scsi-dvd rom recommendations ?

[VJ]

Hello,

The cdrom drive in my second system has just failed (Funai 16x, in a Pentium 166). I would like to put the cdrom drive of my first system (Samsung 32x) in my second computer, and upgrade my first with a dvd-rom drive.

My first computer is an all scsi-system (Adaptec 2940UW with Quantum Atlas 10K, IBM Ultrastar 36LZX, Plextor 4220; Adaptec 2906 with Iomega Zip250, Agfa Snapscan 1236s). By moving the Samsung cdromdrive (the only atapi component), I could upgrade my first system with a dvd-drive.

Are there any recommendations from SCSI-dvd drive ?
Any brands to stay away from ?
Special features that are "welcome" ? (e.g. I currently cannot perform a cd-cd copy using the Samsung/Plextor combination; this would be convenient - I'm guessing the different protocols Atapi/SCSI are the problem)
(I tend to be somewhat hesitant towards Pioneer, due to some bad experiences with other Pioneer equipment - but this could be a predjudice...)

Thanks for any hints/comments !


Jörg

[dZeus]

I can only comment on my own drive:
a Pioneer 305S 10x40 SCSI Slot-In DVDROM

Pro:
- easily made regionfree with firmware update
- fast (see www.storagereview.com for a review with benchmarks)

Con:
- mode 2 extraction (for SVCD/VCD) is sloooooooooow (8-12 speed in stead of the ~16 - 40 speed it does with mode-1 cdroms).
- no subchannel reading capability for clonecd (though if you have a burner that can read subchannel this won't matter much).
- noisy.. VERY noisy
- slot-in is more easy in use, but a bit less sturdy than tray mechanism.... I guess that's the tradeoff.

[The PIT]

I'd go with Dzeus recommendation as I've got one but I don't get the noise.

[isochar]

I have a 303s and it's quiet, except when reading CDs.

[The PIT]

I wish more scsi models where available it's like scsi cdwriters a dieing breed.

[spoogenet]

I've got a Toshiba SD-M1201 DVD player (couple years old). After my last move it works fine as a 32x CD player, but does not work as a DVD player. But I do have a couple things to say about Toshiba.

Cons:
-Proprietary audio connector, if you listen to music CD's, then this is a big minus.
-I forget the term, so for lack of a better term I'll say dynamic branch DVD's....doesn't support them. Abyss is an example, where they put two versions of the movie on one disc and just jump around depending on which one you're watching. Well, it doesn't work on my DVD player, that movie is totally unplayable on my player, but the same disc works fine in others that friends have. Toshiba claims with the newer firmware that it works, but my drive shipped with the latest firmware and has never worked for that.....big minus.

Other than that it's just another DVD player. No real pros over any other player from what I've seen.

b

[dZeus]

Spoogenet, propriety audio connector only matters for win9x/ME, as in win2k/xp you can use digital audio playback (works just fine on my pioneer at least).

As for the DVD playback compatibility: are you sure it's a player issue, and not a dvd software issue? some dvd software players have issues with some DVDs. You might want to try the latest windvd or powerdvd to see if that fixes the problem.

[Gurm]

There is a newer version of the Toshiba. In retrospect, if I still had SCSI in my primary system, I'd want the 1401 (the newer Toshiba).

- Gurm

[seeker]

Storagereview.com recommends the Pioneer DVD-305S, they say:
"Pioneer's 2nd try at a 10X SCSI DVD largely succeeds in overtaking the competition from Toshiba. With superior CD, CD-R and CD-RW reads and equal DVD reads, the 305S outshines Toshiba's SD-M1401 in these areas. While the Pioneer also extracts audio more quickly, beware a quality issue that arises when extracting an entire CD-DA in a single session. See the review for details. For those who won't tolerate this quality issue, the SD-M1401 becomes the next choice"
Here is the review:

http://storagereview.com/articles/200012/20001227DVD-305S_1.html

[VJ]

The latest SCSI-model according to the Pioneer website is the U05S. Is this the same as the 305S most people here are talking about ?

The fact that it could be made region-free is interesting, the DAE-quality is perhaps somewhat less of an issue, as my Plextor 4220 can do this perfectly.

It is just that I had very bad experiences with Pioneer hardware, and was hoping to be able to stay away from this make ...
Gurm: Why exactly would you opt for the Toshiba in stead of the Pioneer ?
I read somewhere that the Toshiba has faster accesstimes, but doesn't perform well on CDRW's... (again, I could live with this as there is a writer present as well)

Both Isochar and DZeus are complaining about the noise of the Pioneer... Not unimportant I'd think...

