Pioneer 303S, and where to get it?

[SeanTek]

a) How "compatible" is this drive with the G400 and DVD playback?

b) Where can I get it? It seems to be in low stock at a lot of places.

[Wombat]

Maggi actually has a 303, I'd try to get his attention. I have a 104, and it works quite nicely.

You can get all of these drives from Hi-Val. I think that's http://www.hival.com/. They're the distributor, and they do online sales.

[Brian R.]

I have a 303S and have no problem with my G400 MAX with or without a Creative Labs Dxr3 DVD card. Also, it has worked fine with both the Cinemaster and WinDVD software. I purchased mine from Hyper Microsystems:
http://www.hypermicro.com/store/index.htm

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600 MHz PIII @ 660 Mhz (2.05 V) w/Alpha P3-125 heatsink/fan, ABIT BE6-2, 128 MB Siemens PC100 SDRAM, G400 MAX, Diamond V2 SLI, CL SB Live with Sennheiser HD-600 headphones, Sennheiser DSP360 Dolby processor, and Shure FP22 headphone amplifier, Adaptec AHA2940 w/uw SCSI, IBM 9ZX 9.1GB 10K UW SCSI HD, WDE 4360 4.3GB 7.2k UW SCSI HD, Pioneer 303s SCSI DVD, Win98SE, in a modified Supermicro SC750A case with PCP&C Silencer 275W PS, and a partridge in a pear tree.

[Brent]

Does the 303s support digital audio extraction? My SCSI CD and CDR can only record MP3's in analogue mode but I would like to replace my IDE DVD ROM with the 303s if it can do DAE.

[Brian R.]

If this answers your question, the 303 has no digital audio output, only analog.

[Wombat]

If you care, the 104 (10x IDE) does have Digital Out.

[Chucky Cheese]

SeanTek

i also have the 303s and it is on a heavily populated scsi bus and works great. just to test the limits i transfered a 623 MB file to a local hard drive while watching "Sharkys Machine" on DVD, i then scaled the window to see at what point the frame rate became unacceptable...full screen was a slide show, but windowed(..about the size of a 14" monitor) was O.K. it was more of a test of my scsi bus and system strength than anything i guess!

i puchased mine from CDW when it first came out. i'm not sure how much they are now.

here is my system:

Motherboard: AMI MegaRUM II, dual 600Mhz Pentium III processors (installed), each with a 32/512 Cache configuration. 512 Mb of PC100, 8ns memory. Symbios Logic 53C896 U2W SCSI controllers. Intel 443GX Xeon chipset.

SCSI I/O:

Channel 1(LVD/U2): 4 Seagate LVD Cheetah 18LP, ST39103LW Ultra2 Wide SCSI-3 hard Drives, each with 1024k cache.

Channel 2(SE): JAZ 2GB internal, Plex-Writer 8/20, Pioneer DVD-303s ultra-scsi DVD reader and 2 UltraPlex-Wide 17/40 speed CD-ROM drives.

USB: USB Zip Drive, Epson Stylus Scan 2500

Networking: The network adapter is a 3Com 3C509B-TX PCI 10/100 Mbps controller, and a US Robotics Courier V.Everything 33.6/28.8/x2/V.90 internal ISA modem.

Video: Matrox G400 Max with Dual Head. The primary display is a Panasonic PanaSync E21, .25-dot pitch, 20" viewable; the secondary display is a Viewsonic flat panel display model VP150.

Multi-media: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live PCI Bus Mastering sound card. Speaker system is the Cambridge Works FPS2000 Digital speaker system.

chucky

[Brent]

Thanks. Do you know whether there is any SCSI DVD that supports DAE?
I could have sworn that I saw on the Pioneer site about six months ago that they were releasing a slot version that did. I am not sure if it was the 6X 303 series or the next generation.
I am not referring to the two pin digital cable that goes from a drive to the sound card (SB Live), but rather the ability to extract digital audio from the drive over the PCI bus that an IDE device has.

[fds]

I too have the Pioneer DVD-303S in three computers here. I never had any problems with them.

As for digital audio extraction, I have no idea. But it sure doesn't have that digital CD Audio connector to the SB Live!.


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primary sys: ASUS P2B-DS, Dual P3-500, 512 MB RAM, SB Live! Platinum, Pioneer DVD-303, Yamaha 6416S, Cambridge SoundWorks DeskTop Theater 5.1 DTT2500 Digital, and of course a Matrox G400 MAX
secondary sys: Abit BE6, P3-500, 384 MB, SB Live! Value, Pioneer DVD-303, and of course a Matrox G400 OEM SH 32 MB

[prophet]

Pioneer 303S DVD drive does support DAE... up to 14x, I can copy audio CDs on-the-fly at 8x speed in CDRWin or DiscJuggler. I'm very satisfied with this drive, I didn't have any unreadable CD with it so far.

[Brent]

Hey Prophet,
The plot thickens.
O.K. - So I could use an MP3 ripper like my Real Jukebox and it would work in digital mode up to 14X ?
Is yours a slot version - I am sure that the tray version does not support DAE - anyone confirm?
If so, I must find out how to get the slot model - only ever seen the tray available.