Teac 12/10/32 with Nero and Burnproof $156.99

[rondeemc]

http://store.yahoo.com/elegantshopping1/teac12cdwitn.html

$156.99 with free shipping (and no rebates to deal with) seems to be attractive when you considered there are a lot of 8/4/32 selling in this range. Can someone tell me the downside to this?

I found this comparison on CNET where the drive has about an 86% favorable rating. The only down side one of the better reviewers has was the lack of burn-proof capability which this drive seems to have.

"In CNET Labs' tests, the TEAC CDW512E scored relatively well. The 400MB packet-writing test from hard drive to CD-RW took just under 7 minutes, while the TDK veloCD 12/10/32 finished in 12 minutes. TDK and TEAC performed evenly during a single-session, 500MB burn to a CD-R, each clocking in at 6.6 minutes. The TEAC CD-W512E burned a 43-minute audio CD-R from a hard disk image in about 5 minutes, while the TDK veloCD needed around 5.5 minutes for the same task. The final test involved reading 400MB of data from the CD-RW to the hard drive. The CDW512E scored well, at about 4 minutes. This was a few seconds slower than Ricoh's Media Master but much faster than the Plextor PlexWriter's time of 9 minutes and the TDK veloCD's nearly 12 minutes."

 

[buck]

DAMN!!!! Yea i'd like to know if anyone has had experience with these...?

 

[mrVW]

Is the deal still on for the TDK at $150? That would be a Plextor drive. Teac makes good drives, just haven't heard much on this model.

RoundSparrow TDK Iomega Crative Plextor 12x10x32 Site

 

[Poochy]

The TDK is still available at buy.com for ~$150-ish after all the rebates (maybe also be available at Necx, I didn't check). The Teac is listed at ~$200 at buy.com as well. It's not another Plextor rebadged, is it?

 

[extro]

The drive advertised isn't the same as the Plextor 1210 that we know and love. The TEAC W512E has 2 status LEDs, a 4MB buffer and the page at TEAC doesn't say anything about BurnProof in this particular model.

I've read on Usenet that there are 2 TEACs, a 512E that has no BurnProof, and a 512EB that has it, but I can't confirm that myself. The TEAC site doesn't list the EB, but it has a software update link for it, so we know it exists.

I'd call the vendor before ordering this drive to make sure if it's the E or the EB. Their ad could be in error about the drive having BurnProof.


ADDENDUM

The TEAC site in Germany shows a model W512E that has "Write Proof". This could be the drive advertised. Talk about confusing. TEAC needs to make their model numbers more distinctive and standardize them internationally. It would still be a good idea to call the vendor first though.

CDRWCentral review of the 512EB.

CDRLABS review of the 512EB.

 

[rondeemc]

Thanks for the info. It sounds like the Plextor is still the choice to make all things considered based on the reviews but the Teac does show promise. I will just have to be patient a little longer for the Plextor's to drop in price.

UPDATE
Hmmmmm.....
Maybe I will go with the Teac after all. After reading several reviews it seems the Teac has great potential and the variation has a lot to do with the system it is installed in. If you are interested in this drive you might want to check the addresses below in addition to some of the other links in this thread.

Chart Comparison with Plextor

PC World Review

 

[stso]

This is hot .....

 

[Moz]

Looks to be a nice drive from the reviews...

 

[Pocatello]

Linkified

 

[Poochy]

The drive listed at the Yahoo store website is the "CD-W512E" and they do mention "WRITE PROOF" in the description (no mention of "Burn Proof" anywhere that I can see). On the other hand, the description of Write Proof sounds exactly like that of Burn Proof, so maybe Teac just didn't want to pay for use of the those words.

 

[stso]

Is it retail version or OEM ? Anyone know?

 

[VinY]

This seems like a great deal. I own a Teac 540E 40x CD-ROM and I cannot say anything bad about it. I get 20x audio rips in Audiocatalyst! This drive reads anything I throw at it, no problem. Just keep that in mind, I'll bet this CD-RW is just as good!

 

[StumbleBum1]

write proof and burn proof are almost the same technology and they both perform the same
functions in hardware

 

[fornax]

You may want to look at the Imation 12x10x32x drives. They are in fact Teac drives, made in Japan. There is currently $30 rebate on them. I know Best Buy carries them, I'm sure other places do too. I just don't know if it's a burn-proof or not.

 

[Netopia]

Couldn't resist any more... bought one of these last night.

Joe

 

[HoopDogg]

Any idea on what TD/Visa charges for canadian to american exchange on my TD Visa card?
I'd like to buy one, but I'm a Canadian citizen.

?

 

[Diablo6178]

I just oredered one. Hope it's what they say it is.

 

[sportos]

cdw512e is definitely NOT burnproof. MaximumPC rates it a 7, Plextor Plexwriter 12/10/32A is rated a 9, and TDK VeloCD (which I ordered 3 days ago on info from this forum) a 10. The Plextor or TDK are the ones to get at this point in time.

 

[Poochy]

Sportos,

I can't find the MaximumPC rating/review online anywhere. Could you tell us why they rated the Plex and TDK differently, seeing as they are basically the same drive? Was it a software/support issue? Thanks.

 

[LiQiCE]

Its probably a software thing, since the Plextor includes Adaptec EZCD Creator, which has been known to be buggy, but the TDK includes Nero, which MaximumPC probably felt was better. Price might also be a factor, with TDK's $50.00 rebate right now, it bring the TDK's price down below the Plextor.

 

[Diablo6178]

I called the Vendor today and asked them about the discrepancy. It turns out that these are drives that are sold in Japan and were distrubuted here in the U.S. this month. The man's english wasn't very good but he did point out that they also sell these on eb@y so you might be able to pick it up there for less. Also he pointed me to this picture and said that the revison is B02 instead of the A02 and that all new ones that have that are Burn Proof. So it looks like they are on the level. Picture Link

 

[Netopia]

Whatever the case, got an email saying that mine has shipped already.

'Course, if it's NOT burnproof, it'll be going back VERY quickly.

Joe

 

[NordicNINE]

If the TDK 12X is a Plextor, what is the TDK 16X?

I thought Yamaha has the only 16X burner, but when I went to look at info on the 12X, I saw the 16X which mentioned Fail-Safe. Click on that and it mentions BurnProof is part of that.

Are there any other 16X burnproof drives?

 

[Ponyboy25]

I ordered one of these and received it today. I will update once I install it. Also, there was another post on this deal, and someone had stated that this drive could be update with the new firm ware to support DAO RAW under Clone CD.

edit: Burnproof Authorization

 

[Chaotix]

Maximum PC did like the TDK the best because they like the software better than the one that came with the Plextor. The drive scores were almost the same. The TEAC however, got a 7 because of it's lack of BurnProof, which TEAC corrected with this new revision. In the Maximum PC review though, the TEAC blew away all the other drives in the roundup in the seek speed tests, and was able to make a backup copy of Kingpin.

I actually stumbled across this deal a few weeks ago, but I'm hesistant to go for it, because Elegant Shopping, didn't turn up very good scores over at Reseller Ratings. If I remember right, they didn't have many reviews under the Elegant Shopping name, but they had another name which didn't look so good. So, buyer beware. Good luck with your orders guys and keep us posted.