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DVD Writer RoundUp
CodeHog writes "Got socks instead of the new DVD writer you were looking for this holiday season? Tom's Hardware has a writeup on the latest DVD writers and their 'true speeds'. The conclusions may be surprising: higher speeds won't necessarily do any good as media availability continues to be a problem." From the article: "Despite the stagnation of write speeds for DVD-R and DVD+R at 16x, new DVD writers are regularly being marketed, since performance for other types of writing (RW and dual-layer) is still improving. But as is customary, manufacturers of writers have a lead on media manufacturers. For this article, we visited all the stores to see what types of media are actually available for sale, and once again the result was most enlightening. You can find 16x-compatible -R and +R discs, but in the other formats they simply aren't out there."
Yes, you can find some, but they're not avaiable in the same specs the high end PATA versions. Are they that difficult to make? Because it seems like this would be a good way to at least get the enthusiasts buying new drives. I'd like to make my next computer purely SATA based.
So clearly this wasn't submitted by someone associated with the site, unlike the XYZ computing articles.
Never trust a DVD writer review that doesn't take into account burn quality and media compatibility. That's how DVD drives differentiate themselves today.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
And we weren't even able to find anybody to sell us dual-layer DVD-Rs!
D -R
Wow, really? Where did they look?
http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=dual-layer+DV
Bradley Holt
Also see my journal about Nero 7 DvD burning probs.In short ,stick with Nero Version 6.X
Why does yahoo do this
$40 Lite-On DVD burner. Never failed me. I love it.
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None of the drives reviewed have Mt. Rainier functionality. I thought that was to become ubiquitous by now. Aren't Mt. Rainier error recovery aspects the only way DVD can compete with DVD RAM for data discs?
Still, who's interested in burning to dual-layer when the price of two single-layer DVDs is well below the cost of one dual-layer?
People who want to make totally legal Fair Use backups of games they get from blockbuster of course.
When I build computers I tend to prefer drives that do not sound like jet engines while running. I recently purchased a lite on dvd burner that was louder than a vacume cleaner. NEC seems to do the best job at making quiet drives.
Reason #32767 not to use VB6: Integers are 2 bytes... Think about it!
First, thanks to the article submitter for supplying the "printable" version of the article and aleviating us from having to click through 20 "pages" of reviews.
Second, I own a black ND-3540A that I got from Newegg three months ago for $38.00. It is very nice and replaced a generic CD-RW drive that was just terribly loud. Newegg doesn't stock the ND-3540A anymore. However, they do have the ND-3550A for about $40.00, which is a very good price (you better hurry because they are limited, 500 to a customer :).
Anyhow, I use this thing on Debian Sarge with a slightly customized kernel and dvd+rw-tools. It works very nicely and, IME, burns at the advertised speed, which let me burn a downloaded episode of that new Star Trek fan-based production (I forget the name, exactly) that is only available online. Of course, in addition to burning at the advertised speed, it is much quieter than many other drives I have used. I definitely recommend it, especially if you are a *nix user, as I have encountered no problems at all with it in that respect.
I recently upgraded from an old plextor CDR-writer + Nero 6 to a plextor DVD-writer + Nero 7. I can honestly say that after the 7.0.1.4 update for Nero, it was night and day for me.
Track width tolerance. The faster the disc spins, the more it matters.
Is it me, or is the author of the article reading the times backwards. When measuring seem times in ms, smaller is better, meaning it took less time to find a segment of data. He states the Toshiba had the best times in the first two result graphs, yet they have the HIGHEST seek times...
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the author needs to double check is verbage, and think about how he's testing...
harryk
think before you write, it'll save me moderator points.
In English, all letters in an acronym are capitalized. You wrote DvD when it really is DVD.
I just got a Pioneer 110D from a sneaky local store. It died 20 days later and as it turns out the store will only warranty their stuff for 2 weeks (nasty, that's posted nowhere and it's not on the receipt). Now, I'm trying to get Pioneer to fix it but they are saying that they have none in stock and are urging it me to deal with the store. The store in the mean time reversed their stance and is now offering to exchange the drive for $20 ("shipping" to the distributor). Anyway, a whole lot of fun. Last Pioneer I buy...
In the CD-RW and DVD-RW arena, I'll be slower to judge as I haven't seen the same kind of variances; then again, once I've purchased RW media, I don't need to purchase more so I haven't seen a wide variety of brands in this area. I suspect that a similar situation exists.
I haven't even touched DL-R or DL-RW yet - the media costs are prohibitive. Who wants to pay 8-10x as much per platter for a medium which only delivers around 1.8x the data density?
