toggle

AAPL Stock: 431.77 ( 0 )

http://www.macnn.com/articles/01/02/28/pioneer.to/

Pioneer to sell internal "SuperDrive"

updated 02:05 am EST, Wed February 28, 2001

 
", 0, 0);


Pioneer has confirmed plans to start selling a branded version of its "SuperDrive" drive, which can play and record both DVDs and CDs. Due in May for around $1000, it will be available from Pioneer as an internal unit, while other peripheral makers will be allowed to sell it as an external drive, including CD CyClone who will be selling a FireWire version due in April for about $1000 (available through AllDVD and FireWire Depot).


by MacNN Staff

Post tools:

TAGS :

 peripherals

Related Articles

Recent Articles

toggle

Comments

  1. 0

    Joined:

    0
    02/28, 11:14pm | report spam | Reply | delete

    Comparable speed and soft

    My question about these PC makers that are claiming they will begin shipping DVD-R drives is (actually two questions) how fast will they write, and will anyone be able to get their hands on any software as easy to use as iDVD and what will that software cost?
    Jobs did say that the reason they shipped DVD-R only with their 733 G4+ system is because it needs that power to do the encoding at a practical speed. With full AltiVec optimization (all 4 units in a G4+) we get that speed and in almost all other tasks significantly better performance than an x86 of any speed. I am wondering how they will be able write at a realistic speed without that raw power (peak performance 10+ GigaFLOPS?). I guess we will see.
    Another thing: What will be the use of DVD-RW drives when everything can only read DVD-R? Or will this be like the current CD-RW drives which can still write to CD-R media? If that is the case, who cares about these standards conflicts? We will just upgrade to DVD-RW later and only use the RW ability for data (like in the CD-RW and DVD-RAM markets).

    Any answers?
    ~/indigo

  1. 0

    Joined:

    0
    03/01, 08:44am | report spam | Reply | delete

    encode/write

    You are confusing two terms: encoding and writing (or burning)

    Encode, at least as I believe Jobs meant it, means the process of taking video and saving it into the DVD MPEG2 format.
    Burn is the process of saving that data to the DVD drive and that takes very little CPU power.

    So likely the situation with 'other' computers, PC or Mac, is that the software you would use to create DVD-playable data would merely create a file on your harddrive, or possibly create an image file, a psuedo DVD, on the harddrive. Then the burning software (a seperate application or another component of the same application) would take the files and burn them to the DVD or take the image file and write it to the DVD.

    I think you understand what I mean.

    As for your question about DVD+RW, think of it like the difference between Beta and VHS, only the media is the same size. DVD+RW is an incompatible standard developed by a different group of manufacturers so the possibility of the two standards being integrated into a single drive is slim to none. CD-RW on the other hand is merely an extension of the CD-R standard, giving the drive the ability to rewrite data on a disc that is made with a special layering process. So it is unlikely that you will see DVD+RW and DVD-R in one drive, however I think the DVD-R media itself is capable of being recorded over multiple times so it isn't quite like CD-R media but not as good as CD-RW media either. I don't know about that though, check Apple's website, it should describe the media in the accessories section.

  1. 0

    Joined:

    0
    03/01, 10:55pm | report spam | Reply | delete

    Bone Heads

    Did you not listen to Steve Jobs Keynote Address? The DVD's created will play on ANY commercial DVD drive. That means ALL DVD drives you bonehead!

  1. 0

    Joined:

    0
    03/03, 01:59am | report spam | Reply | delete

    the "Real Deal" on DVD-

    It takes 30 min to burn a complet 4.7GB DVD-R of straight data. You are correct in the fact that DVD-Video discs need to be pre-mastered into the proper DVD format, which is what Steve referred to with the "double" time for encoding. If you're willing to wait a little longer than twice the length of the footage, than any G4 (or even powerful G3) should do you fine. Any computer with a FIrewire plug can use the CD Cyclone DVD-R drive. It's fully compatible with DVD Studio Pro and most likely would be compatible with iDVD if Apple made it availabel to the public, like iMovie.

    On the issue of being able to play a DVD-R in "all" consumer DVD players, that's a little sketchy. My group has been outsourcing DVD's for almost 4 months, and there is a definite different between a replicated and duplicated DVD. A duplicated DVD is like the one you'd make from a burner, and is not always compatible with every DVD player (especially the $150 specials...). Replication involves creating a glass copy of the DVD and "stamping" out the media onto fresh DVDs. This process basically guarantees a perfect copy, but is VERY expensive. It costs about $2000 with a minimum run of about 1000 discs, MINIMUM!

