On 15/01/04 at 13:12 Kevin wrote: > > Just found this which may be of interest to some. >
Kevin: As a means of backing up a system this new 9 Gig system looks quite attractive, however I do think it's best not to overlook the importance of standards when it comes to DVD storage, especially if you need to play them back on other systems. There was a post made to PhotoPro list yesterday with a link to a site which gives info on DVD formats/players and, most importantly, compatibility. http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/DVDMediaFormats Their Executive summary states: "The content created on a DVD-R/RW writer using a write once DVD-R disc played back in virtually all (96.1 percent) of the DVD players and DVD-ROM drives used in the research. DVD+R discs played back in 87.6 percent of the devices tested." They mention DVD readers and writers, but didn't specifically mention the actual player that Apple is branding as their "superdrive." With a little sleuthing, I found a Macworld article from February 2001 that mentioned, "Pioneer (who manufacture the SuperDrive for Apple)." So narrowed down the list list to the two Pioneer DVR models (because they appeared to be the only ones that could "write" DVD's) and concluded that the Pioneer DVDRA05/105 DVD-RW Drive must be what is in the new G5's as the Apple Superdrive (the other Pioneer drive is a stand alone model that you use with a TV). The specs seem to match and I've reprinted both at the end of this post. The good news is that this device is very compatible in reading discs authored on other systems. See (http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/DVDMediaFormats/Details.aspx?Player=PIONEER+DVR-A05) for the details. I don't understand enough about DVD authoring to know if this is purely a function of the hardware, or the hardware/software in combo. If you want to see how the discs authored by this machine fared in other players it's a little more difficult. The test results seem to cycle through several different recorders using the four various formats -R+R -RW +RW, and with various "media." While you can look at each entry for the Pioneer A05 to determine which media and format work for the majority of the players, it was much easier once I found this chart that breaks it down in a much easier to read format. http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Articles/Sources/DVD%20Media%20Format%20Compatibility%20Tests/Images/Sheet_PerRecorder.gif So for this model it looks like Maxell DVD-R 4x, or Pioneer DVD-R 4x media are the clear winners, being playable in all of the 47 players they tried ! Hope that helps. David ----------------------------- Here's the comparison specs on the drives for reference. Apple Superdrive (DVR-103, DVR-104) Apple's revolutionary SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW) allows you to create music and data CDs, read DVDs, and create DVD data discs and DVD-video discs for playback on most standard DVD players. Along with Apple's iDVD software (included on systems with SuperDrive) your Power Mac G5 is a full-featured DVD authoring studio. The SuperDrive reads DVDs at 12x, writes to DVD-R at 4x, reads CDs at 32x, writes to CD-R at 16x, and writes to CD-RW at 10x. The drive supports CD-ROM, CD-Audio, CD-R, CD-RW, CDI, CD Bridge, CD Extended, CD Mixed Mode, Photo CD, DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, and DVD-R media. Pioneer DVDRA05/105 DVD-RW Drive A05/105 DVD Speed CD Speed Write 4X 16X ReWrite 2X/1X 8X Read 12X 32X Pioneer's DVR-A05 drive doubles writing performance across the board with 4X DVD-R, 2X DVD-RW, 16X CD-R and 8X CD-RW capabilities. The new 4X DVD-R recording speed translates into approximately 15 minutes to fully record a high-speed 4.7 GB DVD-R disc. Using data writing software bundled with the drive, the DVR-A05 also offers two-minute quick formatting for DVD-RW data discs, and allows finished DVD-RW discs to be "unfinalized" for writing additional data files. A DVD authoring tool and DVD/CD data recording application are also included with the drive, as well as blank 4X DVD-R and 2X DVD-RW discs -- Creating an image database? be sure to visit (http://ControlledVocabulary.com/)! Read a review of the Image Info Toolkit utility at: (http://ControlledVocabulary.com/imagedatabases/imageinfotoolkit.html) -- David Riecks (that's "i" before "e", but the "e" is silent) http://www.riecks.com , Chicago Midwest ASMP member http://zillionbucks.com "The Webhost for your Creative Business" =============================================================== GO TO http://www.prodig.org for ~ GUIDELINES ~ un/SUBSCRIBING ~ ITEMS for SALE
