HP DVD100i DVD+RW Burner Tested

An anonymous reader writes: "I'm fairly sure this is the first review of a DVD+RW drive. Looks like it fared well in testing. The only downsides to the 100i are slow DAE with audio CD's, lousy manuals, and it can't read DVD-RW (note the dash instead of the plus) discs. Still a tad expensive at 599USD though. Are you reading, Santa?" I want this as a heavy-duty *external* drive :)

Santa is listening...

An anonymous reader writes: "... Are you reading, Santa?"

Yes, but who do I deliver to?

-Santa

Comparison to Apple SuperDrive?

Just for a point of comparison... how does this differ from the Apple SuperDrive DVD writer (you've seen the ads) which is included in high end Powermacs? According to Apple's website [apple.com] the SuperDrive is a DVD-R drive, which I was told, couldn't write DVD-Video... so how are they accomplishing it?

Re:Comparison to Apple SuperDrive?

there are many different formats of dvd recordable/rewritable formats: dvd-rw, dvd-r, dvd+rw, dvd-ram...

http://www.brouhaha.com/~eric/video/dvd/

chris

Re:Comparison to Apple SuperDrive?

Well, there is:

* DVD-R & DVD-RW (Pioneer/Apple)

* DVD+RW (HP, Ricoh et al.)

* DVD-RAM (Panasonic)

Ignoring DVD-RAM (it needs cartridges and is not really DVD at all), and DVD-R (there are no DVD-Rs available AFAIK, but all DVD-R recorders can also burn DVD-RWs), it boils down to deciding whether to go with DVD-RW or DVD+RW.

If I had to decide NOW, I'd choose DVD+RW for the simple fact that it can burn at 2x while DVD-RW will always be written at 1x.

Better of course to wait for a couple of months for prices to come down and speed to go up ...

-Martin

$600? we'll all own one in three years

this is great. $600 now means they'll be $150 three years down the line, and they'll be as ubiquitous as CD-RWs are now.

boy there's gonna be some piracy problems :D

Heavy Duty External?

Uhm, why? I always wondered what it was about people and external drives. Do you plan on swapping this across multiple systems? Or do you just want to be "cool" for having an external DVD+RW? From what I've seen, most external CD-like solutions are enormous, unless you get a PCMCIA slimline version, but I don't see any slimline DVD burners coming out any time soon, heh.

Re:Heavy Duty External?

There are plenty of advantages to an external. First: an external must by SCSI, 1394, or USB, so it won't use up one of your limited motherboard IDE ports. Second: you can swap an external between many systems -- beats having to transfer gigabytes of data over a network. Third: you can turn an external off when you aren't using it. My external CD-RW has probably been on for less than 2 days in the three years I've owned it. This will extend its life. It also saves energy. Fourth: with all external drives, you can have a pizza-box computer. If you want hard disks, cd, cd-rw, dvd, and dvd-+rw in the same case, it has to be an enormous tower.

PC Magazine Review

Right here [pcmag.com]. They compare it with the Sony dvd+rw.

Note that dvd+rw and dvd-rw drive can both write dvd-r disks that can be played in a standard dvd player. So it's not quite vhs vs. betamax.

That is not correct

AFAIK DVD+RW drives cannot write to DVD-R media.

There will be a supplemental media released
"early" next year... DVD+R which will fill the
cheap recordable gap in the media line for
DVD+RW drives.

For the time being the only media you will be able to
get for the HP, Phillips, and so forth drives will be DVD+RW.
Which is one of the reasons I am holding off (saving up) for
a drive in a few months.
1. It will be clearer which standard is more compatible.
2. The media selection for both should be better at that point.

Apple got there first

Maybe the poster of this article should look for reviews of Apple's G4 desktop macine, it's been shipping with a Panasonic DVR-103 DVD-RW drive as standard for quite a while now.

NO REAL STANDARD YET!

/.
While DVD+RW may eventually become the industry standard, you're still gambling until a true standard unequivocally (sp?) emerges.
Look at what 56Kb modem prices did once the v.90 standard was published.

