New Albook Superdrive DVD+R capability.

[ditoy_eagle]

Taken from this site, a user was able to discover that the latest powerbook Superdrive can burn DVD+R. Currently Apple has no mention of this capability.

"While reading through the documentation of the Panasonic (Matshita) UJ-825 found in the newest Powerbooks, I found out that it supports +R/+RW as well as -R/-RW (and apparently RAM too) medias.

So I tried to burn a DVR+RW with Toast 5.2.3 and, Oh joy, it works ! The burning process went without a hitch and so goes reading the disc from the Finder.

And there is more. Disk Utility says the media is a DVD+RW (Read only), but can glady erase it for you...

Feeling I was on a roll, I re-insert the said DVD+RW in the PB. The Finder mounts it as a blank disc and asks me if I would like to format it in HFS+, to which I clicked yes. Then one can write to the disc via the Finder. The result still being a DVD+RW (even the disc icon says so !)

However I do not have a DVD-RAM handy, but I would not be surprised if it worked..."

[Henjie]

Originally posted by ditoy_eagle
Taken from this site, a user was able to discover that the latest powerbook Superdrive can burn DVD+R. Currently Apple has no mention of this capability.

Yup. The 4x SuperDrive (Matshita/Panasonic UJ-825) in your new AlBook is a dual-format drive. It can write to DVD+Rs at 2.4x (2x when using Toast Ti). 4x DVD-R; 2x DVD-RW; 2.4x DVD+R; 2.4x DVD+RW. It can also write to bare DVD-RAM discs at 2x. Gives you more option for your media needs. :-)

It's the first dual-format SuperDrive offered in PowerBooks. I'm sure it won't be the last. I wonder what's between Apple and the DVD+RW Alliance that Apple still doesn't mention DVD+R/RW support for its current SuperDrives, all of which are dual-format drives (4x: Pioneer DVR-106D and Sony DW-U10A for Power Mac G5s, Matshita UJ-825 for AlBooks; 8x: Pioneer DVR-107D for eMacs and reportedly some recently-manufactured Power Mac G5s).

Weird of Apple not to advertise DVD+R/RW support unless the DVR Forum has something to do with it. Or maybe Apple's just too cheap to pay the necessary licensing fees (for the use of the DVD+R/RW logo, etc.) to the DVD+RW Alliance, hehe.

UPDATE: seems like Apple's just too cheap. ;-) It's a member of the DVD Forum (DVD-R/RW) but is not listed in the the DVD+RW Alliance's membership list. Kinda like Dell (boo!) which only supports the DVD+R/RW format (completely opposite from Apple's stand, no surprise, hehe). ;-)


~Henjie

[Edited on 5-27-2004 by Henjie]

[wpalomine]

Nice. My bro just gave me 50 DVD+R (TDK 4x)

[right_stuff]

wow, ditoy.... how old is your new albook? just noticed it now... hehehe...:roll:

[ditoy_eagle]

7 days old pa lang

[right_stuff]

yummy..... hahaha....

[gbbles]

As of late, I've been a little partial to DVD+R/W media. Must be because it's cheaper and easier to find in bulk these days. Anyhow, I tried doing a sample iDVD project on my new 12" SD, popped an HP 4x DVD+RW in the slot and the software rejected it for burning. Prior to that, I erased the disc via the iDisk utility so I guess that part works. Anyone have any success burning with DVD+R/Ws on your (latest revision) PBs?

[Henjie]

Originally posted by gbbles
As of late, I've been a little partial to DVD+R/W media. Must be because it's cheaper and easier to find in bulk these days. Anyhow, I tried doing a sample iDVD project on my new 12" SD, popped an HP 4x DVD+RW in the slot and the software rejected it for burning. Prior to that, I erased the disc via the iDisk utility so I guess that part works. Anyone have any success burning with DVD+R/Ws on your (latest revision) PBs?

That's an iDVD issue. Officially, iDVD can only burn to DVD-R blanks.

BUT, there's a hack available that gives it the ability it to burn to external drives or save projects to .dmg files. The latter will allow you to burn the projects to DVD+R blanks using Toast Titanium, etc. Read about the hack here. ;-)


~Henjie

[gbbles]

Thanks for the heads up Henjie.

[NiX]

thanks for this info...now i don't have to specifically look for DVD-Rs :beer: