Pioneer DVR-110D: Dual Layer Double Time!

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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 1.17
  http://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  Just seems like lately i've noticed lots of computer parts seems, well outdated compared to how fast other stuff changes.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 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

• 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