Is there a DVD out there?

A couple questions:

What is sub channel data and CD text?
From what I hear your 72x kicks butt, why not keep it and have both a DVD and 72x?

I recently bought a 16/40 DVD from www.goroyalpc.com and am happy with it. Their current pricing seems really good to me. You can get a Pioneer 16/40 DVD w decoder for $129.99 plus s&h. I don’t know if it does your sub channel data and CD text. The only problem with the decoder is that the longer signal path of the video results in slightly worse video quality on the passed through signal (your desktop). I don’t know if all piggyback decoders have this problem. A solution might be one of those ATI graphics cards with built in MPEG decoding. The drive is available without a card for only $81.00.

The 72x is fast, but it cannot read a lot of stuff. Sub Channel data is what clone cd uses to copy copy protected cds. CD text is for copying the song names along with the tracks when copying an audio cd.

Check out one og the creative DVD drives that comes with the DXR3 decoder card. I have an 8x that has worked great for about a year. If you really want to get rid of your 72x I would be interested in taking it off your hand. It is a kenwood right?

I would recommend either the creative 12X with DxR3 or possibly look at pioneer. I think most of them should be able to read both sub channel and cd Text. I also recommend SCSI if you are serious about speed and reliability.
-=-Sean-=-

I'm sorry I can not recommend going SCSI for just DVD. So unless you already have a SCSI bus and are looking to keep all devices on that bus that's a big NO, the DMA for IDE works fine in Win98 and it shouldn't be any concern with newer drives. SCSI drives on the market are manufactured much less and therefore higher priced (you'll pay the same price for a 10x SCSI as you will for a 16x IDE). And the drives are usually the same drive as an IDE equiv with a SCSI interface. And SCSI DVDs always lag behind the latest DVD drive technology..(Meaning some manufacturers when they get around to it after it's been out for IDE will manufacture the same drive with SCSI interface). can you find a 16x DVD SCSI Drive yet that's not a RAM drive? When I got my Pioneer 303s 6/32 10x had just start to come out for IDE.. and no the Pioneer 6x/32 and the Toshiba 5x/35x or whatever it was were about the only two SCSI drives available at any competitive price. (was still more than an IDE 10x/40x at the time). I understood that..didn't bother me cause I already had a SCSI setup and wanted to keep all devices on that bus.

***Hey I run Intel... but let's get real***

yes, get dvd keep your cd-rom (use it as a cd-player when playing Unreal or quake) Also get an ATI card they have the best playback out there.

ATI RADEON 32MB DDR RULE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The IDE vs SCSI question has bugged me for a long time and I have long thought that my SCSI drive is far superior to any IDE drive. Turns out that the real reason my SCSI HD is so much faster is because it is 10,000 rpm not because it is SCSI. DMA brings IDE up to very near SCSI performance on a single computer. SCSI only really begins to shine in a multiple drive or server application. SCSI allows longer cable lengths so most external drives are SCSI. SCSI is the only choice for a server but IDE with DMA is a much better choice for a personal system. SCSI DVD is hard to find and expensive. As Chord pointed out the SCSI version of a drive is a generation behind the IDE version. The difference between a 10x and 16x is way bigger then any improvement SCSI makes over IDE. I would love to believe that the extra money I spent on an all SCSI system was worth it but since DMA IDE came out SCSI is not worth the money, especially in the DVD market.

PS: When you buy a DVD or if you already have, please post what you bought and if you like it.

So what is this "BIG" difference between a 10x and 16x.

pill128

Take your Pill, and get some sleep.

pill128

The only pioneer SCSI drive shown at the pioneer website is a 6x/32x named DVD-303S SCSI claiming:

Sustained Transfer Rate
2.5X - 6X (3.35MB/sec - 8.1MB/sec) for DVD-ROM
14X - 32X (2.1MB/sec - 4.8MB/sec) for CD-ROM


Pioneer is not showing a 10x SCSI but I found this information for the 10x/40x DVD-304S SCSI at www.goroyalpc.com for $125.00 showing:

DVD
(10X CAV)
Minimum: 5586 KB/second
Maximum: 13500 KB/second

CD-Rom
(40X CAV mode, 16 Kbytes or greater block transfers)
Minimum: 2586 KB/second
Maximum: 6000 KB/second



Lastly the DVD-115 16x/40x (IDE) for $80.00 is claiming:

Sustained Transfer Rate
DVD-ROM ATAPI: 6.6X - 16X (8.91 MB/s - 21.6 MB/s)
CD-ROM ATAPI: 17.2X - 40X (2.58 MB/s - 6.0 MB/s)


Of course I have not purchased and tested all of these drives but from the numbers given 21.6MB/s is clearly better than 8.1MB/s or 13,500KB/s (13.2MB/s). Also something very important is that the 21.6MB/s maximum claimed speed of the 16x is well below the transfer rate of any of the modern interfaces be it 33/66/100MB/s IDE or 40/80/160MB/s SCSI. The interface makes almost no difference. If you are setting up a DVD or HD drive farm with several drives on the same bus then SCSI makes a huge difference but in a normal home system it does not. I know because I have a full SCSI system with an awesome 10,000 rpm IBM ultrastar SCSI HD. No one I knew at the time could tell me if SCSI was worth the extra cost. I even emailed Tom’s asking for advice and complaining that at the time very little if this kind of information was available. Of course now Tom’s has a storage guide and these issues are addressed right here at Tom’s.

I am not claiming that IDE is better than SCSI because SCSI is clearly a better interface. I am also aware that the 16x does not run a full 16x. However IDE is cheaper, and in the case of Pioneer DVD drives actually much faster due to a 16x not being available in SCSI. If you have evidence to the contrary please let me know.

You gonna sell your Kenwood??

-=-Sean-=-