DVD-ROM drive question

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
H

hethspd

Member
Feb 12, 2000
103
0
0
Hello guys...

I'm planning to buy a DVD drive for my new computer that I'm going to build in about a month. I really would like to get one with a SCSI interface but I am having major problems finding one. The only SCSI drives that I've come upon considering is the Pioneer DVD-U03(this is the slot loading version; I would prefer to have a tray loading one) or the Toshiba SD-M1401. The Pioneer is slower but seems to be liked better because of it's larger buffer size (the Toshiba only has a 128K buffer). Are there any other SCSI DVD drives out there to consider or should I go ahead and get and IDE Pioneer drive?
 
H

hethspd

Member
Feb 12, 2000
103
0
0
Well, I just came upon an earlier thread with a similar question. I am assuming that the Pioneer IDE drives are the way to go??
 
S

Sohcan

Platinum Member
Oct 10, 1999
2,127
0
0
I've had the Pioneer 6X SCSI for a year, and it's been a great drive...plus the slot looks really cool. :)
 
H

hethspd

Member
Feb 12, 2000
103
0
0
So....
what's the verdict??

Should I go with the low speed SCSI or the high speed IDE??
 
E

Erasmus-X

Platinum Member
Oct 11, 1999
2,076
0
0
Slot-load just adds a little of the "cool factor" to your drive. It's nice to just push a disc into the slot instead of having that flimsy "cup holder" rolling out of the drive. I have slot-load on my Pioneer 303S.
 
A

Auric

Diamond Member
Oct 11, 1999
9,591
2
71
They tray doesn't have a digital out and the slot benchmarks higher due to less vibration or sumptink. SCSI is not the way to go if you want to use all the cool software schtuffs with it.
 
P

Prodigy^

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
4,044
1
0
Pioneer 104S (10xDVD, 40xCD, slot-load)

rocks because......

* it's IDE, cheap
* it's slot-load, which rocks
* you don't need the 16x model, who transfers large amounts of data from DVD's anyway? it's still 40xCD)

get it! :)
 
H

hethspd

Member
Feb 12, 2000
103
0
0
Well, I have one question about the slot loading drive...

Are you able to insert the smaller cd's into the slots (for example, the Japanese cd singles or the business card cd's)? It's not too big of a deal but I'm just wondering...

I really wonder why they don't release a higher speed SCSI DVD....Oh well...I guess I'll go ahead and get the Pioneer IDE. Thanks for the input guys....
 
S

Sohcan

Platinum Member
Oct 10, 1999
2,127
0
0
IMHO, speed is not really an issue, considering the complete lack of DVD software available. DVD movies are read at 1X, and a 6X drive is still very fast for future use (if and when DVD software is actually released).
 
H

hethspd

Member
Feb 12, 2000
103
0
0
Jeez...
You guys are making the decision more difficult to make....hehe...

Sochan: If I am understanding what you're saying, I guess there's no point in getting the faster IDE drive over the 6x SCSI drive, especially considering that the 303S can also read CD's at 32x. The thing is that I already have a SCSI CDRW, and I'm thinking that it would be nice to have a stable direct CD copy option. Also, is the SCSI DVD drive only available as a slot-loading model? I would prefer to get the tray-loading model because there always is the possibility of not being able to put in the smaller cd's.


Any more suggestions?
 
O

Origen

Member
Apr 2, 2000
95
0
0
Another thing to consider is if you want a region free DVD drive. If you're not familiar with the region concept it's kinda hard to explain in detail briefly. But essentially different countries/parts of the world are divided into regions (US & Canada - region 1, UK - region 2, AUS - region 4, etc etc). In an RPC-2 drive you can only play discs of the one region the drive is setup to use (you get 5 changes to the region code on a drive before it becomes permenant). Many drives have had firmware hacks released to over come this. But for instance right now there is no way to bypass the region protection on the Pioneer 105s/115s, but there are alot of solutions to get around the region protection with a Pioneer 104s/114s. This page has alot more information: http://www.firmware.com.bi

It's an odd setup they've done with regions, like for instance I'm a fan of the Sci-Fi show Farscape and would love to own the series on DVD, but the only place it's been released on DVD is the UK (region 2) and I'm in region 1. Same thing goes for alot of shows. *boggle*
 
H

hethspd

Member
Feb 12, 2000
103
0
0
Yeah. I definitely want to have a region-free drive.

I've already been doing my research on Region-Free firmwares for the Pioneer drives. The two models that I am considering to get right now (either the 303S or the 114S) have firmware updates that will allow you to unlock the RPC-2 function on the drive.
 
H

hethspd

Member
Feb 12, 2000
103
0
0
Thanks goat for the links....

Dang, it's too hard of a decision to make, especially after reading through those reviews. Poor DAE on the Pioneer drive really doesn't appeal to me at all.

Maybe my best bet is to go ahead and get an IDE Pioneer DVD Drive and a Plextor UW-SCSI CDROM drive. I'm gonna be ending up with no extra 5.25 bays...
 
C

Conroy9

Senior member
Jan 28, 2000
611
0
0
if you're going to do that, you should probably just get the plextor scsi cd-rw drive instead of just cd-rom? 12x4x32x?
 
H

hethspd

Member
Feb 12, 2000
103
0
0
Dang Conroy9
Maybe I will just go ahead and do that. Thanks for the suggestion...didn't really think about it.

Do you know if the DAE performance on the CDRW drive is just as good as the CDROM??
 
C

Conroy9

Senior member
Jan 28, 2000
611
0
0
Not sure, as far as I know the DAE on all plextors is pretty good

I have the 12x4x32x scsi and have no problems with dae, and it's fast too.

I'm planning to have pioneer dvd/plextor cd-rw too
(right now i have the plextor and a 4disk 8xcd changer but win2k doesn't support it so i'm replacing with the pioneer dvd..)
 
H

hethspd

Member
Feb 12, 2000
103
0
0
Cool, thanks for the suggestion.

This way I'll be saving some money and an extra 5.25 bay...well, actually the Plextor 12x/4x/32x is sooooo expensive!! Oh well...

One more question though...
How about direct CD copy from the Pioneer IDE to the Plextor SCSI? I won't have any problems with coasters or buffer underruns??
 
C

Conroy9

Senior member
Jan 28, 2000
611
0
0
That I don't know.. maybe someone else here does
I've been afraid to do cd-cd copies from my 8x cdchanger to my plextor :)
i always do cd->image then image->cd
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom