cdfreaks presents BTC DRW1004IM review (mediagear) - Club CDFreaks

**OC-Freak** · 12-01-2004

I have put up a review of a Mediagear Dual format DVD-Writer which actually is a BTC DRW1004IM. Read it here.

Any comments is welcomed.

anarki · 12-01-2004

Very nice review!
As you have already figured out, the most issue with this drive is the poor media compatibility...altough new FWs have dramaticaly improved the situation, the media support still isn't as mature as it should be. Anyway, if you have the right media the drive is awesome, expecially considering its street-price.
And it even seems that the drive is flashable with 1008 FW, supporting thus 8X DVD+R writing...
If the guys there at BTC were able to solve compatibility issues, this would certainly be one of the best (if not the best) drive out there!

Voodoo80 · 12-01-2004

Yes, great review...

It says it all:

positive:
very good reader
pretty fast reader
very good burner
cheap

negative:
too much unsupported media

Finally the first review I know of

Wall76 · 13-01-2004

anarki

Quote:

new FWs have dramaticaly improved the situation

In what sense "dramaticaly improved"?
In Positive or in Negative and why ..

anarki · 13-01-2004

Quote:

Originally posted by Wall76
In what sense "dramaticaly improved"?
In Positive or in Negative and why ..

In positive of course!
I meant to say that the situation has a lot improved from the first firmwares (v0037, v0039)...these firmwares had even a bug for which you could destroy your drive just erasing a DVD+RW

And obviously they had MUCH MORE problems with media compatibility.
Now the biggest bugs have been solved and the media compatibility, though still far from being perfect, is someway accettable! As I already said, if BTC guys work some more on the firmware, this drive will rock!

Voodoo80 · 15-01-2004

I hope BTC read this from this review

Quote:

Another strange thing we noticed is that it starts writing longer away from the centre of the disc compared to other writers. We are unsure if this may affect the reading compatibility with some drives. Below are pictures to illustrate this.

Both scans is of a RitekG04 DVD-R disc. The Lite-On LDW-411S wrote discs similar to the Mediagear written discs with the earlier firmware versions, and those discs was not playable in many standalone DVD players and X-box consoles. With later firmware versions Lite-On fixed both the strange DVD-R writing issue and the compatibility problem.

But we can’t say for sure if this “Starts writing longer away from the centre” “problem” is related to compatibility and playability. But we do know that all other writers we have (Pioneer, NEC, LG, Lite-On, Plextor and Pioneer) starts writing closer to the centre than the Mediagear drive. This affects DVD-R/RW only and not DVD+R/RW.

12-01-2004	#1 (permalink)
OC-Freak Senior Admin Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Cdfreaks review lab - Norway Posts: 5,660	cdfreaks presents BTC DRW1004IM review (mediagear) <a href='http://adstats.cdfreaks.com/www/delivery/ck.php?n=a13febf7&cb=INSERT_RANDOM_NUMBER_HERE' target='_blank'><img src='http://adstats.cdfreaks.com/www/delivery/avw.php?zoneid=30&cb=INSERT_RANDOM_NUMBER_HERE&n=a13febf7' border='0' alt='' /></a> I have put up a review of a Mediagear Dual format DVD-Writer which actually is a BTC DRW1004IM. Read it here. Any comments is welcomed. __________________ I'm a real freak in many aspects!

12-01-2004	#2 (permalink)
anarki CD Freaks Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Italy Posts: 104	Very nice review! As you have already figured out, the most issue with this drive is the poor media compatibility...altough new FWs have dramaticaly improved the situation, the media support still isn't as mature as it should be. Anyway, if you have the right media the drive is awesome, expecially considering its street-price. And it even seems that the drive is flashable with 1008 FW, supporting thus 8X DVD+R writing... If the guys there at BTC were able to solve compatibility issues, this would certainly be one of the best (if not the best) drive out there! __________________ I'd rather be with an animal!

12-01-2004	#3 (permalink)
Voodoo80 New on Forum Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Antwerpen (Belgium) Posts: 19	Yes, great review... It says it all: positive: very good reader pretty fast reader very good burner cheap negative: too much unsupported media Finally the first review I know of __________________ AMD inside == NO idiot outside

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