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Artec USA was nice enough to share some details on their upcoming 12x DVD±RW drive, the VOM-12F52Z. Expected to ship as early as May, the VOM-12F52Z features 12x DVD+R and 8x DVD+RW writing speeds as well as a maximum DVD read speed of 16x. The drive will also be one of the first to feature 48x CD writing speeds.



Writing Speeds:
Writing Speeds:
DVD+R: 12x
DVD+RW: 8x
DVD-R: 8x
DVD-R: 4x
CD-R: 48x
CD-RW: 24x

Buffer Size: 2MB

Read Speeds:
DVD-ROM: 16x Max
CD-ROM: 48x Max

Access Times:
DVD-ROM: 130ms
CD-ROM: 120ms

The VOM-12F52Z also includes features like Superlink buffer underrun protection and V.A.R.S (Vibration Acoustic Reduction System) technology. This new technology absorbs noise and vibration when reading unbalanced discs and can reduce the temperature of the drive thanks to an improved loader system. Best of all, the VOM-12F52Z is expected to run about $99.00 to $129.00. Artec should have more information on their website soon, until then leave your comments in our forum.

Forum exclusive picture

That looks a lot like a Liteon.

dhc014 wrote:That looks a lot like a Liteon.

Not with Seamless Link. It's probably based on the Philips chipset. Their 8x drive is.

Nope, not a LiteON, the button's all wrong.

I'm very surprised to see so many people bringing out 12x DVD burners.... all the media I've seen is going to be 8x or 16x

Up till now, only Plextor and Liteon have announced 12x drives. There will be no such thing as 12x media. Probably the same thing for Plextor as when the 8x drive came out. Will run at 12x on some select media, 8x on the crappy stuff.

Ian wrote:Not with Seamless Link. It's probably based on the Philips chipset. Their 8x drive is.

I take back what I said. It's Superlink and it will use a Mediatek chipset.

meditek seems have some problem of making good chipset for dvd burners; their chipsets are supposed to support dvd-ram signals but i have not seen any mediatek chipseted burner doing that

the most interesting thing about this burner is 8x dvd+rw....they will be really great for backing up

i am sure this is just me, but many dvd burner facias are rather ugly

Odd.. it looks like their specs have changed. I'll need to contact them to see what's up.

http://www.artecusa.com/products-12X8dvd%2Brw.html

That Artec looks exactly the same as my 52x CDR burner Right down to the placing of the eject hole.

It isn't a rebadged anything.

No, this isn't rebadged. It's a true Artec.

Anyway, I talked to Artec today and the specs on their website are the final ones. They decided not to go with the 48x CD read/write and 8x DVD+RW writing speed due to stability.

I was just going to say that 8x DVD+RW would be heaven,

Of course, you wouldn't catch me dead with an Artec drive, too many bad stories I've heard, then my own personal expirience.

dhc014 wrote:That looks a lot like a Liteon.

It looks like a what?

Doesn't look very LiteOn-ish to me.

On an alternate note, after my recent experience with an Artec drive that I eventually replaced with a LiteOn (why I didn't just get the LiteOn in the first place is beyond me; I was stupid), I don't trust that company. Drive (DVD-ROM) had some problems reading dual-layer discs. Finally figured out that it was because the firmware was buggy, and then took me forever to find firmware updates (none on its main Taiwan site or its USA site; I had to find its Europe site for some updates that, BTW, didn't even have any update instructions). Drive refuses to read CD-RW discs, and struggles with CD-R discs--and even worse, after the FW update, the dual-layer problem went away, but the drive suddenly became much pickier about reading CD media. I eventually gave up and dumped the drive. So I think I'll pass and wait for a more reputable company.

More info to follow...

CD-R recording speed bumped up to 48x again?

Yeah, it looks that way. I was hoping to post a few CD Speed screenshots, but the drive refuses to write at 12x, even with the media Artec sent along. Heck, the drive won't write to some of the 8x media at anything faster than 1x.. yes 1x..

Ian wrote:Heck, the drive won't write to some of the 8x media at anything faster than 1x.. yes 1x..

well, aren't we lucky we got these new emoticons!

ZipZoomFly now has this drive on sale for $99.99 shipped:
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDe ... ode=173211

well saw this on ebay.co.uk for £100 inclusive of P&P
Not a too bad a price for a 12x..but i must say $99.99 is well cheap!!

Cheap for a drive that can't burn at 12x speed on any dvd+r media.

Artec still needs to do some work on this drive. I think they tried to be first to market and they rushed it a little. That's my opinion anyway.

8mb buffer? that what that info shows. but then it is reported to be 2mb hmm maybe i am just reading this info wrong

Ebuyer in the UK have these for £65+sales tax.

I think I'll be holding back though, Artec are not the best of companies for updating firmware at the best of times...

Yes, I'm still waiting for a firmware update for their 8x drive. It won't write to any DVD-R media at 4x.

Ian wrote:Artec still needs to do some work on this drive. I think they tried to be first to market and they rushed it a little. That's my opinion anyway.

LG in Pyungtaek is very eager to do so likewise. There has been some pressure on testers recently as if they wanted to release 4120 in May.