Any other makes besides Toshiba and Pioneer ? (currently, I'm leaning more towards the Toshiba, I personally feel the accesstime is more important than the transferrate - in reality it always is highly unlikely that the maximum rate can be reached... But the fact that there are probably more Pioneers sold is also important, when thinking about future software, etc...)

I will study the Storagereview comments on both drives, but I'm guessing it will have to be one of those two...

Thanks already !
Other comments are still appreciated !



SCSI does seem to be losing its ground : Lacie is currently one of the only companies offering a 24x10x40x SCSI CDRW...; too bad they don't have dvd rom drives... The fastest IDE DVD drive is still faster than the fastest SCSI... Gone are the days of SCSI superiority ?


Jörg

[dZeus]

Originally posted by Verstraete J
The latest SCSI-model according to the Pioneer website is the U05S. Is this the same as the 305S most people here are talking about ?

Correct. the U05S is the Retail version of the drive, the 305S the OEM. Afaik there are no differences between them on hardware level.

The fact that it could be made region-free is interesting, the DAE-quality is perhaps somewhat less of an issue, as my Plextor 4220 can do this perfectly.p

for all drives and their regionfree status check this page:

http://perso.club-internet.fr/farzeno/firmware

if moderators remove the link, do a search on google with firmware and regionfree as keywords, and looks for links with the words 'perso.club' and 'farzeno' in them . Though frankly I don't see a reason to remove them, as I don't think regionfree status is illegal (in fact, according to law region-bounding is even illegal in a lot of countries).

<cut>

Both Isochar and DZeus are complaining about the noise of the Pioneer... Not unimportant I'd think...

I guess it's a personal choice... if you're used to almost complete drives (like my Plextor 12x4x32 SCSI), then the Pioneer is quite noisy at top speed. A flatmate of mine complains about the exact same thing with his Pioneer 116 (though it's a bit less noisy, I think due to the tray loading mechanism).

If you find speed very important, then I advice to throughly read the storagereview articles on the Pioneer and Toshiba. Too bad they don't test Mode2 read speeds Someone with a Toshiba should time a SVCD copy to the HDD

I do think most DVDROM drives will reach top speed as claimed on the outer edges of a disc (mine does). But DVD read speeds are not relevant (right now), unless you're ripping a movie to your drive and don't have much patience . DVD software has been promised for ages but I still don't see any actually being sold in shops (or even in stock).

[spoogenet]

My Toshiba is an older one, there have been a couple newer versions put out since I bought mine.

dZeus,

Since I've never tried the digital audio, what must one do for that? Does it just transmit the data through the SCSI but to PCI to sound card? Or is there a separate connector that a sound card must support?

As for the hardware vs. software....I'm pretty positive it's the hardware. First of all, it happened after it rode 1k miles in the back of my POS Volvo. Second, it doesn't work on DVD's that I have watched many times with the same player. Third...it fills my event log with drive access errors, etc etc etc. It won't even get into the main screen of any movie.

Oh well, just another excuse to buy a regular player.

b

[dZeus]

all there is to it is to enable digital audio playback in the drive's properties in the device manager

It will transmit the audio through the data cable in stead of over the seperate audio cable. No input on the soundcard is needed for it.

[rugger]

The pioneers are good drives

The pioneer DVD-ROM drives (115 and 116) are excellent, but are noisy. I have found them to be about as fast as:

1) Sony 48x speed CD-ROM drives
2) Ricoh MP7200 drives (This burner is damned fast as a reader)

Pioneer drives are also great with slighly to moderately scratched CDs, often not exhibiting any slow down when reading them.

As others have said, they are also easy to make region-free, as I have done it to my drives.

[VJ]

dZeus: Great link !

Now I know both the Toshiba and the Pioneer can be made regionfree...

- According to the storagereview database, the Pioneer has faster transfertimes, yet slower accesstimes when compared to the Toshiba wrt. CD transfer.
- Toshiba has higher burst speeds.
- Pioneer is better at DAE : faster and accurate stream.
- Toshiba has higher DVD transfer rates...

Man, this is dificult...

Do they both come with a 1 year warranty ? Or does one have more then the other ?

Already thanks for all the info...

Does the Pioneer's higher speed requires longer spinup times ? This is quite important when transferring small files from cd : this went faster from my 16x speed than from my 32x, due to the 16x outperforming the other when it came to access times...


Jörg