Its sad to see such poor product development work being done a Brand name Mfg. There is no excuse releasing a product for production that does not meet the expectations of not only the buying public but also a product that does not live up to a companies reputation.
How come we don't see SATA based CDROM/DVD/DVD burners? Is it lack of standard for those? Expensive? Even if performance was not a reason, sure would look nicer in a case than the old ribbon cables..
Just seems like lately i've noticed lots of computer parts seems, well outdated compared to how fast other stuff changes. hehe
On the same token, why can I buy 1GB of RAM for less than $100, but most all optical drives seem to have a 2MB buffer, or 8MB at the most for the more expensive models?
Similar story for hard drives, which could potentially benefit even more. Why aren't there models with something like 64MB or even 128MB buffers? I'd be perfectly willing to pay ~$20 more for the increased performance.
most of the memory on hdd's and optical drives is provided via 1 memory chip
your usual ddr/ddr2 uses a 8/16 chip configuration
they also try to use lower latency/higher frequency ram
however, yes I do agree though that devices should come with a 32mb buffer, which is feasable
Indeed, as already commented, the Plextor 712SA and 716SA are both SATA drives, 12x and 16x (which also has some more features over the 712SA). Last I checked, the 716SA ran about $120 or so.
I was considering buying one, but realized that it would be incompatible with my SATA chip, which is one reason that you don't see more of these drives -- motherboard compatibility. Apparently the SATA chips were designed for HDs or something stupid like that...
Unfortunately, OSD manufacturers don't have mature unbridged SATA interfaces. Thus, they need to rely on a bridge to support SATA, but the logic goes if you're buying a DVD/CD drive you've probably got an older computer (because new computers come with DVD/CD drives).
On the other hand, there is some market for OEM components, as removing the PATA interface for some companies (Dell) saves them a fraction of the production cost -- but unfortunately then the OSD manufacturer ends up eating that cost with the bridge chip.
Plextor did just that for a bunch of people at first, and coincidentally the company is in trouble now. When the margin on these kind of products is so razor thin, *anything* to increase the cost is a huge problem for manufacturers.
So in short - there is no market to support SATA on OSD right now.
Yeah, because all of us would like to buy three or four, spending money and time to RMA if necessary because Drives A, B, and C didn't have good write quality standards across multiple media manufacturers and burnt horrible discs, or burned 80% of the media on the market at 2-4x instead of max. rated speed.
Just because a product is inexpensive doesn't mean it's not worthy of a review. Heck, I'd like to know which 120mm case fans produce the least amount of noise, for example. Do I want to buy ten just so I can test it out myself?
In the same way, DVD burning today is much like second-gen CD writers about nine years ago. Media differed by manufacturer, and some drives did a lot better writing than others. The problem is rarer today now that technology has matured, but with DVD burners, the technology is like a child; some growth has been achieved, but it's still a long way from maturity. All of us here want the best for our money. Don't you?
Yes. Who cares how cheap they've become? It's a matter of how often you actually use them these days - you'd still like to get the best possible product. Falls into the same category as mouse reviews...
At the time we tested this drive, 1.17 had not yet been released, which we stated in the review. We would also like to get some feedback from those who do have newer firmware versions applied on the performance/quality of burning to various types of media.
If you do have the DVR-110D, or any other product we have reviewed in the past for that matter, with newer firmware than we have tested with, we would like any input you, our audience, can provide to help the rest of the community.
For those looking for reviews besides DVD writers, we have quite a line up in the coming weeks so keep an eye out!
I would like to see an updated review with the 1.17 firmware, if it fixes any of the issues they had. However, it appears that 1.17 has only been out for a week, so they probably had the article done awhile ago.
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20 Comments
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yanon - Saturday, September 17, 2005 - link
I am glad that I just bought a Benq 1640A. I can't wait to test it on Tuesday.deathwalker - Friday, September 16, 2005 - link
Its sad to see such poor product development work being done a Brand name Mfg. There is no excuse releasing a product for production that does not meet the expectations of not only the buying public but also a product that does not live up to a companies reputation.Bozo Galora - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - link
heres the 1.17http://www.pioneer-eur.com/eur/content/support/sup...">http://www.pioneer-eur.com/eur/content/support/sup...
since the review was so negative, I think it deserves an addendum with FW 1.17
RyanVM - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - link
When are you guys going to review the PX-716A?imaheadcase - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - link
How come we don't see SATA based CDROM/DVD/DVD burners? Is it lack of standard for those? Expensive? Even if performance was not a reason, sure would look nicer in a case than the old ribbon cables..Just seems like lately i've noticed lots of computer parts seems, well outdated compared to how fast other stuff changes. hehe
Anton74 - Friday, September 16, 2005 - link
Indeed.On the same token, why can I buy 1GB of RAM for less than $100, but most all optical drives seem to have a 2MB buffer, or 8MB at the most for the more expensive models?