In the end, I'm not too sure I care so much about write times (hey, I can spare a few extra seconds when I burn a DVD or CD - it's not like I do so for a living), so much as data reliability, medium durability, media cost and compatibility.
Bottom line - while the drive is important, it's nothing without the media; so long as the drive functions correctly, it seems likely that there's more to be gained by selecting the proper media for use in the drive.
Well,I do know that,but writing 'DvD' seems to somewhat look like the DVD logo.[for me atleast]
Why does yahoo do this
Here you can get deals on Froogle
I've noticed that strange things happen with storage technology. First we had 5.25" floppies. I used the same 5.25" floppies for months and had no troubles with bad sectors and unreadable files. Than 3.5" appeared and we have just realized that old-style floppies are not reliable and loosing data due to disk error is really easy. 3.5" disk was hard to damage and could be used for months or even years. After that, the era of CDs/CD-R/CD-RW began. Diskettes again appeared very unreliable. At some moment, I've realized that I'm not sure that I'll be able to read data written on the floppy I bought yesterday! But, CD-R or CD-RW seemed everlasting and very, very, very reliable storage medium. There was no such thing like unreadable CD. The CD drive speeds was growing, but the quality and reliability was going down! Now we have DVD era, and when I burn a CD with my CD-RW, I always check that the data was written correctly and can be read. Sometimes, I have even to burn a disk two times to be absolutely sure. Probably the DVD storage medium will have the same fate. Will it ever end?
FWIW, cheap is not necessarily good. But LiteOn is excellent. I've owned lots of LiteOn drives of every flavor, and I've been more than pleased with all of them. Then again, there are some expensive drives I've had trouble with, mainly Sony, and I had a Plextor which was a nightmare. I think what it comes down to is the drive manufacturer. Price does not necessarily reflect this, but it would be wrong to say without qualification that cheap is good. Also, realize that some brands are rebadges and sometimes you don't even get the same drive in identically marked boxes. I generally will stick with Pioneer or LiteOn these days (although I've had good experiences with LG and Panasonic, also.. in fact my old LG burner used to do DAE better than my [newer] Samsung CD-ROM drive, which was kind of weird). I used to like Plextor a lot, but after the experience I had with my last Plextor (or series of Plextors, if you count the in-warranty replacements), I'll never buy one again. But in my experience, you really can't go wrong with LiteOn.
Would someone tell them 14:03 and 14:06 are not four times faster than 6:09 timings? A "true speed" 8X works for me.
And I delved far enough into the meat of the article to see that they mixed up captions and pictures for +R and -R at 16X
The latest firmware for the Pioneer 110 is 1.37, not 1.22.
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They tested a whole 5 DVD-RWs? Wow.
Jaysyn
There is a war going on for your mind.
I don't know about you but I use my optical drives less and less. It's a whole lost easier to transfer files on flash memory. The only reason to keep an optical drive is because game and music publishers insist on distributing content in this old-fashioned way.
My burner just bit the dust (unburnt ring in middle sometimes, two years old), and I just got the best rated on on newegg ("beige" model since the black was out, same burner though). Good enough for me w/ it only costing $40.
In undeveloped countries, the consumer controls the market. In capitalist America, the market controls you.
it's about time the decibel level of drives is also looked at - what now with super silent SATA HDs and PSUs, the loudest component turns out to be the DVD drive. currently the user reviews from newegg are all we have for noise levels of the drives...
My sig has been answered.
As you can see from this review, problems continue in terms of media availability for DVD writers - perhaps more than ever. ...
:(
:(
For this article, we visited all the stores to see what types of media are actually available for sale, and once again the result was most enlightening. You can find 16x-compatible -R and +R discs, but in the other formats they simply aren't out there.</i>
I wonder how many people practically use anything besides +/- R???
<i>Makers should be honest with us and change statements like "Writes at 16x" to "Writes at up to 16x."</i>
umm DUH! i thought that was common knowledge
finally one last complaint: the make comments like "Though we used media certified at 16x and recognized as such by all the writers, we never attained a speed of 16x." they have graphs showing time. How does time correlate to speed? they never bother to mention that.
just another shameful example of how poor quality toms hardware is nowadays
ps- why no benq review? and like EVERYONE else said, burn quality is important to a very large group of people.
I KUT J00 M4NG!!!
