Iomega Super DVD Writer

Frenchy wrote on 1/20/2004, 4:22 PM
Anybody using this burner with DVDA (or any other authoring program, for that matter?)

I'm going to make the jump to DVD's (my holiday VCD had a 50% success rate - as far as ability to play on family DVD players), so it's time.

I've found it for about $130 (after rebate) direct from the Iomega site

It reads/writes all current DVD formats (+/-R, +/-RW, DVD-RAM), burns DVD's at 4x, reads at 8x, re-writes at 2.4x. Fast enough for me. (My current CD burner will only burn at 8x, and that's on a good day. I usually burn at 4x - LOL) I like the idea that it does DVD-RAM as well (just in case...)

It's not on Sony's DVDA "supported drive list", but I'm looking for real-world experience here.

Thanks

Frenchy

ps This is also posted on the DVDA forum

Comments

tekhead wrote on 1/21/2004, 4:52 PM
I own the exact same writer. DVDA would burn the DVDs but they would not be playable in any of my 4 DVD players (two PC DVD-ROM and two standalone players). After getting a little help from this forum I found a workaround. Use DVDA to render the files and create the VOB files. Then simply use the HotBurn application to Drag and Drop these onto a DVD. All the DVDs that I have burned have worked flawlessly.

The Iomega has been a great drive. I find myself using DVD-RAM more and more because of its ease of use, robust data correction and stability. I am beginning to wish that the DVD standard was simply DVD-RAM (its re-writeable too).

For $130 you can't really go wrong.

Best of luck,
TekHead
JohnnyRoy wrote on 1/22/2004, 4:03 AM
You can get the Pioneer DVR-A06 for $129.95 (after rebate) at VideoGuys.com. I started with a Pioneer DVR-A03 a few years ago and now I have the DVR-106D (the OEM version of the A06 in black) and I couldn’t be happier. They are great burners and VideoGuys is a great retailer.

~jr
Frenchy wrote on 1/22/2004, 1:44 PM
Thanks for the replies.

The Pioneer is the only other burner I'm really serious about. The TDK 440 and Sony DRU510 or 530 I've also been considering, but they're quite a bit more $$.

JR: Are you using DVDA to author (and burn), or another app? If DVDA, are you having any "issues" with the A06 that I've seen mentioned on the DVDA forums? It seems there are some problems - I can't recall exactly what they were, only that the user received a reply from Sony customer service that they could not provide help since it (the Pioneer) was not on the supported list. If you're not using DVDA to author, what are you using?

tekhead: Interesting workaround. I imagine I could use Nero in the same way...I've been using Nero for most of my CD burning. I don't really want to install yet another burning app, if I can help it. Did your Iomega come with any other authoring software (that you've tried)? I really like the Iomega for the DVD-RAM option for the reasons mentioned.

Thanks again
JohnnyRoy wrote on 1/22/2004, 9:00 PM
I’m using DVDA to author only and Prassi PrimoDVD 2.0 to burn. The Prassi app came with my Pioneer A03 drive. DVDA wouldn’t burn faster than 1X with the A03 for some reason so I just got use to working this way. I haven’t even tried to burn from DVDA with the 106 yet. I always burn to DVD-RW first to QA the disk and then go back and burn my DVD-R copies so using a separate burn program is fine with me.

~jr
Frenchy wrote on 1/23/2004, 7:19 AM
Thanks JR. I t looks like I'm going with the Pioneer, after all (probably from videoguys). I went to Iomega's site to order yesterday, and it was GONE! Called them up, and it's out of production - Their external USB2 Super DVD writer is still available, however - for $329 - yeah, right. They explained that they're soon to be releasing a faster internal all-DVD format writer, and that they ran out of the current model sooner than expected - oh well, you snooze, you lose...

Frenchy
jboy wrote on 1/23/2004, 3:53 PM
Got an advance copy of Staple's weekend circular and they're selling the Iomega 8X +- drive for $99.00 starting Sunday. That's probably an AfterRebate price, but I didn't get that far in the ad.