Similar story for hard drives, which could potentially benefit even more. Why aren't there models with something like 64MB or even 128MB buffers? I'd be perfectly willing to pay ~$20 more for the increased performance.
/soapbox
xsilver - Saturday, September 17, 2005 - link
most of the memory on hdd's and optical drives is provided via 1 memory chipyour usual ddr/ddr2 uses a 8/16 chip configuration
they also try to use lower latency/higher frequency ram
however, yes I do agree though that devices should come with a 32mb buffer, which is feasable
joex444 - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - link
Indeed, as already commented, the Plextor 712SA and 716SA are both SATA drives, 12x and 16x (which also has some more features over the 712SA). Last I checked, the 716SA ran about $120 or so.I was considering buying one, but realized that it would be incompatible with my SATA chip, which is one reason that you don't see more of these drives -- motherboard compatibility. Apparently the SATA chips were designed for HDs or something stupid like that...
bldckstark - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - link
The SATA reviews are just one Google search away.http://www.hothardware.com/viewarticle.cfm?article...">Plextor's PX-712SA Dual-Format DVD+/- SATA Drive
http://www.tomshardware.com/storage/20040709/">MSI's DVD Drive Gets The SATA Connection
It's a big world out there, you should take a look sometime.
KristopherKubicki - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - link
Unfortunately, OSD manufacturers don't have mature unbridged SATA interfaces. Thus, they need to rely on a bridge to support SATA, but the logic goes if you're buying a DVD/CD drive you've probably got an older computer (because new computers come with DVD/CD drives).On the other hand, there is some market for OEM components, as removing the PATA interface for some companies (Dell) saves them a fraction of the production cost -- but unfortunately then the OSD manufacturer ends up eating that cost with the bridge chip.
Plextor did just that for a bunch of people at first, and coincidentally the company is in trouble now. When the margin on these kind of products is so razor thin, *anything* to increase the cost is a huge problem for manufacturers.
So in short - there is no market to support SATA on OSD right now.
Kristopher
DigitalFreak - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - link
But who can afford dual layer media? I don't care if the drive can burn DVD+-R/DL @ 20x, if I have to pay $3/disc for the media...Anton74 - Friday, September 16, 2005 - link
It makes for a good backup medium. Tapes of similar capacity are far more expensive, and far slower as well.Not to mention, the price of the media will undoubtedly drop over time.
Questar - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - link
Still reviewing DVD drives? $50 items?I'm left speechless.
LoneWolf15 - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - link
Yeah, because all of us would like to buy three or four, spending money and time to RMA if necessary because Drives A, B, and C didn't have good write quality standards across multiple media manufacturers and burnt horrible discs, or burned 80% of the media on the market at 2-4x instead of max. rated speed.
Just because a product is inexpensive doesn't mean it's not worthy of a review. Heck, I'd like to know which 120mm case fans produce the least amount of noise, for example. Do I want to buy ten just so I can test it out myself?
In the same way, DVD burning today is much like second-gen CD writers about nine years ago. Media differed by manufacturer, and some drives did a lot better writing than others. The problem is rarer today now that technology has matured, but with DVD burners, the technology is like a child; some growth has been achieved, but it's still a long way from maturity. All of us here want the best for our money. Don't you?
vijay333 - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - link
Yes. Who cares how cheap they've become? It's a matter of how often you actually use them these days - you'd still like to get the best possible product. Falls into the same category as mouse reviews...wanderer27 - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - link
Firmware is at v1.17 on the Pioneer Site. Why are we looking at v1.08 issues ?PuravSanghani - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - link
At the time we tested this drive, 1.17 had not yet been released, which we stated in the review. We would also like to get some feedback from those who do have newer firmware versions applied on the performance/quality of burning to various types of media.If you do have the DVR-110D, or any other product we have reviewed in the past for that matter, with newer firmware than we have tested with, we would like any input you, our audience, can provide to help the rest of the community.
For those looking for reviews besides DVD writers, we have quite a line up in the coming weeks so keep an eye out!
Purav
DigitalFreak - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - link
I would like to see an updated review with the 1.17 firmware, if it fixes any of the issues they had. However, it appears that 1.17 has only been out for a week, so they probably had the article done awhile ago.Lifted - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - link
you heard me, fix it!n7 - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - link
BenQ DW1640 still has the crown!