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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."
well.. good luck on finding affordable 16x media.
same goes for duallayer...
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Writable DVD is about the same price as Writable CDR at the moment... it's bottomed out.
Dual layer, however, is still stupid money - it's just not cost effective any more.
You need to remember that 1x DVD burning is equal to approximately 8x CD burning.... We aren't going to get much faster then the current 16x...
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.
It's in testing and debug now. I doubt year end for a consumer release, though you may see it in OEM systems (Dell being th emajor customer) by then.
16x -R is slightly flaky, for which you can blame the minus people for having a godawful way of locking onto the track.
There's also the usual assortment of bugs (Today kiddies, we'll show you how adding a new entry to the speed table without first increasing the size of that table causes a buffer overrun!) which should lall be fixed pretty quickly. Its access time is greatly improved, too.
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.