ASUS DRW-0402P/D: ASUS joins the dual format fray
by Kristopher Kubicki on September 21, 2003 6:13 PM EST- Posted in
- Storage
When dealing with computers, an entire industry can change in less than a year. It was just less than a year ago that virtually all DVDR drives were only capable of writing to one format at 1X and 2X speeds. Nine months after the 4X DVD-/+R standards were finalized, we started seeing some 8X DVD-R drive sampling from Plextor. Companies like Sony, NEC, ASUS, Pioneer Mitsumi, BTC, and Gigabyte all debuted multiple format drives as well; not to mention that each drive costing half as much as they did 18 months ago. It would seem that the DVDR product wars are starting to show some actual progress for the consumer.
Most importantly, the so called “format wars” that were to destroy the market failed to manifest themselves. A year ago, manufacturers were pretty split on which format was going to control the DVDR market. However, with as many dual format drives in the market today, it’s almost easy to dismiss either format from becoming “standard.” In all honesty, it is probably cheaper for manufacturers to just pay both royalty fees to the DVDR forums rather than produce two separate drives.
Enter ASUS. ASUS has been a fairly large player in the optical market in the past, but just stepped into the DVDR market with a single format DRW-0402P (DVD-R). The drive itself received mixed product reviews, mostly due to competitive drives supporting multiple formats. Without further delay, let us take a look at ASUS’ second DVDR product, the multi-format DRW-0402PP/D.
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Anonymous User - Friday, October 3, 2003 - link
Hmmmmmm. It appears as though DVD-/+R is almost ready for prime time. Almost... Thought the ASUS product would rock, but it merely spins. And I was bummed to see that ASUS was not the OEM. They usually do a great job. We'll wait until after Xmas I think...Ho ho ho.Anonymous User - Monday, September 22, 2003 - link
Maybe I misread the review, but Nero test alone don't really give enough information - what about actual burn tests? Just because it handles a certain media in the speed test doesn't mean it won't burn a coaster everytime.In fact, often times the actual burn will be faster or slower then the testing, or will so a weakness for certain media that the CD Speed won't uncover.
Anonymous User - Monday, September 22, 2003 - link
What about Sonys DRU510, thats faster than all these drives in specs atleast and available for the same price.Anonymous User - Monday, September 22, 2003 - link
In this review, I am wondering the price for each drives in the market. If you chack the www.newegg.com, it is much higher than the quoted price.Anonymous User - Sunday, September 21, 2003 - link
Slightly off topic, I'm wondering how you guys rank the media? Maybe that should get it's own article sometime in the future?In the US at least, Fujifilm has been using Taiyo Yuden (until recently) for their CDRs which are generally regarded as the top quality. For the DVDRs theyve been using the latest Ritek revision and from what I have read around the net, these are showing very good results as well.
So I'm wondering how you came to the conclusion that their DVD are of lesser quality than TDK/PNY/Imation? I don't know anyone that touches PNY and Imation while TDK's history in CDR changes manufacturers so much they aren't consistent either.
Anonymous User - Sunday, September 21, 2003 - link
FYI: The AnandTech Staff are at Computex right now (we just got in!)I get to speak to LiteOn tommorow. We will see what new products are on the horizon soon!
Kristopher
ViRGE - Sunday, September 21, 2003 - link
FYI, in the Review Index, there are 2 "Final Thoughts" pages, 6 and 7. 6 is the real one, and 7 is blank, so I'm guessing someone should delete it.Anonymous User - Sunday, September 21, 2003 - link
Hope you can get the oportunity to compare with the new LiteOn CD-RW/DVD+/-RW unit that goes for an almost unbelieveably low price. Given LiteOn's positive record in regard of their pure CD-RW drives a combo writer will get a lot of attention.Now if only there were SATA models of these units as well.