[Dvdrtools-users] Re: MATSHITA DVD-RAM LF-D310 -- 3G DVD-RAM (with 1x DVD-R)

[Bryan J. Smith]

On Mon, 2003-02-17 at 23:00, Kyle Schmitt wrote:
> Ok, I did something stupid.  I saw this drive on sale,
> and I had the cash, so i bought it, without
> researching it first.
> After my inital failure with cdrecord and later
> dvdrecord, I dug through the mailing lists and found
> several other people have purchased this drive, and
> had no success.  But all those posts are over 4 months
> old.  Some almost 8.
> Has there been any more luck getting this drive to
> work for dvd r or dvd rw burning?
> Or should I pack it up and return it from the hell
> (compusa) from wence it came?
>      ...
>   Does read DVD-R media
>   Does write DVD-R media
>   Does read DVD-RAM media
>   Does write DVD-RAM media
>      ...

3rd-Gen DVD-RAM -- I have the exact same drive.  It does:
  Rewritable:  2x DVD-RAM -- supported by stock kernel since 2.2 (1998)
  Recordable:  1x DVD-R(G) -- supported by CDRecord-ProDVD since 1.11a

FYI, 4th-Gen DVD-RAM just came out.  It's basically a 1G DVD-RW (2/1x
DVD-R/RW, 12/8x CD-R/RW) + DVD-RAM rewrite functionality.

Here's my latest comparison tables ...

"CURRENT-G" DRIVES (mid-2002+):

                  Panasonic       Pioneer          Sony (Philips?)
                  4G DVD-RAM      2G DVD-RW        3G DVD+RW
                  --------------  ---------------  ---------------
Lowest Price:     ~$300           ~$200            ~$300
Record Formats
  DVD-R (99%)     2xCLV           2xCLV/4xCAV      2xCLV/4xCAV*1*
  DVD+R (??%)     -               -                1xCLV/2.4xCAV
Rewrite Formats
  DVD-RAM (<10%)  2xCLV*2*        -                -
  DVD-RW (70%)    1xCLV           2x CLV           2xCLV
  DVD+RW (70%)    -               -                1xCLV/2.4xCAV*3*
CD Support
  CD-R            12xCLV          16xCLV           24xCAV
  CD-RW           8xCLV           8xCLV            10xCLV
Linux Compat
  RW/kernel       STOCK           patch            patch 
  DVDRTools       no              YES              no
  ProDVD (beer/$) yes (?)         yes              yes (?)


CURRENT-G "MINUS 1" DRIVES (2000+):

                  **YOUR DRIVE**
                  Panasonic       Pioneer          Sony/Philips 
                  2G-3G DVD-RAM   1G DVD-RW        1G-2G DVD+RW    
                  --------------  ---------------  -----------------
Lowest Price:     ~$150-200       ~$150            ~$150-200        
Record Formats
  DVD-R (99%)     1xCLV*4*        2xCLV/4xCAV      -            
  DVD+R (??%)     -               -                1xCLV/2.4xCAV*5*
Rewrite Formats
  DVD-RAM (<10%)  2xCLV*2*        -                -            
  DVD-RW (70%)    -               2x CLV           -            
  DVD+RW (70%)    -               -                1xCLV/2.4xCAV
CD Support
  CD-R            -               12xCLV           16xCAV (?)
  CD-RW           -               8xCLV            10xCLV
Linux Compat
  RW/kernel       STOCK           patch            patch
  DVDRTools       no              YES              no  
  ProDVD (beer/$) yes             yes              yes 


NOTES:
  *1*  3G DVD+RW drive had (?) small, nagging DVD-R issues (gone?)
  *2*  1-3G DVD-RAM verify cuts performance by 40% (but not 4G?)
  *3*  Firmware update to DVD+RW 2xCLV/4xCAV now available (?)
  *4*  2G DVD-RAM drives do _not_ support DVD-R at all (only 3G+)
  *5*  1G DVD+RW drives do _not_ support DVD+R at all (only 2G+)


> yet no matter what I do when trying to burn a disc
> (even a plain cd)
> /usr/local/bin/dvdrecord: Sorry, no CD/DVD-Recorder or
> unsupported CD/DVD-Recorder found on this target.

3rd-Gen DVD-RAM doesn't support recording/rewriting CD-R/RW.

4th-Gen DVD-RAM does though, because it now adds full DVD-RW drive
capabilities.

Understand that DVD-RAM was the first rewritable and not designed for
consumers.  It was designed for long-term archiving and maximum media
reliability.

1-2G DVD-RAM didn't even offer _any_ recorder functionality, only its
own rewrite.  Again, 3G DVD-RAM added 1x DVD-R(G), 4G DVD-RAM added all
1G DVD-RW drive functionality.


-- 
Bryan J. Smith  (suffix-free title for your protection)
mailto:address@hidden          http://www.thebs.org
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