SO, I'm still waiting!
--Charlie

Price of Media, Price of Hardware

I went to Bestbuy last night and saw a generic CD-RW drive for $79 before rebate. If you shop around, you can get CDR's or CDRW's for about $.50 apeice, usually with a rebate that makes them more or less free.

You can also get a DVD-Rom drive for about $100.

All this considered, it would literally be cheaper to buy both drives than the all-in-one combo. Even if it did manage to burn DVD-RW, it would still be cheaper in terms of media cost to have both drives and burn data onto CDR or CDRW... that is... unless you actually *need* an entire DVD-RW's worth of storage capacity in contiguous media.

2.4x = ?

I hope I'm incorrectly calculating that a full 4.7GB write would take 3.6 hours.

Question

Can you write data onto a DVD+RW disc and then read it with a DVD reader?

VHS to DVD

Now you can move your vhs tapes to dvd for less than $1,000. The Dazzle Hollywood DV-Bridge [dazzle.com] is $300 (it comes with a ieee 1394 card (Lucent chipset)) and converts analog inputs (from the composite video jack on the tape deck) to digital video, which goes over the 1394 link. The VCR looks like a digital camcorder to the card. Be advised that DV takes up about 15Gb/hr.

I have one of those (DVD recorder is on the list to get) and it works fairly well. Get the Pinnacle DVD authoring software ($40 at Best Buy) because the bundled software isn't any good.

DVD+RW

Hmmm, so all the hype here really is over a drive that is rewriteable and has the capability to hold how much data? 18 GB total maybe? Plus they're sort of slow. Then again, the first CDR drives were painstakingly slow as well.

My feelings are two folded. I guess I am happy that the DVD+RW is finally around, mostly because I don't want to see DVDs go to the wayside like many economists were saying that they would (then again, what do they know really?). But at the same time, with companies like Constellation 3D out there with their Flourescent technologies out there, I'm wondering why this sort of media storage hasn't been developed more. Constellation 3-d [c-3d.net] uses a flourescent technology to store up to 140 GB of data on a single disc. This would be more than enough to be like that of HDTV :o) Alas, such things are not in the forefront of the news as I guess most companies are scared to invest in something so powerful.

Oh well, like others I'd love for Santa to bring me an external unit... :-)

Cost

At $15.99 a disk, the cost they mention in this CNet article http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-6909288.html [cnet.com] from August 19, I don't think its all that affordable. With the drive costing $600, the total costs would just be too high. Sure you can record repeatedly for each $16, but you're going to want to have more than one thing on disk at any one time, requiring additional disks. I realize that's cheaper than competing DVD rewritables so far, but still too much.

DVD Demystified

The best site I've found that goes through all the differences between DVD formats is in the DVD FAQ [dvddemystified.com] at DVD Demystified [dvddemystified.com]

Waiting for standards unification

I waited on the 56k v.90 standard for a while and I can wait on this to get sorted out too. If it were something a little bit cheaper then I would not mind spending the money on this, but since they cost >$500 I will wait.

DVD Movie bit-by-bit copy?

Can this drive make perfect copies of DVD movie disks? For backup purposes, of course.

it's a good piece of pie

hi,

i've had one of these for the last month and have found it to be an incredibly reliable and useful tool.

i haven't run across a bad cd/dvd write yet with it, and while the software is very vanilla, it is still quite useful.

installation was very simple, and with media prices dropping, i'm happily looking forward to finally feeling secure about having enough back-ups...

-myrth

Info

http://www.thetechnozone.com/pcbuyersguide/hardwar e/storage/HP-dvd100i.html

Use a 1394 enclosure

If you want the HP DVD+RW drive as an external, get a Firewire external chassis like the ones from http://www.apdrives.com . I have not specifically tested the HP drive in one of these, but everything else I've tried works great.

Pioneer DVD-RW drive cheaper

It looks like Pioneer's drive is now cheaper than the new HP one, and I think the disks are cheaper, too. Plus, it is readily available, and so are the DVD-R's and DVD-RW's. It also works with Linux, at least to write CD's. I've done it.

Fine...

I'm still waiting for two things:

• Until the empty media becomes cheaper,
• The drives become cheaper...