To me it looks like the current DVD drives reached the reasonable limits at DVD+/-R and RW. The write speed is only x2 better than that of x4 drive, so not much reason to upgrade. The DL is unlikely to matter, as media is very expensive and higher capacity drives are on the way. However, what happened to the MtRainer/EasyWrite support? None of the drives still support it? Looks like NEC 4550 does support DVD-RAM, but the drive is still not available in the US and it's not clear how it will compare to DVD+MRW in terms of usability. For example, it would be cool to boot from Knoppix, customize it a bit (small things like wireless keys, printers, proxies, NIS, etc.) and keep configuration right on the same media.
'definitely' not 'definately'
getting sick of seeing this
The LG has been more reliable at linked packet writing than the very slightly more expensive Pioneer 110D. Both of them do Disk-At-Once nicely. I recently switched backup media to DVD+R from -R, and upgraded the Pioneer's firmware, and put them both on USB 2.0 instead of FireWire, and they both work well now. Something about the Pioneer and my cheapo USB + FireWire cages was resulting in complete FireWire bus hangs.
So LG, despite being Goldstar + some other companies, is gaining marks in my books.
Lite-On is also one of few brands for which you can actually verify the burn quality. Well, you can if you believe in Kprobe.
Belief is the currency of delusion.
The BDR-101A is the best optical recorder and it hasn't even hit stores yet. If you're wondering why we're still discussing DVD recorders, maybe it's because BDR-101A is depressing DVD recorder sales.
I'll second your second. NEC makes some good drives right now.
I've had a 3520 for a year or so -rock solid, perfect burner. It was so good, I put that burner in a computer I built for someone as a gift, because I knew it was totally proven and reliable and wouldn't need support.
Also have a 3540 in another PC and it seems to be working just fine with admittedly low miles. And I recently got a 3550 to replace the 3520. This one broke Nero 6.xx.18 so I haven't actually burned anything with it. Hoping for the best.
I used to be a Liteon buyer but my last Liteon 16x burner ceased wanting to write CD-Rs after six months of age. A friend has had similar problems with his Liteon 16x drives and total failure on a 4x and 8x. He's also switched to NEC and had zero problems.
Take a look at the CDRinfo Optical Storage section.
Use my userscript to add story images to Slashdot. There's no going back.
For small files, yes. But DVD sized flash is still quite expensive, and read/write speeds of many flash memories tend to be rather low, I wouldn't be surprised if optical drives are sometimes faster in gigabyte range.
I find most reviews of CD/DVD-ROM/R/RW only partly usable, because they always focus on speed. But it is hard to find information on reliability, because it is difficult to measure whereas speed is easy to measure.
I mean reliability when reading (how well does the drive read marginal media) and reliability when writing (how long will the recording last and if the marginal readers be able to read the media). This depends on the quality of CD/DVD blanks also, but more reliable drive will also make better quality record on the media.
Personally I am willing to sacrifice the speed and pay some more for a drive which is better in this regard, but it's hard to find the data which drives are better.
Douchebag.
How many people own very high speed DVD writers? Single digit percents? If you're making media, and your exisiting line is already quite profitable for the 90%+ writers already out there, you don't have a lot of incentive to push out the new stuff yet.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
How do the manufacturers test their drives for these higher writing speeds if there is no media available? Is there sample media available only to them, or do they simply trust that when the media arrives it will work?
J
A useless set of near numbers. Just a few media types, poor tests, a waste of time. Tom has gone way downhill.
... Standards and Practices !
PenGun
Do What Now ???
while using Maxcel brand media
Ahh. See, it's not your media that's at fault. It's your Sorny burner!
Karnal
Speed isn't everything. I prefer a slower disk with a region-free firmware update available over a faster one that lets the MPAA restrict how I use my property.
K this copys the DVD from the reader to the burner directly
/dev/dvd=stream.dvd && ... \"I feel empty\" :Zorak *"
/dev/dvd1 as reader and /dev/dvd as burner.
... Standards and Practices !
#!/bin/sh
echo " * Eyepatch On!! Straight data dump to da DVD recorder *"
rm stream.dvd
mkfifo -m 666 stream.dvd &&
sleep 1
dd if=/dev/dvd1 of=stream.dvd &
sleep 1
growisofs -dvd-compat -Z
echo " * Eyepatch Off
The sleep keeps fast machines from tripping over themselves.
Assuming
"dd is your friend" Linus Torvalds
PenGun
Do What Now ???
I had read about Taiyo Yuden media and how great it was for a couple of years, but never saw any in the store so never bought any. After getting a DVD burner. and bveing repeatedly frustrated with store bought media (all the brands sucked), I googled and bought some Taiyo Tuden DVD media online.
It absolutely rocks!
