CeBIT 2003

[Ian]

CeBIT kicks off in a couple of days. Instead of a million individual CeBIT threads, keep all discussions in this thread.

Feel free to talk about new products, link to pictures, etc.

[Ian]

Taken from:

http://event.asus.com.tw/cebit2003/optical/index.htm

ASUS CRW-5232A

52X Write/ 32X ReWrite/ 52X Read/ 52X DAE



ASUS DRW-0402P

DVD-R: 4X / DVD-RW: 2X / CD-R: 16X / CD-RW: 8X



ASUS DRW-0404R

DVD+R: 4X / DVD+RW: 4X / CD-R: 24X / CD-RW: 16X



ASUS SCB-2408-D

24X CD-Write/ 10X CD-ReWrite/ 24X CD-Read/ 8X DVD-Read/ 24X DAE



Sorry modem users. Those pictures are a little big.

[BuddhaTB]

What is CeBIT and where is it being held? I assume it some kind of computer trade show, maybe optical storage trade show?

[Ian]

Imagine Comdex, but for all of Europe. It's in Hannover, Germany.

http://www.cebit.de/

[dodecahedron]

do Asus make their own DVD burners? or are these rebadges?
any info on them?

[Ian]

MSI's CeBIT 2003 website can be found here:

http://msi.vtion.com

It's in flash so I can't post any pictures. However, check out the specs on the MS-8448A 48/24/48/16 combo drive, the MS-8404 Dual DVD drive and MS-8448P 48/24/48/16 portable combo drive. That portable combo drive is really slick looking.

[cfitz]

And the award for the most gratuitous use of Flash in the "render your site unnavigable and unusable" category, with a special mention for lowest useful information to download size ratio, goes to:

MSI

Sheesh! What were they thinking?

cfitz

[Ian]

do Asus make their own DVD burners? or are these rebadges?
any info on them?

Their DVD-RW drives are based on Pioneer's DVD-RW drive designs. While the DVR-104 was a straight rebadge, the DRW-0402P has supposedly been tweaked by ASUS. I haven't looked at either so I really can't confirm these reports.

[dodecahedron]

presumably the DRW-0402P is based on the pioneer 105/A05 ?

[Ian]

presumably the DRW-0402P is based on the pioneer 105/A05 ?

yep, thats what I've heard

[Ian]

Plextor and CloneCD @ CD Freaks:

http://www.cdfreaks.com/news2.php3?ID=6823

Yeah, it looks like Plextor has gone back on their saying about no writers faster than 48x.

[BuddhaTB]

Yeah, it looks like Plextor has gone back on their saying about no writers faster than 48x.

They were loosing market shares big time. They knew they had to get back into the CD-RW game or else they would be going out of business in the future. Hopefully Plextor's 52x drive will be better than their 48x one.

[dodecahedron]

a few more interesting tidbits from the cdfreaks news item about plextor:

PlexTools to be available worldwide! that'd good news to you guys in the US!

the new PlexTools will be able to do more advanced tests with Plextor drives such as C1/C2 error tests, transfer rate tests, tracking tests and jitter tests!
yummy!

[cfitz]

a few more interesting tidbits from the cdfreaks news item about plextor:

PlexTools to be available worldwide! that'd good news to you guys in the US!

the new PlexTools will be able to do more advanced tests with Plextor drives such as C1/C2 error tests, transfer rate tests, tracking tests and jitter tests!
yummy!

That is good news and makes Plextor more attractive. It seemed to me that they were falling behind LiteOn in the features department.

cfitz

[MediumRare]

I can't give an online reference, but "c't" (the German computer magazine, based in Hannover) mentioned in their latest (Cebit preview) issue that LiteOn is planning a combo drive with 52-32-52 CD-RW capability, 16x DVD-read. That should put them back in the game with LG and Samsung on that front.

G

[Ian]

More CeBIT from CD Freaks. This time Lite-On and Nero:

http://www.cdfreaks.com/news2.php3?ID=6829

They have details on Lite-On's new DVD writer too.

[Ian]

I can't give an online reference, but "c't" (the German computer magazine, based in Hannover) mentioned in their latest (Cebit preview) issue that LiteOn is planning a combo drive with 52-32-52 CD-RW capability, 16x DVD-read. That should put them back in the game with LG and Samsung on that front.

G

I believe it. According to one of my contacts at Lite-On, the LTR48161H combo drive won't go to mass production until the end of March or early April. Who knows when the 52x combo drive would ship.. some time this summer?

[MediumRare]

The German computer news site heise has a report on a new Plexwriter Premium with exciting features:
- 52/32/52 speed
- enhanced diagnostics via Plextools including BLER, C2 and C3 (sic) errors and jitter reporting
- increased capacity (up to 40% more) on normal CDRs.

G

[Ian]

More from CD Freaks. This time its Mitsumi, Samsung and a bunch of other stuff. Just go read it.

http://www.cdfreaks.com/news2.php3?ID=6841

Its kinda funny. I have half of that stuff thats "new" sitting right here next to me.

[cfitz]

I suppose "new", to the marketers, means first debut at a major trade show, even if it has actually already been out for a while.

So when are you going to start doing cell-phone burner reviews?

cfitz

[dodecahedron]

The German computer news site heise has a report on a new Plexwriter Premium with exciting features:
- 52/32/52 speed
- enhanced diagnostics via Plextools including BLER, C2 and C3 (sic) errors and jitter reporting
- increased capacity (up to 40% more) on normal CDRs.

G

info on this new plextor drive is already in the cdfreaks new item posted 7 posts up from yours.
by the way, 8MB buffer!

also, according to the cdfreaks item, it appears that the diagnostics features in PlexTools are not specific to the new drive only...well it isn't very clear....does that link in German say it is specifically only for the new drive?

[MediumRare]

info on this new plextor drive is already in the cdfreaks new item posted 7 posts up from yours.
by the way, 8MB buffer!

also, according to the cdfreaks item, it appears that the diagnostics features in PlexTools are not specific to the new drive only...well it isn't very clear....does that link in German say it is specifically only for the new drive?

Ooops Read the literature!
Heise did not say whether the new capabilities of the PlexTools are available with other drives. They do say that the "GigaRec" disks can be read in the PlewWriter 48x with the new firmware 1.04.

G

[MikeTR]

As far as I can tell (I avoid using my German as much as possible ), the article doesn't mention any more specifics. Only that it will incorporate those new features (in PlexTools). This might mean that the analysing features might also be possible with the newer PlexWriters. After all, they are already capable of using C2info for adio extraction.

On a less positive note, when using Gigarec to the fullest (40% more on a CD-R) it is only readable in the drive itself. When using '20% Gigarec', it is also readable in the 48x Plex with fw 1.04.

The article is not very good and seemingly not written by anyone knowledgable in the field (although it is supposed to be from c't magazine). So we'll have to wait for more info (from Plextor) before jumping to conclusions. As far as I understand the Gigarec technology, it should be possible to read the high density dics on most high speed CD-ROM drives. We'll have to wait and see.......