Otherwise, this _would_ make a nice backup medium though. For personal use it seems to expensive for me still, although CD-R/CD-RW's give me headaches sometimes (they're well... too small and stuff). Actually, I use 'em almost as floppies somewhat.

Also, the thing is that there is also an RIAA tax (am I right here?) that makes all of this even more expensive... I don't see myself switching over to DVD-R or DVD-RW just yet, nor do I see others do it, for the concerns expressed above.

how about 40 GB per disk for $100?

...It's called a hard drive. They're REALLY cheap these days, and they have INCREDIBLY FAST seek times. Oh, and they can be written to and read from without any additional software. Oh, and they're compatible with ANY operating system.

Seriously, though...these things are still WAY too expensive to justify buying one, unless you're one of those guys making a six-figure salary who buys everything, no matter the cost. Then again, i guess they have to go through this phase before they're going to bring the price down anyway, so whatever. But for now, I'll take a bunch of hard drives over a DVD-RW or DVD+RW any day.

Linux test so far ...

I put one in one of my Linux boxes last week. So far, I have read CD-Audio (grip) and CD-ROM (iso9660), DVD-ROM (iso9660), and a Video DVD ("Chicken Run") with no problems. I have written to CD-RW media, both CD-Audio and CD-ROM, with cdrecord.

As soon as I get some time, I will test DVD-Video and DVD-ROM formats on DVD+RW media. Any idea where I should post the results?

Other reviews (prior art :-)

cdrinfo [cdrinfo.com] reviewed the Ricoh 5120A [cdrinfo.com] (CDRW and DVR+RW) months ago. Then they did the Philips DVD+RW 208 [cdrinfo.com].

The current review is of a 32x writer, the Mitsumi CR-480ATE [cdrinfo.com], so no need for a "Woow! First review of a 32x writer" in two months :-)

Not a cost effective storage solution

I've been waiting for affordable DVD recordables for a long time. In a previous life, I spent a lot of time taping Phish and other bands that allow taping. I have over 500 DATS that I want to transfer to another format. DAT tapes start to degrade around five years after they are recorded on. CDR works but it takes 3 CD's for one concert. What I would prefer to do is use a lossless compression format such as SHN [softsound.com] and put 10+ DATS on one DVD-R.

The technology is there but the media prices are ridiculous. DVD-R prices hover at around 15 to 25 bucks. The drives are not too bad, the HP drive goes for around $560 street but until the media comes down to earth it doesn't seem worth it for me. Now if I had an interest in video, I would pick it up in a heartbeat.

Alternative option for removeable mass media

I personally want to see CDs and DVDs eventually (meaning I know they won't die off tomorrow) be faded out in favor of say 1394b buses + compact flash, smartmedia cards, SSDs, or <insert_your_fave_really_fast_non_volatile_mem_ type_here> :)

I mean think of the access times, Megs/sec, the size of the media, reliability, possible applications... It just seems the intelligent choice to make (and if not flash memory, maybe IBM's magnetic RAM or some similar non-volatile mem)!

Importsnt questions not answered.

What is best for writing dvd video discs?
the only reason I want a DVD-R or RW or +rw or a r*(rw/r)^rw or whatever they want to call it this week is to make my own DVD flicks (Ok and maybe backup my PS2 DVD's..) but mainly for taking my DV cam's video and spitting it to a nice disc for friends, relatives, archival... basically to completely remove any need for VHS.

What drives will write a disc that is readable in any DVD player I wander up to?

what drives are supported under linux?

599$ isn't so bad

I paid around that for my first CDR drive - seriosly. It was Yamaha CRW4001T.

Pioneer DVR-A03 DV - $400, available now

I believe that this [pioneerelectronics.com] is the one bundled in the PowerMacs.

Since it burns DVD-R at 2x, DVD-RW at 1x, CDR at 8x, and CD-RW at 4x, and is available for what looks like a relatively cheap price [cnet.com] right now, it looks like what I'd put on my christmas list. :-)

Especially since Nero [ahead.de] now supports burning VideoCD (mpeg1) and MPEG2 DVDs.

