Nu Tech DDW-081: More DVD+R madness
by Kristopher Kubicki on October 22, 2003 10:54 PM EST- Posted in
- Storage
Final Thoughts
Nu Tech has come a long way in 3 months. They have a sharp image and the backing of QSI to keep them competitive in the DVDR industry. While the DDW-081 does not disappoint, it doesn't exactly scream spectacular either. Fortunately, the drive is well supported. SonicDVD, Nero, Roxio, DVDDecryptor, InterVideo DVD Creator and Alcohol 120% all had no problems detecting and burning with the Nu Tech DDW-081.Our main concerns stem from the lack of 8X DVD+R media. While our current champion, the Plextor 708A, had no problems burning several brands of 4X media at 8X, the DDW-081 will only burn 8X certified media at 8X. The lack of bitsetting capabilities for the drive seemed disappointing also. Granted, our Plextor 708A does not support bitsetting either, but it does support DVD-R burn capabilities.
However, considering the extremely low cost of the unit, around $160, we have to give Nu Tech a lot of credit. If burning DVD-R's is not a problem, you save $100 over the Plextor 708A. Let us not forget also that Sony recently announced that their newest drive will not be supporting 8X DVD-R writes, and will debut at $270 (although the Pioneer 107 should support Z-CLV 8X). Could it be that DVD+R is pulling ahead in the “format wars”? Although it lacks the performance of the Plextor 708A, Nu Tech clearly wins the price grab.
Coming up later this month, we will have an exclusive look at the newer drives based on Pioneer's 107 8X DVD+/-R design, as well as dual format drives from Gigabyte and MSI!
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25 Comments
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edbiegler - Thursday, April 1, 2004 - link
Just bought one tonight. $99 at Computer Sonics in Seattle (Southcenter) The sales guy said the new firmware WILL support -R and +R at 8X. I haven't been home to try yet, but why would he fib. I'm running an AMD Athalon 650 w/ Win XP. Will keep you posted on success (or failure)Ed
edbiegler - Thursday, April 1, 2004 - link
KristopherKubicki - Tuesday, October 28, 2003 - link
Thanks for the info Murse.Here is some updated information concerning Ricoh Disks.
Media Information
Region information N/A not a DVD-VIDEO
Media code/Manufacturer ID RICOHJPNR01
Format Capacity Not Formatted
Free Blocks 405405696
Free Capacity 4.38GB(4.70GB)
Book Type DVD+R
Media Type DVD+R
Media Id Code Speed 4.0x 5540KBps
Available Write Descriptor CLV 8.0x 11080KBps
Available Write Descriptor CLV 6.0x 8310KBps
Available Write Descriptor CLV 4.0x 5540KBps
Available Write Descriptor CLV 2.4x 3324KBps
Linear Density Blank Disc
Track Density Unknown
Number of Layers 1
This was a Ricoh Labeled 4X that I pulled out of Best Buy yesterday. I have put the benchmark on the website.
Kristopher
Murse - Monday, October 27, 2003 - link
Nu Tech bitsetting utility available. No word yet on if it works. It was supplied by QSI in Taiwan.http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=13245
Anonymous User - Friday, October 24, 2003 - link
The only place I could find the MCC 002 media was at Amazon.com. Was $58.99 for a 20 pack. Almost twice the price as the Memorex!Could someone post links to 4X media that is a good and is resonably priced?
Anonymous User - Friday, October 24, 2003 - link
livewarehouse has this drive for $139 including 3 day shipping >>http://store.yahoo.com/livewarehouse/dvnt33460.htm...
Anonymous User - Thursday, October 23, 2003 - link
For everyone above, I copied the wrong DiskInfo for the MMC disk. It should be:Region information N/A not a DVD-VIDEO
Media code/Manufacturer ID MCC 002
Format Capacity 4.38GB(4.70GB)
Book Type DVD+R
Media Type DVD+R
Media Id Code Speed 4.0x 5540KBps
Available Write Descriptor CLV 8.0x 11080KBps
Available Write Descriptor CLV 4.0x 5540KBps
Available Write Descriptor CLV 2.4x 3324KBps
Data area starting sector 30000h
Data area end sector 23053Fh
Linear Density 0.267um/bit
Track Density 0.74um/track
Number of Layers 1
Cheers,
Kristopher
Murse - Thursday, October 23, 2003 - link
Nevermind...just copy and paste the link from #15 and it will take you to the right price. Their site is kind of screwy, after adding it to my cart, I had to hit "update" to get it to stay in there.Murse - Thursday, October 23, 2003 - link
I ordered one from unitedmicro and it's waiting for me at home now. To get the $139 ($132 + 7 ship) you have to go through pricewatch. Their site lists it as $145 + ship. Navigate to DVD-ROM from the pricewatch home page, then search for "DDW 081" and the listing for unitedmicro should come up. Then navigate to unitedmicro through pricewatch. WARNING: Their resellerrating is very bad, but they are $20 cheaper than everywhere else, so I took a chance. They shipped it pretty quickly (although not the same day as ordered), but I haven't inspected the package yet. Good luck.Anonymous User - Thursday, October 23, 2003 - link
There is some contradictory information on the Nu Tech website as to the CD-RW speed of the DDW-081. The specs for the DDW-081(http://www.nuniverse.com/1_english/3_products/01_i... state the CD-RW speed is 10X. However, Nu Tech's news release on the DDW-081 ( http://www.nuniverse.com/1_english/2_new/01_01_new... states "The DDW-081 supports 8X DVD+Write/4X DVD+ReWrite 16X DVD-ROM/40X CD-Write/24X CD-ReWrite/48X CD-ROM." Furthermore, the Philips refernence literature mentioned above (http://www.semiconductors.philips.com/acrobat/lite... states the CD-RW speed is also 24x. If the drive at present only supports CD-RW at 10x, I'm wondering if a future firmware update will upgrade it to 24x?