HOT? Cendyne Dual Format 4x DVD Burner @ Costco $229

[Shippy]

Originally posted by: Souka
Just a FYI that I noticed.


The internal unit is rated as follows:
DVD-ROM Burning Speed: DVD+/-R 4x, DVD+RW 2.4x, DVD-RW 2x
CD Burning Speed: 16x CDR, 10x CDRW

The external unit is rated as follows:
DVD-ROM Burning Speed: 4x (all media)
CD Burning Speed: 24x CDR, 8x CDRW


So I suspect the external unit isn't not the internal unit encased in a driver enclosure.....they're different drives.

My $.02

That may be a misprint. I don't recall ever seeing any drive with 4x RW, let alone any 4x RW blanks (either + or -).

 

[soundforbjt]

Originally posted by: wixt0r
I believe that this CenDyne drive is definitely the NEC ND-1300A. From what I know, there are only 3 manufacturers of dual format drives: Ricoh, NEC, Sony. The specs of this drive match the NEC's specs to the tee. Here is a review of the ND-1300: review

I've also heard that the 1300's OEM price is supposed to be $30-50 above the 1100's OEM price, which from what I see on PriceWatch, is approximately $160-170. That would make a 1300 OEM about $200. I think it's a great deal then to get this retail box for $30 more, along with Costco's wonderful return policy.

Add Lite-On to that list also.

 

[vladgur]

so can somebody buy this drive and detect which OEM it is so that we could stop guessing already

 

[MysticMan1]

Originally posted by: vladgur
so can somebody buy this drive and detect which OEM it is so that we could stop guessing already

Like I said before it's a the ND-1300, I base that on the fact that the Verbatim 4x DVD-/+R/RW Drive is a ND-1300 and Verbatim (PGI Verbatim Corp) is a subsidiary of CenDyne Inc and CenDyne has always used the same rebadged drive for both companies.

Here is a list of companies that sale + drive and who engine they are using.

Next Generation DVD+R/+RW Drives

BTY: Plextor, TDK Electronics, Memorex, Iomega, Hewlett-Packard, Ikebana and Buslink all use the NEC drive engine.

 

[vladgur]

but cendyne also rebadges liteon drives, so thats where mystery comes in, which is it, liteon or nec....

 

[conehead433]

The specs and system requirements are the same as the NEC 1300, so if it looks tastes ans smells like an NEC 1300 it must be the NEC.

 

[salfter]

Originally posted by: conehead433
I use W98 and actually like it and don't want to have to upgrade operating systems to add a DVD burner.

What would you do with a DVD burner on a Win98 system? With no large-file support, working with video of any considerable length would be a major pain. 1 hour of best-quality video from my TiVo takes ~2.5GB. 1 hour of VGA-resolution video captured from my All-In-Wonder Radeon and compressed with Huffyuv takes ~20-25GB. There are hacks to string together multiple <2GB files and treat them as a single file, but they're just that...hacks. You'll want at least Win2K to do any serious editing or DVD production (IIRC, most DVD authoring programs won't even run on Win9x).

 

[MysticMan1]

Originally posted by: vladgur
but cendyne also rebadges liteon drives, so thats where mystery comes in, which is it, liteon or nec....

Yes they used rebadged LiteOns and 3 or 4 other MFG's rebadged drive for some of their CD-RW drive , but there's nothing to say they are using rebadged LiteOn for their line of DVD Burner, but I know they use the NEC drive since the cendyne 4x DVD+R/RW single format drive that I saw say on the back of the box that the model # was NEC-1100A.

If you really want to know the name of the drive MFG just send a email to CenDyne tech support and ask for the name of the MFG.

BTY: Office Depot has the Verbatim Producer 44 Internal Dual-Format DVD+R/+RW/-R/-RW Drive for $299.99, but it a Special order item.

Verbatim Producer 44

The Verbatim Producer 44 offers the latest in DVD recording and playback. The all-in-one DVD+/-R/RW and CD-R/RW recorder is designed to offer the widest possible playback compatability. Imagine being able to take all your home VHS movies or video recordings and be the producer of a Hollywood production. It's all possible with the new Verbatim Dual Format DVD recorder. Write movies, music and data to 4.7GB DVD+/-R and DVD+/-RW media.

