keep their info intact longer, they've got a phase change recording layer instead of the more unstable dye recording layers of DVD+R. But even then, stability will be even better with Mt. Rainier because it's got redundancy as part of the specification. Extra safety in return for less recording space.
Apart from that, Mt. Rainier has background formatting (start recording immediately) and a standard way of accessing it like a HD/floppy drive. None of that stupid "burning" shit. Just the OS drive access like it's supposed to be.
Anyway, thanks again.
- -- Truth addict for life.
DVD-Rs (DVDs) are actually more durable than CD-Rs (CDs). The reason being the upper layer of a CD-R (CD) comprises of a thin layer of lacquer that is easily scratched and damaged. DVD-Rs (DVDs) in contrast, has an upper layer of polycarbonate on top of the bottom polycarbonate with the data sandwiched in between.
Mount ranier (MRW) does *NOTHING* except for automatic bad sector remapping.
That's ALL it does.
Packet writing, background formatting - those are all parts of the basic DVD spec.
Everything MtRainier does is already done for you at the OS level by tools such as DirectCD. And yes, DirectCD is godawful.
The reason MRW is not being pushed is the delay in longhorn. MS promised, basically, to support the DVD format that supported MRW. Then they got cold feet, delayed longhorn twice (so far) and talked about cutting it from the spec.
Since bad sector remapping is hard to do on the fly, and also consumes horrible amounts of memory (which increases the board cost) - and since no customer seems to actually know what it really *is* let alone want it - the feature is quietly being pushed back and back.
When the market wants it, we've got the code for it. But the market won't pay for the extra RAM.
I dont get why DVD-RAM still isnt taking off. Both of the -RW +RW technologies like a CD are limited to 1000 read/writes but the -RAM can be cycled *millions* of times, which means you can use it like a floppy (and reliably).
I also believe that the +rw disks dont need to be closed as the whole disk surface does not need to contain data (a -RW disk needs formatting to the edge). +RW is also superior technology in the way data can be written in multiple sessions/burn recovery/random access/etc. yet it is also in the minority of use.
I havnt looked up lately how DL disks were being implimented and if they decided on the fill the whole disk strategy or put half the data on each layer (i believe the disks *have* to have something on both layers or else the system doesnt work)
What i would love to take off is the mini-RAM disks now being used in DVD camcorders. 8cm disk holds 1gb and fits easily in a pocket, but at $25 (australian) a disk its way too pricey and a serious opportunity lost to portable optical media. I already use the mini CD-RW disks but can only find them in 4x.
Just like trying to find good quality scratch resistant CDs. Sure i can get a CDR for 10c but the foil on top just rubs off (no need to scratch!). I miss the good old Kodak Gold CDR and their 4x goodness.
There are actually very good reasons to limit movie playback to 2x. See, movie playback is intrinsically 1x. Going any faster is a waste. And by going more slowly you can prevent the start-stop behaviour, move more slowly across scratches and do any manner of tricks to ensure better quality of playback.
The main reason manufacturers put a movie speed limit in the firmware is not to frustrate people trying to copy a movie, nor better error correction, but rather to keep the drive quiet while watching one. Reading at 16x makes a horrendous noise, making a movie pretty intolerable, while 2x is pretty silent. What is actually 'locked' AFAICT is the rotational speed - so even with rip lock on, you will go from 2x at the start up to near 4x towards the end of the disc.
I agree that this should be user selectable, however (e.g. without a firmware hack, using something like DriveSpeed).