    DVD-R is a GIANT leap for Apple and will bring all of us into a new age of personal computing, but I'm waiting for DVD-R technology to come to market for a while.

    I remember when CD-R's cost like $900, had slow speeds and limited mastering software... Is this ringing a bell with anyone else?

  1. 0

    Joined:

    0
    03/04, 09:44am | report spam | Reply | delete

    Toast 5 platinum

    This programm will be released in spring and will do the job.
    so no worry if apple do not set idvd free.

  1. 0

    Joined:

    0
    03/04, 09:52am | report spam | Reply | delete

    Who's the bonehead?

    Did you not listen to Steve Jobs Keynote Address? The DVD's created will play on ANY commercial DVD drive. That means ALL DVD drives you bonehead!

    You either have selective hearing, can't read, or possibly both. At http://www.apple.com/dvd/compatibility/ it list several players which are incompatible.

    Before you going flaming someone, maybe you should get your facts straight. Who looks like the bonehead now?

  1. 0

    Joined:

    0
    03/04, 08:42pm | report spam | Reply | delete

    Sonic Solut. competition

    I see a trend here... Apple is tackling areas of technology that other manufacturers have had a monopoly on for years (Avid, Sonic Solutions) and turning them around to the consumer. The REAL power here lies in DVD Studio Pro, not essentially the burner. For under 10 grand you can author your own interactive DVDs, have them pressed at a dup house and REALLY rake in the cash! Sonic Soultions lowest system is something like 150 grand!!! and its on a mac too! This is the Desktop Publishing revolution all over again. Then it was the laser printer, now its a DVD-R. I think its great!

  1. 0

    Joined:

    0
    03/05, 04:48am | report spam | Reply | delete

    Clarifications

    The "double time" SJ was referring to was how long it takes to recompress the video from DV (or QuickTime) format into MPEG2 data. The drive does not need to preformat the disc, which, by the way, is only recordable once.

    As for the 733 being the only one fast enough to do the encoding, that's just hooey. The fastest Mac in existence right now is the dual-processor 533, which is, on any MP-capable program out there, roughly equivalent to a 1066MHz single-processor machine. It could encode the MPEG2 data much more quickly than the single-processor 733.

    iDVD and the SuperDrive do not compete with Avid and Sonic, because of the drive's 1 hour limitation. If you want to master a feature-film DVD, you still have to either buy a really expensive burner, or write your data to tape and have it mastered elsewhere. DVD Studio Pro does allow writing to tape, so it could be used for real DVD mastering even without a DVD-R drive.

    tooki
    Moderator, PowerBook forum

  1. 0

    Joined:

    0
    03/05, 08:12pm | report spam | Reply | delete

    uhhum, uhhum...

    DVDit from sonic and studio DV from pinnacle come with the compaq.
    (junk)

    DVDit is also coming to mac via OS X. sonic has been doing the mac thing for a long time.

    how can anyone question the macs ability to encode and capture and write and I can go on and on...but, I WONT.

    remember the universal capture driver thing(quicktime)a real edge when it comes to capturing and editing. FCP blows the market away
    when it comes to that. dvd studio pro and iDVD are infants. 2 or 3 revs and macs will be really ahead of the curve to be able to encode and yeah burn too. hardware acceleration is the key. altivec looks promising for this. PCs are doing it all in software and no, the P4 is not doing jack for it.

    oh, yeah, superdrive does not make masters, you'll have to go to DLT and then to a post production/duplication house for a master to be made.

    ScreamDVD

  1. 0

    Joined:

    0
    03/05, 08:14pm | report spam | Reply | delete

    Oh, I forgot...

    DVD studio pro and iDVD are great for comps and quickies. who cares if its a master or not...I'll let the client tell me if its OK to go to dupication w/o having to shellout $$$

Login Here

Not a member of the MacNN forums? Register now for free.

 
close
Photo
toggle

Network Headlines

toggle

Most Popular

MacNN Sponsor

Recent Reviews

Logitech FabricSkin Keyboard Folio for iPad

Since the fourth-generation iPad didn't evolve much over its predecessor, the market for iPad accessories has remained somewhat static ...

Huawei Ascend Mate

The Huawei Ascend Mate is a phone that fits the screen-size gap between the 4 to 5-inch smartphone and the seven-inch or more tablet, ...

MaxUpgrades MaxConnect for 2006-2008 Mac Pro

Nobody outside of Cupertino's privileged bunch knows the future of the Mac Pro line for sure. Despite Apple's reluctance to tell us wh ...

toggle

Most Commented

 

Popular News