Help DVD-ROM Advice. Is Toshiba SD-M1502 good?

[dominic01]

Please suggest me a good DVD-ROM drive. Not an expensive one.
Thanks

 

[Shooters]

The SD-M1502 is a good drive as long as you're not going to be doing DVD ripping. There's a known problem with the drive and it only rips most DVDs at around 2x. It's a very quiet drive though. If you want to do DVD ripping then I suggest you look into the 12x Toshiba (SD-M1402). It doesn't have the ripping problem and the lower speed rating won't affect DVD playback since DVDs only read at 1x anyway. You can also take a look at the 16x Pioneer. It's a fast drive and is available in both tray and slot load. However, I've been told that it can be a bit noisy when spinning at full speed. Also, I've noticed that Pioneers are slightly more expensive than Toshibas.

 

[Joemonkey]

Shooters pretty much hit the nail on the head. i have the SD-M1502, and ripping DVDs with it is suck. pretty much SET at 2X ripping speed. i did find some firmware that made it regionless though.

 

[dominic01]

What is DVD ripping? Is it copying from CD to HDD?

 

[Shudder]

Why is the faster drive screwed with dvd ripping?

I have the 1402 so obviously I'm ok, but it seems odd that the faster drive would be slower

 

[bacillus]

<< Is Toshiba SD-M1502 good? >>


for the speed of the drive, I was disappointed with its DAE!

 

[Shooters]

but it seems odd that the faster drive would be slower

No kidding. Since DVDs only read at 1x, the only thing that a higher speed rating is useful for is ripping, so it's ironic that getting the faster 16x actually prevents you from doing what it's meant for.

Dominic, ripping is extracting data from the CD or DVD onto your hard drive. The raw data is quite large in size so then you would encode it into a more computer friendly format i.e. mp3s for music and DivX or VCD for movies. If you do this on a regular basis then you can see why the DAE (digital audio extraction) or DVD ripping speed would be important.

 

[wolf550e]

the problem with this in otherway excellent drive is that it wont let you &quot;rip&quot; (copy) protected (encrypted with CSS) files at speed above x2. for just playing movies that is alright because you only need x1, and for using data disks (havent seen one but i know they exist) it should be ok too since i believe they are not encrypted, but for most purposes of the advanced user, this drive is a no go.
Toshiba obviosly gave up to pressure from the MPAA or some other nazi organization (well yes they are only tring to make a living, but IMHO their understanding of copyright is a little bit off).
Too bad. I really hope some genious will find a way to hack its firmware.

 

[subxeon]

So what dvd rom is the best for RIPPING/PLAYBACK/CDR READ SPEED

 

[bevancoleman]

Does anyone know what the Pioneer 106S is like? I have heard that it is very noisy

 

[MrHelpful]

Yes, Pioneer DVDs tend to be noisy, but fast.

AOpen DVDs are pretty fast too.

 

[Pauli]

<< Since DVDs only read at 1x, the only thing that a higher speed rating is useful for is ripping, so it's ironic that getting the faster 16x actually prevents you from doing what it's meant for. >>



This is not true. Data DVDs should be able to be read at the maximum speed. I know there aren't that many data DVDs out there now, but MSDN actually is available in DVD.

Coincidentally, I just installed this DVD drive last night on my main machine and performed some quick tests using CDDAE99 and CDSpeed99. I did not test any DVD ripping - I'm not really interested in doing that. The results for the CD tests:

DAE: 8.8x
Not very good here compared to my Teac CD540E CDROM which does DAE at a 28x average. Interestingly, it performed at this speed throughout the whole CD - inside and outside tracks. I'm a little bit disappointed, but no big deal - I don't burn directly from CD to CDRW anyway.

Data: 37x average
Pretty good here. Very, very, quiet as well (which is the reason I got this drive).

 

[dominic01]

Pauli

Which DVD Drive you are using?

Would someone suggest AOPEN Model 1240 (12X) Drive ($41+$10).

 

[Pauli]

Oh, sorry, I'm using the Toshiba M1502.

 

[Duvie]

dominic01,

yes the aopen 12x40x is a nice drive...

However read the review of the pioneer 106 which the aopen 16x48x dvd-rom is a rebadge of over at www.storagereview.com. I think everybody is making a bit too much about the noise. Hopefully I will own one in 2 weeks and check this out thoroughly. They said my btc 8x32x was loud and it doesn't seem it at all. Maybe my multiple case fans and amd system mask it well.

the 106 is a bsic remake of the 105 pioneer model that sufered from piss poor DAE ripping. The 106 now takes the cake as the fastest dvd-rom for DAE ripping.

IMO, I think the 16x48x dvd-rom which reads data of cds at 44x is finally a reason to toss out those old cd-roms as they are no longer needed (taking up case space and ide channel). This in conjunction with the fastest burner available can handle the fastest burns on the fly. Plus the pioneer/aopen is capable of playing dvd-rw's which can be a benefit in the future.

 

[bonkers325]

yes it rocks for clonecd

 

[Macro2]

Isn't there a firmware upgrade for the 1502? I admit it has poor ripping ability but Clone CD likes it.

Mac

 

[wolf550e]

CloneCD loves Toshiba drives, thats true.
the only firmware upgrade i'm aware of is the one making it region-free...

 

[Prince of Persia]

What about the AOpen that someone asked about earlier? In comaprison how good is it in terms of DAE and is noise level.