[Pc_Support] Re: 3MB/s Samba Performance? -- LG GSA-4163 (or 4165)?

[Jason Boxman]

On Sunday 11 September 2005 05:23, Bryan J. Smith wrote:
> On Sun, 2005-09-11 at 01:59 -0400, Jason Boxman wrote:
> > Because I just needed something that would read and optionally write
> > DVD-R.
>
> ???  I'm confused.

I know.  You're familiar with all the technical standards, committees, and so 
forth.  I wanted something that said 'DVD+/-RW' in its name and was cheap. 
So, I can understand your confusion on why I might have picked a 
'problematic' burner.

My old NEC 2500-A works well enough to use cdrecord-proDVD and doesn't coaster 
and I've been able to read its DVD-R discs in the few players I stick them 
in.  That's enough for me, so I bought another because it was listed on 
dealnews and was cheap.  Knowing nothing about compatibility issues and 
believing I had none, I went with the brand that I knew worked for me.

> NEC is clearly a Sony/Philips DVD+RW Consortium member, so the
> "laser/firmware base" is DVD+RW and _not_ Pioneer DVD-R.

That doesn't mean much to me, but it would mean less if I didn't have a vague 
memory of your other posts on this. ;)

> LG has sided with the DVD Consortium, so their "laser/firmware base" is
> Pioneer DVD-R (the Matshushita DVD-RAM support is just a "bonus").
>
> > The DL is a bonus, but the media is probably too expensive for me to care
> > just like the Spring before last when I got my first DVD-R.
>
> And as I said, the LG GSA-4163 does 4xDL DVD+R, and the GSA-4165 adds
> 4xDL DVD-R.

I never really expected to actually use the DL stuff, unless discs get down 
below $0.25/disc.  Even then I still have literally about 75 DVD-Rs of the 4x 
variety I haven't used and I've had for about 9 months now.

> _All_ GSA-416x (from the 4160 on-ward) _do_ 16x DVD-R.
>
> > It's unlikely I'll ever use DVD-RAM, since I don't even burn backups to
> > DVD-R as it stands.  So, there wasn't much consideration for having
> > support for that.
>
> Forget DVD-RAM, do you understand that DVD+RW "base" drives:
>
> 1.  Can_not_ record in Disc-at-Once (DaO) mode
> 2.  Do _not_ support cdrecord+DVDpatch (byte-by-byte record) at all
> 3.  Produce less compatible/readable DVD-R than DVD Consortium drives

No, I had no idea.  Why would I want to do DaO?  I've been using TaO/SaO and 
that's been fine for the past year.

> Lack of #2 used to be a major PITA before kernel 2.6 came out with
> direct re-write support.  I.e., Jorg has only added a preliminary hack
> that offers a way for programs to send a byte-by-byte record through DVD
> +RW firmware -- something it was _never_ designed for.

That I think I've actually noticed, as only cdrecord-proDVD (and DVDDecrypter 
in Windows) seem to burn discs without incident.  I never found any 
alternative tools to the official cdrecord with DVD support that actually let 
me burn stuff successfully.

> Direct re-write support is a block operation.  That's fine when you have
> DVD-RW, DVD+RW or DVD-RAM.  But it's far less idea for DVD-R.  In fact,
> it goes to the heart of the matter why DVD+R is less compatible than
> DVD-R.  Which is why DVD+RW drives can't produce as compatible DVD-R
> discs as DVD Consortium drives.

I found the poor software support more troubling, actually, since that's the 
only problem with DVD-R using DVD+RW member drives I have encountered in week 
to week usage.

So, what, should I cancel my order with Newegg and buy the other burner? ;)  
(Not sure it isn't too late at this point.)

-- 

Jason Boxman
Perl Programmer / *NIX Systems Administrator
Shimberg Center for Affordable Housing | University of Florida
http://edseek.com/ - Linux and FOSS stuff