Plextor 780A or Pioneer A07 & dual layer dvd's

[jose]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for a dvd writer, I've narrowed my selection between these two drives.
Are there any reviews on the A07 ? I've used Plextor for several years and like them greatly.
But Pioneer demo'ed a A06 w/ a firmware mod that wrote to a dual layer dvd.

Also the Pioneer comes w/ Ulead 7 & Nero, as opposed to the Plextor is bundled w/ Roxio's stuff.

Does anyone have any info on these two drives in reference to dual layer burning capabalities ?

Regards,
Jose

 

[RaymondY]

I received the Plextor 708A burner for X-Mas and I love it. I actually ditched my DVD drive and my existing CDRW when I got my 708A

 

[Nocturnal]

I'm positive that both of those drives do not have dual layer burning capabilities.

 

[SocrPlyr]

No drive in the consumer market has dual layer capability, nor will they until late this year. It is not a simple firmware upgrade from what i understand (sorta a well duh tho...)

Josh

 

[Budman]

Originally posted by: SocrPlyr
No drive in the consumer market has dual layer capability, nor will they until late this year. It is not a simple firmware upgrade from what i understand (sorta a well duh tho...)

Josh

Yes it's a simple firmware update,at least for the Pioneer A06 (106). that's how they demonstrated how dual layer works they flashed a pioneer a06 drive with a modified firmware,no hardware was changed on the drive itself just firmware.

edit: found a few links.

http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/8861
http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/4863.cfm
http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?threadid=84210
http://www.dvdrhelp.com/forum/archive/t199055.html

 

[Belzer]

Originally posted by: Budman

Yes it's a simple firmware update,at least for the Pioneer A06 (106). that's how they demonstrated how dual layer works they flashed a pioneer a06 drive with a modified firmware,no hardware was changed on the drive itself just firmware.

Or not:

German computer mag c't recently reported in their print editing that the dual layer DVD-R burner shown at CES was in fact not an A06 with only a firmware upgrade, but that the hardware was modified as well. And Pioneer said that neither the A06 nor A07 could be upgraded to dual layer burning capabilities and that only the A09, due for Christmas 2004 would add dual layer DVD-R support, at 1x speed. In the meantime, there will be an A08 burner that burns DVD-Rs at 12x or 16x (the specs are not yet known), since the A09 will handle single layer DVD-Rs at 16x speed.

http://www.doom9.org/

Anyway forget that free firmware updates will be released as the manufacturers want to sell new drives not donate free upgrades to old drives. So if you want dual layer writing you will have to wait for the first DVD+R9 drives that should show up in Q2 or the first DVD-R9 drives which probably will show up about a half year later.

 

[jose]

Beltzer, I read that also. And at cdrinfo they stated that the A06 & A07 won't do dual layer . 🙁

There's supposed to be a A09 at the end of the year w/ dual layer capabalities. 🙁

So I guess I'm stuck w/ the Plextor or the A07 , because I want a dvd burner now...

I'm leaning toward the Plextor because there's a review at cdrinfo on this drive, and they highly recomend it.

What is sad is all the hardware I want now is not available now. ie nv40, dvd dual layer drives & pci-express 🙁

Thanks everybody for the replys,

Regards,
Jose

 

[Ronin]

Got the 708a. Love it. Buy it (Plextor has never done me wrong in over 5 years of using them).

 

[Nocturnal]

Damn that sucks. Oh well, I can't wait for dual layer burners although I hope and pray that the companies do not cripple it with security measures where as you won't be able to back up a full dual layer dvd movie at 8.5 or whatever amount of gigs it truly is on one DVD. We'll just have to wait and see.

 

[Corporate Thug]

either one is gonna do the job and do it well, i would get the cheaper of the two

 

[ShyGuy91284]

I got the Plextor Dual-X (I think that's it's name). Great. It's really an A06 with different firmware and faceplate (although just different faceplate w/ mine now, lol). Cheaper, has worked well for me so far.