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-------------------------------------------------------------- This story was printed from ZDNet Australia. --------------------------------------------------------------
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CD-RW and DVD September 12, 2001 URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/reviews/hardware/storage/soa/CD-RW-and-DVD/0,139023427,120107190,00.htm
CD-RW and DVDWe've been hearing about the promise of rewritable DVD drives for a few years now. But the drives are finally coming into their own with promising products. Why the shift to DVD? The prospect of saving up to 17GB of data onto a single disc is too good to pass up. Pioneer DVR-S201 DVD-R Drive
Company: Ricoh
Pioneer DVR-S201 DVD-R Drive
The DVR-S201 is an external, SCSI-2 device about the size of a typical CD-R drive
that writes at 1X DVD speed, burning a complete title in about an hour, with reads
at 2X. Pioneer bundles Prassi DVD Rep 2.0 and throws in two DVD-R disks.
Prassi software offers three functions, Disk Copy, UDF Premastering, and
Recording a UDF image to DVD-R. In Disk Copy mode, the software directly
copies a title from a DVD player to the DVR-S201, although the software won't
duplicate encrypted files (preventing you from being able to distribute copyrighted
movies, software, and so on, illegally). Prassi can also write to an unspecified number
of CD-RW devices, which is useful for creating smaller titles for playback from computer
CD-ROM or DVD-ROM. Unfortunately, the software didn't support our Matsushita UJDA310
external drive, so we used Adaptec's CD-Creator to create our test CD-R disks, which
worked flawlessly.
Distributor: Data Services of Melbourne
HP CD-Writer Plus 9310iAs was the case with CD-ROM drives, CD-Rewritable drive speeds continue to get faster while their prices get lower. Hewlett-Packard's latest CD-RW drive, the CD-Writer Plus 9310i, illustrates this trend. The drive is rated at 10x/4x/32x and sells for AU$619. The drive comes with Adaptec's Easy CD Creator 3.5. The program recommends which type of media (CD-R or CD-RW) to use, and an easy-to-follow wizard guides you through the process. The software will not let you make music CDs from MP3 files,however. The HP CD-Writer Plus 9310i isn't the least expensive CD-RW drive available, but its swift write speeds and laudable ease of use make it a solid choice.
Sonic Solutions DVDit!
Sonic offers three DVDit! versions with prices ranging from AU$499 to AU$1,699, and scalable
feature sets appropriate for all comers. After testing your title, you can output to DVD, CD-R,
DLT drives or to hard drive using simple menu commands. In CD-R testing, DVDit! recognised and wrote to our CD-RW unit adeptly, and the embedded InterVideo WinDVD player performed well on all test systems and was simple to use. Writing to the Pioneer unit was also a positive experience, as was playback compatibility on both PC DVD and DVD Player. DVDit! warrants strong consideration for anyone seeking to publish MPEG movies on CD-R or DVD. Distributor: New Magic
Veritas MyCDMyCD assumes no prerequisite knowledge on the user's part. In the opening interface, the software gives you simple options in plain English: "Make an Exact Copy" or "Create a New CD." Once you make your initial selection, MyCD instructs you every step of the way, even kindly opening the CD tray when it wants you to insert a blank or the source disk. If you do experience the dreaded buffer underrun error, MyCD will explain the cause of the error in terms you can understand, so you won't end up making the same mistake over and again. Company: Veritas Ph: 1800 222 587; Fax: 02 8904 9833 Price: AU$71.50; MyCD Pro, AU$145.20 Full Review Panasonic DVD-L50AWeighing in at 963 grams with battery pack attached, the DVD-L50A has a five-inch-wide LCD display. A pair of small speakers, about 2.5 cms in diameter, which deliver surprisingly clear, bright sounds over a broad range of volume levels. The provided patch cords let the Panasonic send sound to a standard Dolby Digital two-channel input. Video goes to a television via an analog RCA jack. By flipping a tiny switch, you can reverse the flow, allowing the unit to act as a portable display for a camcorder while on the road.
Company: Panasonic
Iomega ZipCDWhen is a Zip Drive not a Zip Drive? When it's an Iomega ZipCD. Setting up the drive is straightforward, and on our CD-RW and CD-R tests, this drive was above average, taking top honors on the 400MB File Read and Directory Tree Read tests. Its speed on the Data CD Duplication test was among the fastest for 4X drives. If you want a reliable package for CD duplication and keeping multiple generations of work in progress, consider it a strong candidate.
Price: AU$659
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The Ricoh MP7120A sets up fast and runs even faster, providing top
performance for writing and rewriting CDs. But the bundled software
for creating audio and data CDs rates as merely adequate, not top of
the line, and comes without printed documentation. It's good value,
but unless you've got a burning need for speed you can
save a few bucks by going with a drive that is only slightly slower.