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http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=1001
'SuperDrive II' Announced by Pioneer
By Remy Davison, Insanely Great Mac
September 25th 2002
4x DVD-R doubles burn speed.
CDRInfo reported Tuesday that Pioneer Japan, maker of Apple's DVD-R 'SuperDrive', has
announced the next-generation replacement for the drive.
The DVR-A05 is a 4x DVD-R and 2x DVD-RW recorder, double the speed of the current 2x
DVD-R and 1x DVD-RW offered by current drives in Apple's Power Macs, iMac G4s and
eMacs.
The A05 features a 2MB buffer, support for 4x/2x/1x DVD-R recording, and 2x/1x DVD-RW
writing. The CDRW component of the drive can write CDRs at 16/12/8/4x and CDRWs at
8x/4x.
The drive also reads DVD-R at 6x or 4x, depending on whether the newer high-speed or
older media is used. The same applies with DVD-RW discs, which are read at either 6x
or 2x.
CD-ROMs are read at 32x, with CD-DA reading or ripping at a maximum of 10x.
Initially, the drive will be available as an ATAPI OEM drive (Pioneer and others also
make expensive, high-end SCSI DVD-R drives, pimarily for 'authoring', rather than the
'general purpose' DVD-Rs sold in consumer PCs).
Analysis: Expect FireWire editions of the new drive before Xmas, while you'll almost
certainly be able to buy them as bare drives or as a kit from third parties before
Apple integrates them into one of its DVD-R models.
While the improvement in DVD-R/RW burning speeds is most welcome, we're a little
disapointed by the so-so CDRW performance, particularly when even 16x is yesterday's
news. Still, at least it's not a lethargic 8x.
The good news is that the older Pioneer (and other 2x/1x drives) will fall further in
price, which will make, say, a FireWire DVD-R drive for the 'rest of us' a distinct
possibility in the coming months. Now all you need is a G4 with iDVD as well.
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