I'll never use another brand.
I don't always use unix-like operating systems; but when I do, I prefer FreeBSD.
I have a Maxell drive. It's crap. I recommend Plextor (expensive) or Lite-On (cheap) for drives, chosen depending on your needs.
I've used Maxell media. It's crap. Always use TDK. Always. They've not failed me even once in >10 years of burning. My first burn was on a Marantz standalone, red-book-only, real-time recorder in 1994. I used a 63-minute, 550MB, green-bottom TDK "Gold" disc. That disc is still in use now, going for 12 years later. It's ELO's "Time", digitally remastered by my dad, and played out of the DAW to the aforementioned Marantz burner. Track start/stop cues were done by hand. Ahhh, the bad ol' days... nothing was automagical... oh how it sucked... It sure was fun, though.
(sung to the tune of "Paperback Writer" by The Beatles)
DVD writer, DVD writer.
Dear Sir or Madam, got a new PC
It took three grand to buy, do you want to see?
It's got an Athlon and huge LCD,
It's got everything,
But it doesn't have a DVD writer,
DVD writer.
It's the latest model from the greatest brand,
And it's highly spec'ed - I don't understand.
It's overclocked to five gigahertz
It's a speedy box,
But I really want a DVD writer,
DVD writer.
DVD writer, DVD writer.
It's got a thousand gigs, give or take a few.
But I'll fill it up in a week or two.
I could make it larger if I add a drive.
I could burn it all,
If I only had a DVD writer,
DVD writer.
Would you buy me one If I were really nice
I could burn some movies for you overnight.
If you have a spare you can send it here,
But I need it now,
And it has to be a DVD writer,
DVD writer.
DVD writer, DVD writer.
DVD writer, DVD writer.
DVD writer, DVD writer.
DVD writer, DVD writer.
DVD writer...
"How many people own very high speed DVD writers?"
Everyone with a broadband connection and "information wants to be free" attitude.
I recently switched backup media to DVD+R from -R, and upgraded the Pioneer's firmware, and put them both on USB 2.0 instead of FireWire, and they both work well now. Something about the Pioneer and my cheapo USB + FireWire cages was resulting in complete FireWire bus hangs.
There is a USB2/Firewire chipset (Prolific PL-3507) which is just downright broken. The A revision is not flash upgradable without desoldering the chip and the subsequent revisions are flashable, however the "fixed" firmware is pretty much still broken. Unfortunately, there are a LOT of PL-3507 based USB2/Firewire units out there and it seems they are single handedly taking some shine of the perceived quality of IDE-Firewire enclosures. I wonder if that is what you had?
The PL-3507 insists on using a fixed firewire ID, so you can't have more than one on a chain. Why anyone would want more than ZERO PL-3507's is beyond me however.
I use a Lite-On DVDRW drive in an older Iomega USB2 CDRW cage to burn DVDR's on my Mac mini within Tiger. The "Iomega" CDRW drive I pulled out of it was actually a Lite-On LTR-5226S drive, with the Lite-On sticker on the top and the Iomega branded black faceplate. ; )
War crimes, torture, lies, illegal spying... Would someone give Bush a blowjob, already, so he can be impeached?
{
And we weren't even able to find anybody to sell us dual-layer DVD-Rs!
}
Guess he didn't bother to check:
- Sprawl*Mart
- Target
- Office Max
- Comp USA
They all have DL media on the shelf.
Tom, get with the program! Also, where was Lite-On in the test? I used to pay the premium for Pioneer drives but with Pioneer's fussy appetite for "approved" media (when I bought my first DVD writer at $500 it wouldn't work with just ANY old 2X DVD media. If it wasn't on Pioneer's approved list, it would burn only at 1x. Bastards. That was NOT mentioned anywhere on the packaging, their web site, or anywhere else unless you downloaded TFM to R it before buying the product) I tried Lite-On and was surprised that such a cheap drive worked so damn well.
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
I haven't even touched DL-R or DL-RW yet - the media costs are prohibitive. Who wants to pay 8-10x as much per platter for a medium which only delivers around 1.8x the data density?
You're spoiled by today's prices for media. Three years ago, you typically paid $2 or so per disc for 4GB media. (Which is the price point at which DVD media sales seem to have taken off.)
8GB media is just getting below the $2 each price point. (There are cakeboxes that are around $2/disc.) So as volume goes up on them, we should see prices start to drop.
I finally ordered my first cakebox of DL media this week.
Wolde you bothe eate your cake, and have your cake?
It's called "skimming the market". The prices will drop . . . I'll wait.