DVD Burner

[DJ]

Thanks Gurm. I just saw the Sony 530A price drop to $180.00. How about this burner?

DJ

[a_h]

@Gurm: I never really thought any firm would officially offer an update to make this wonder possible.

But - technically - for dual layer burning (for contemporary media, at 2.4x) a 30mW laser diode is needed that is only in 8x single layer DVD-burners used.

More than a firmware hack of an official 2.4x dual layer drive that is technically identical to the 8x single layer counterpart (besides the firmware of course), is not realistic.

[William]

Originally posted by Gurm
When they announced the dual-layer burnables, they said ANY "recent" +R drive would be upgradeable.

Then as recently as a month ago, they said that any 4x +R drive would be upgradeable.

Now they're saying only 8x multimode drives will be upgradeable.

How much you wanna bet that NO drives will be upgradeable?

And I'm still dubious about the entire technology of multi-layer burning. I don't think it'll be compatible with anything. That's just my cynical side, though.

- Gurm

I'm very sceptical about being able to upgrade existing writers. As far as I can see, it would need a different lense & more precise control for focusing. However, optics has never been my strong point.

As for dual layer compatability with existing players, I don't believe that +R will have any success whatsoever. Very recent player designed with it in mind; maybe. But not traditional players. The reason being simply that +R appears as the top layer of a DVD-ROM dual layer disc (in reflectivity terms, I'm not sure about logically. The 3.9 GB or whatever they were were (hence the capacity)).

[ALBPM]

Anyone hear anything good or bad about the BenQ burners????

The price is right and they come with descent software.

http://www.allstarshop.com/shop/product.asp?dept%5Fid=270&pid=8107&sid=PM00A00L00P10S19R1999ISHOP000991

[Gurm]

Why not just order a known-good burner from New Egg?

The NEC 4x +/- is $95 there, the 8x is $130.

- Gurm

[VJ]

Pioneer demonstrated dual layer DVD-R buring with the Pioneer DVR-A06; all that is needed is a firmware update.

about halfway down:

http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/urltrurl?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.watch.impress.co.jp%2Fav%2Fdocs%2F20040109%2Fces06.htm&lp=ja_en&tt=ur

link copied from the Dutch site

http://www.tweakers.net/nieuws/30526

Jörg

[Gurm]

Hmm... might have to upgrade to a Pioneer 106 then, huh?

- Gurm

[Gurm]

Hmm... according to that article, speeds drop DRASTICALLY when doing dual-layer recording. Down to 2x for the layer closer to the lens. I'm guessing 1x for the further layer. Bummer! That's over an hour to burn a disc!

- Gurm

[rugger]

Still, > 1 hour isn't too bad considering it would take at least as long to burn and check the 12-13 CD-R's one dual layer DVD-R would replace.

[Gurm]

Yeah but it sucks compared to the 8x that many people are getting used to as we speak.

- Gurm