Hit me again~!
Written: Feb 17 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: love it!
Cons: size!
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| G0d's Full Review: Panasonic DVD-K520 DVD Player |
Still crowing about your fancy new CD-RW drive? Tone it down a bit. With the ability to store 2.6GB on a single-sided DVD-RAM disc, or a whopping 5.2GB on a double-sided disc, Panasonic's new LF-D103U DVD-RAM Drive gives you four to eight times the capacity of recordable CD media.
The $599-estimated LF-D103U performs three essential tasks: data backup, removable data storage, and data recording. The drive also features a built-in MPEG-1 compression applet that lets you store up to 2 hours of video on a single-sided disc. You will, however, need a SCSI-2 adapter to use the LF-D103U.
For backing up data to DVD, Panasonic includes FileSafe, a decent backup utility. Other bundled software includes DVD Agent, a program that provides Autorun capabilities and customized icons for the drive; MediaSafe, which lets you copy DVD-RAM discs using a single DVD-RAM drive; and a DVD-RAM formatting utility. All of the software worked well in our hands-on testing.
The LF-D103U's performance was good, though not awe-inspiring. Playback of DVD movies was smooth, but the drive is only rated for 2x DVD-ROM speed. Copying data from hard drive to DVD-RAM disc was actually closer to 1x speed, with a 1.6MB/sec rate. The unit's seek time of 120ms (85ms for DVD-ROM or CD-ROM reading) slowed things down as well. Copying a full disc of data from a hard drive to DVD-RAM took just over 2 hours, while copying the same 2.4GB of data from one hard drive to another took 75 minutes.
If you're concerned about backward compatibility, rest assured that the LF-D103U will read your DVD-ROM discs, CD-ROMs (including multisession CDs), audio CDs, and even those older PD discs. But whether DVD-RAM is your best buying choice is clearly a matter of how you intend to use it. Bear in mind that though the drive can read CD media, it can't record to CD-R or CD-RW. Moreover, if you plan to use it for fixed storage, you'd probably be better off with one of the new external USB hard drives. For backup and removable storage, however, it's faster and more versatile—although considerably more expensive—than a tape drive.
There aren't many rewritable DVD units on the market yet, but there will be soon. Consider Panasonic's LF-D103U if you're in immediate need of recordable DVD capability. But for archiving and removable-storage applications, better choices are available.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
G0d
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Reviews written: 8
Trusted by: 0 members
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