Lots of good info on the DVD+RW format and drives

...here [dvdplusrw.org].

What I wanna know is

Alright, so I'm lazy. Can someone please answer me this: is it possible yet for me to take my DivX ;-) movies, turn them into VOB files, burn them, and play them in my DVD player? Last I checked the answer was an uncertain "no." Or, more accurately, I tried to figure this question once before and was unpleasantly surprised to discover the myriad of formats out there: DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD-RAM, DVD+RW, blah blah. Every player seems to be incompatible with about half of them, but it's never the same half. So I assumed no. Has anything changed?

CD-RW DVD-/+RW....

.... I'm still wanting a CD-RW, forget the DVD anythings! I have 2 cd rom drives (One being a DVD drive but anyway) and I still don't have a CD burner,..

Now, I'm still thinking that why don't we just stick with the poor buck a piece CDs which hold plenty of data, instead of trying out this newer technology just yet... I know I still have to be really careful with my DVD drive, as afaik, DVD drives have a tendancy to break after relatively short time spans, especially when you start using the cd rom AND dvd drive capabilities.

The fuss is simple, people just have big egos which they like to primp up using their computers. Well... well... fine then! I have a gig athlon with cd dvd and a ls120 drive! (

Seen it once seen it twice... if you want to have muscle matches boys (and girls!), get a 64-1/2 ford mustang all original parts... then you can boast. (or sell it and make 200k...)

Prices for Competitor

The Pioneer DVRA03 is available, for those interested in a DVD-R drive, for around $430. You can get it for $400 if you look around enough. (Try eBay.)

The firewire version of the drive runs around $575, though it's tougher to find.

(And many tv DVD players won't recognize DVD+RW discs, as the HP creates. Make sure you find out before you buy one.)

For me, it's not a question of backing up my HD or making MP3 discs. I want one so I can burn DVD videos of the stuff I record and edit on my D8 camcorder. For that purpose, a DVD-R drive is magnificently suited.

Re:Macrovision

that can always be taken care of with a "video clarifier"
Does anyone know if that affects quality though?

Recordable DVD format chaos = more dead media

First DVD-RAM, then DVD-RW, then DVD+RW... the industry's parade of new and different recordable DVD formats has got to be awfully confusing to consumers. Until this article, I certainly couldn't keep them straight.

The funny thing is that the faster they crank out these new formats, the faster the previous ones become obsolete. We are accumulating dead media [deadmedia.org] at a faster and faster pace. Will anyone own a working DVD-RAM drive in 10 years? Woe to those businesses, individuals or organizations who chose this as their archival medium...

Region Code

To answer the other half of your question, from the article:

The HP dvd100i also uses RPC-2 for region protecting. This means that the drive's region is stored in the firmware itself. You can change the drive's region five times and after that you cannot change it anymore.

Bummer.

Re:Welp, im turning my filter back on -thanks

Heh. With witty comebacks like that, I can imagine Oscar Wilde will soon be forgotten. That poor AC will never know that you burned him so bad behind his back.

Seriously, though. Why do some of you troll? I'm asking you for a serious thought out answer. Can you give me one? Is there some story in the backgruond about why you do it?

Thank you Inspector Clouseau!

The legions of anal retentive grammar nazis rise to salute you! All hail the king and master of the English language. May the sun never set on your perfectly parsed and formatted kingdom! I pine for the day when one so masterful as you can have full editorial control over all of the content across this vast network.

Please accept my apologies in advance for the shoddiness of this post. Alas I am just a poor grammar serf. I don't have the same divine control over the English language as your Royal Grammar Highness.

Re:HP optical products are crap, IMHO

I don't deny what you are saying, but I have had exactly the opposite experience, at least with HP CDRW drives.

Re:HP optical products are crap, IMHO

I have owned 2 burners, and the external HP one is DEAD. I used it for about 6 months and now all I get is a hardware error, which won't go away, no matter what system I hook it up to...

HP is a cool company, but my experiences have all been kinda weak...Their servers had (and may still) PLASTIC wire management for the power, kvm and network cables. I am sure they saved a buck on that, but it showed.