Which DVD-Rom?

by **BlueDevil** on Mon Oct 13, 2003 2:54 pm

hi all, I want to get a new DVD-Rom (I hate my old Asus E612 cause it has very slow spin-up times :evil:

and can not read DVDs anymore

) but not sure to which thing?. I think the new one should have a good media compatibility, must fast when reading DVDs and CDs, good DAE results, and also region-free firmware upgradable without any problem.

-Teac 516E (does it have a region free firmware?) not EA so it has 512KB
-Toshiba 1712 (is it good enough for comparing with Teac? and region-free firmware?)
-Liteon 166S (some people said it's very loud)

or any suggestions? except for Asus please.

thanx

by **TheWizard** on Mon Oct 13, 2003 5:36 pm

Depending who you ask, some people cheer for the Toshiba and others for the Lite-On. I haven't used either, but judging by the raves, I take both are very good drives. Just weigh the pros and cons and decide which is best for you. For example, if you don't want a loud drive then get the Toshiba; conversely, if you don't want to hack the firmware to obtain the maximum speeds then get the Lite-On.

by **aviationwiz** on Mon Oct 13, 2003 6:10 pm

I love the Lite-On because I love being able to check the quality of my DVD Burns and it is a great ripper. It is indeed loud. I have the LTD-163D.

by **hoxlund** on Mon Oct 13, 2003 6:14 pm

i own both the toshiba 1712 "speed hacked"

and JLMS 166s model, both are great drives, i would say go for either

both rip single layer movies at 16x

by **BlueDevil** on Mon Oct 13, 2003 7:12 pm

thanx guys for your suggestions. CDRinfo test shows that Teac 516E(512KB) drive has better seek times but i wonder does "2.01 firmware" really remove the region lock? and does the "speed hacked" Toshiba 1712 firmware change "the non-hacked drive"'s seek times? Unless Teac 516E drive has a real "region-free" firmware, I will go for Toshiba 1712. does Teac drive have a digital output? I think Toshiba has it.

thanx replies

by **TheWizard** on Mon Oct 13, 2003 7:48 pm

How often are you going to change the region, honestly? Windows XP lets you change it five times, and if that isn't enough, just uninstall and reinstall the drive.

by **Han** on Tue Oct 14, 2003 5:03 am

RPC1 firmware should work fine for TEAC DV-516E, but it looks like it doesn't have a digital audio output. :-?

Hacked Toshiba firmware changes only reading speeds - it unlocks drive's full potential. From my experience, Toshiba is currently the ultimate DVD-ROM.

by **hoxlund** on Tue Oct 14, 2003 10:47 am

the hacked firmware is also region free, no region lock

heres the site for more info:

http://hijacker.rpc1.org/toshiba_nolimit/

by **clawsnoel** on Thu Oct 16, 2003 9:54 pm

I have a Pioneer 305S. I love it. It is extremely fast at extracting. I don't know if it does everything everyone wants, so ask me to try whatever you are interested in and I'll see what I can do.

by **hoxlund** on Fri Oct 17, 2003 12:09 am

hmm not familar with that model, dvd-rom only or burner too?

i owned the 160s, the slot loader, worked like a champ, but out of all dvd drives ive owned, the toshiba is great

by **Han** on Fri Oct 17, 2003 6:05 am

305S is an old SCSI model...

by **clawsnoel** on Fri Oct 17, 2003 7:25 am

The 305S is a 10x SCSI slot-loading DVD-ROM. It may be an older model, but it extracts quickly. One example: a 133 minute movie in about fifteen minutes. Max extraction speed was 10.2x, minimum at disc start was about 6x. I'd say that's pretty good. A lot of the 16x DVD-ROM drives never even reach 11x. I do not have any Toshiba experience. Anyone see a DVD-ROM extract at 16x? Pioneer also has a 16x DVD-ROM that I only assume can do 16x, but I already had a SCSI CD-ROM (UltraPlex 40Max) so I wanted a SCSI DVD-ROM to match the system.

by **hoxlund** on Sat Oct 18, 2003 2:57 am

both my toshiba and JLMS do 16x dvd movie extraction

Which DVD-Rom?

Which DVD-Rom?

Pioneer 305S

305S

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