System requirements:
Windows 98, Me, XP, 2000 Professional (not Windows 2000 Server) or Windows NT 4.0 (Service Pack 4 or later; not Windows NT Server)
Pentium 200MHz processor or faster
64MB RAM (more recommended)
Hard drive with access time of 15ms or less
775MB free disk space (75MB for software and 700MB for recording

 

[conehead433]

"What would you do with a DVD burner on a Win98 system? With no large-file support, working with video of any considerable length would be a major pain. 1 hour of best-quality video from my TiVo takes ~2.5GB. 1 hour of VGA-resolution video captured from my All-In-Wonder Radeon and compressed with Huffyuv takes ~20-25GB. There are hacks to string together multiple <2GB files and treat them as a single file, but they're just that...hacks. You'll want at least Win2K to do any serious editing or DVD production (IIRC, most DVD authoring programs won't even run on Win9x)."

Well I was unaware of this limitation of W98. Looks like I'll be making the move to XP when I finally get a burner. I could still use one now to do a considerable amount of archiving. Still going to wait for lower prices and I'm still leaning towards Lite-On although I am sure this NEC drive would be a good one.

 

[MysticMan1]

NM

 

[mugs]

Is this a special limited-time price, or is this their regular price?

Brandon

 

[wicktron]

As far as I know, it's the regular price.

 

[h2dk]

or is it the new Pioneer A06???

 

[wicktron]

I highly doubt it's the A06, the announcement just came recently.

 

[MysticMan1]

Originally posted by: h2dk
or is it the new Pioneer A06???

CenDyne no longer sales Pioneer MFG drives.

 

[SpideyCU]

Originally posted by: MysticMan1

Originally posted by: h2dk
or is it the new Pioneer A06???

CenDyne no longer sales Pioneer MFG drives.

Aw, didn't know that. That's too bad, Pioneers are great drives. Not that the current Cendyne ones are garbage.

 

[ImSeeker]

Are they readily available - i.e. if I walk into my Costco here in Kansas City, will I find one?

If so, I might take the plunge and report back.

 

[MysticMan1]

I hate to spoil all the fun that everyone was having with the "who manufactures the Cendyne Dual Format 4x DVD Burner" question, but I send a email to Cendyne tech support and they verified what I have been saying, that it's a rebadged NEC ND-1300A.

Here's the email :

Message subject
Who make this drive?


Message body


Can you tell me who makes the cenDyne Dual Format (-/+) DVD Recorder? Is this the NEC 1300?


Technical Support Rep. ID: mozuna
Response to the message posted on 5/19/2003 6:47:49 PM:
It is the NEC ND-1300A.

 

[psycaz]

Decided to take the plunge. Figured for the $6.98 shipping charge I can try it to see if I like it. Costco has a very good return policy. I tried a couple of the local Costco stores and they said it was online only.

 

[luckyy]

Costco here in Williston, VT has 'em in store

 

[ImSeeker]

Didn't see any at the Costco I went to today in Kansas City.

 

[SimMike2]

Next speed jump will most likely be to 8x and that's probably the fastest they'll ever get. People are predicting next year or end of this year for 8x to be introduced.

At 8X speed a DVD writer would be copying 4.7 GB of data in just about 7 1/2 minutes. That is really going to push the whole envelope of the physical capabilities of this technology. If you don't think this is fast, just try copying 4.7GB of data from one 7,200 rpm hard drive to another. It will take longer than you might think and this is with top of the line hard drives which are always going to be faster than DVD or CD burners. While 8X might become standard, getting media and computers to reliably write at this rate isn't going to be easy.

 

[CirekL]

For those who bought this, can someone tells me where they ship from? Is it from Cendyne's Santa Ana, CA site? I can't seem to get my shipping info that they were supposed to send me via email.

 

[balazer]

8x is no problem! That works out to be about 10 MB/sec. My brand new 7200 rpm drive can do 30 MB/sec. My 2-year-old 5400 rpm drive can manage 14 MB/sec. It would be a bit of a stretch for that old drive, but no problem for any 7200 rpm drive from the last 3 years or so.

 

[deeznuts]

Originally posted by: balazer
8x is no problem! That works out to be about 10 MB/sec. My brand new 7200 rpm drive can do 30 MB/sec. My 2-year-old 5400 rpm drive can manage 14 MB/sec. It would be a bit of a stretch for that old drive, but no problem for any 7200 rpm drive from the last 3 years or so.

i think 8x is a problem. your HDD's do it fine, but those are HDD's. fastest we can get cdr's is 48x reliably (i know 52x is out there, but it isn't perfected yet). that's about 800 mb/s for 2:30 burning time. multiply that by 6, = space on a dvd. now i know dvd's are different, but gives a little perspective. 4x is plenty fast, 6x will def. be reached imo, with 8x a question mark.