ZDNet Follows Panasonic in declaring format war over

[dolphinius_rex]

In a move that *I* at least found surprising, Robin Harris of ZDNet has come out declaring Blu-Ray the winner of the format war, and that it is now safe to buy a Blu-Ray player:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/storage/?p=149

At the same time, another (very small) studio who deals with HiDef documentaries has declared Blu-Ray exclusivity:
http://www.exoptron.com/

[vinnie97]

More analysts who think they can predict the future. That worked real well for them with the PS3....

[Wesociety]

You know what they say, opinions are like @$$h013s, everybody has one.

I would value any frequent member of this forums' opinion more than this ZDNet guy who I've never heard of...

[Ian]

According to the guy's bio, he's worked in the storage industry for a long time. He hasn't been at ZDnet very long though. I think he's done 4-5 articles since March.

His comments about 18x and 20x DVD writers not working with USB didn't jive with me.

[DrageMester]

His comments about 18x and 20x DVD writers not working with USB didn't jive with me.

His comment:

In fact, USB 2.0 probably can’t handle 18x DVD writers at full speed, and 20x DVD writers are starting to make it to market.

None of my 18/20x drives have been able to burn at much faster than 16x with any of my PCs over a USB connection, and 16x is not always guaranteed.

It's possible that some combinations of 18/20x drive with the right enclosure and the right USB controller can achieve 18x/20x burning speed, but in general I would agree with his comment.

[dolphinius_rex]

I wouldn't worry about LaCie or Plextor brand external 18x/20x drives, but I wouldn't trust a generic enclosure to be able to handle those speeds.