Any other 8X DVD burners in the works for next few weeks???

[VEFF]

Good morning guys (and gals of course),

I would like to get an 8X soon (to replace my 4X drive(s)), even if I have to pay "full price" (for once - I usually get in on Hot Deals) since I wil have no DVD burner tomorrow when the third and last one of the three I just sold is gone.

I know the Plex 708A is due out shortly; is anyone here familiar with any other alternatives that are (might be) coming out soon?

I know the NEC 1500A has been announced, but it isn't coming out till November I believe?
The only other one is the Benq, which is due out this quarter, but that could be end of September, or it could be delayed.

Thanks for any feedback as always!

[dodecahedron]

some vague rumors of Pioneer A07...nothing concrete.
Noua posted something in one of the topics.

this topic: http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=11936

[VEFF]

Thanks dodeca,

I will try to research it, although I'll probably get the Plex (my first Plextor) if it comes out first, which appears inevitable at this point.

I am a bit surprised (and disappointed) that they skimped on the buffer size - 2 megs is not much at all for a drive that will burn close to twice as fast as a 48X CD burner!

[Ian]

Yeah, Plextor some time this month and a slew of others by November or December. Will we have media by then? Who knows.

I really have a feeling that people that buy the Plextor will be SOL until 8x media makes its way to market. Not even Verbatim has announced any yet.

Buffers don't mean much these days. Its used more as a marketing tool. With stuff like buffer underrun protection and lossless linking, a 2MB is enough anyway.

[VEFF]

Thanks for the info Ian!

I would normally wait, but seeing as I have no DVD burners anymore (sort
of at least, since I agreed with my colleague to keep the NEC for about a week and make some burns for him and pay for the media, in exchange for which I get to archive some more data with it while awaiting my 8X burner), I need something soon.

I will use whichever 8X drive I get at 4X for the time being...
Besides which 8X media will probably be pricey for a while; by the time it comes down in price I will probably have run out of 4X media.

Regarding the buffer, I realize that with the protection drives have there won't be any coasters (I haven't had any even when occasionally surfing and burning).
However, at 8X, it would mean an even greater likelihood of a slowdown, since there is more of a chance that the HD can't keep up with the burner at 8X than at 4X e.g. and will have to slow down while awaiting the data to fill the buffer and start streaming in again right?
I realize this should not happen with a fast system with defragmented hard drives...

[tazdevl]

This Plex is pretty appealing because it offers great DVD performance and more importantly solid CD performance as well. I can see myself picking one of these up and getting rid of my F1, assuming it gets OK reviews.

I doubt we'll be seeing media for a while, since the physical spec for 8x +R just got hammered out what... last month? Seems like there is a 6-9 month lag before media hits the market after the spec gets worked out.

[VEFF]

I fully agree that media will take some time to come out.
I am not sure it will take 6 - 9 months this time around though, since +R has been around a while now, so there is more knowledge about the technology now than there was, say, a year ago...

Only time will tell I guess

I see it burns CD-Rs at 40X. Nice!
However, I would suggest that people buy a 52X CD-RW for $10 (or less) after rebate, and use the Plex strictly for DVD burning.
Likewise, I suggest getting a DVD-ROM for the purpose of reading DVD discs.
I have one DVD-ROM for each of my two PCs dedicated to reading DVD video or DVD data discs.
These can also be found for very little (I got one - LTD-163D - free after rebate last November, and one for $14 after a large Price Match and rebate).

Why use a $265 DVD burner to burn CDs or read DVDs, unless you don't do it too often, or don't have enough 5 1/4" drive bays free.
Just my two cents...
Feel free to disagree

[tazdevl]

Dunno about the whole buying a CD Burner to burn CDs Veff. The drive was built to burn thousands of discs, look @ the MTBF... unless you're backing up protected media (which the plex might do well, who knows) or using it as part of some underground duplicating business, I doubt you're going to wear it out or its going to go boom. That analogy is like buying a 250GB drive and not using its full capacity because it will be reading and writing a lot.

Definitely agree on the 163... or any other LiteOn drive now that LiteOn Flash app is out that allows you to disable Region Codes for drives above the 163.

Regarding +R... the 4X +RW spec has been around for quite some time, manufacturers have been qualified to make it for 6 months... yet where is the media? I don't think it has to do with the standard, I think it has to do with the physical characteristics of the media, player compatibility and plain ol' economics. Just seems like that trend has held true for the last couple years. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see 8X media on the market soon, but if you look @ history, even with CDRs (and 24X/32X CDRW), 6-9 months seems to be very consistent.

Actually I think it would be great to observe the decision making process or get into the cost/benefit model the media manufacturers use... wonder if it has to do with something as simple as a the % of a specific speed of players on the market, costs involved in retooling the line (assuming it's needed) and lost revenue if they have to drop a slower product before the new one enters mass production.

[VEFF]

taz,

Your points are well taken. Lots of good thoughts and comments too.


I have a few comments on my original post and your reply:

1) Using other drives instead of DVD burner:
The MTBF is an ideal number and should be combined with the duty cycle percentage.
Even taking that into account, I fully agree with you that it should burn thousands of CD-Rs. In fact many people report using CD burners for 1,000 and more burns without a problem.
However, the tray opening and closing and motor being in use and other moving parts being used all put wear and tear on the drive and could potentially cause premature failure, if one is unlucky.
I prefer to play it safe by using my cheaper/faster drives for some tasks:
Maybe I am being overly cautious and/or paranoid , but considering that I already own the needed CD-RW and DVD-ROM drives which are so cheap (and numerous) and are faster for burning (52X) and reading (where DVD-ROM drives are concerned), I will continue to do it this way.

With respect to the hard drive analogy, I feel that with a hard drive, you don't have a cheaper alternative that is just as fast at accessing the data.
With CD-RW and DVD-ROM drives you actually have faster alternatives.
BUT, I DO get your point!!

2) Regarding the DVD specs, you may well be right about the characteristics etc. having a lot to do with delays.
Wow, was it 6 - 9 months for 4X media? I am NOT being sarcastic, I just didn't keep close tabs on how long it took.
Well, only time will tell how long it actually ends up taking for 8X media to appear.
I did buy the drive knowing full well that it might be a while for 8X media to come out and for its price to become reasonable. Besides, I have 4X +R media that will last a month or two, thanks to recent Hot Deals, and media should continue to become cheaper - I read the profit margins somewhere, and they were pretty high, especially compared to other media such as CD-Rs...
In the meantime using an 8X burner at 4X won't be that bad (I started out at 1X in March 2002), and the 8X Plexy is $265 shipped, which is pretty reasonable compared to the popular DRU-510A burner, although prices are dropping daily.

Thanks for the comments, I am glad you took time to respond, that is why I like this site. There are a lot of interesting viewpoints and there is a lot of solid knowledge here that some other sites are lacking in...

[tazdevl]

Thx for the compliments. LOL well I got a couple major milestones out of the way for a client... so I'm much less pissy than I was a couple weeks ago.

I'll probably get one, might ditch my DRX510UL, I like having an external, but I don't know how often I'm really going to need an external drive.

Be nice if the -R gang got on the ball and did something though. All the compatibility issues I've had have been with +R media... never had any with -R.

It'll be interesting to see if any of the other drives coming out between now and the end of the year will boast better specs than the Plex.