Optorite DD0203 - Huge perfomance, small price

[CrAzEdPeddlaR]

I saw this drive for a REALLY good price at compusmart, and did some research on the internet on it. Not only did it perform incredibally well, but it has a feature called 'HD Burn' that no other drives have, that burns 1.4 gigs of data on a 700 MB CDR! (the new nero supports HD burn)

This technology is created by SANYO, as well as BURN PROOF (a label which you'll see every drive carries) and SANYO pledges to have this new HD burn technology available through firmware upgrades, for playback on standalone DVD players!

hehe, just when I thought CDr's were a thing of the past. The drive works nicely, I bought a LITEON lvd-2002 divx/dvd player, and burned 6 DivX movies on a 4x+ disc, and the lvd-2002 plays them all perfectly.

For the price and features, the DD0203 is one helluva DVDRW. Dual 4x (+-), and 24x CD speed isn't too shabby, and it has 8MB of cache memory, which is very nice. Burn's a full disc at 4x in just over 14 minutes.

[indolikaa]

Yeah, and I'll bet you'd be laughing you ass off if you found out how much I paid for my -0203 drives last summer.

You may now prepare to be proper flamed by the anti-Optorite crowd. They lurk in the background, waiting to pounce.

[jolo]

There are some people in this world that need a "big name" product for whatever reason. Yes, the flammers do come out, probably because they paid 50 - 100 more for a unit that does not have the features of the Optorite. Their new model does 8x burning by te way.

They have come a long, long way and are overwhelmingly the best price/performance unit that is out there. I got mine in the summer.

I good just about guarantee that all of the flamers or negative remarks will be about issues that have been fixed by upgrades on their firmware, which have been steady and always add a lot.

They also are good people who will listen to you. I mentioned something about enter the UPC codes on some of the recommended CDs that will work with that remarkable HD-BURN feature, then lo and behold they added that to their web site.
I had faith in them after communicating with them, I made a couple of coasters with some CDs doing HD-BURN that were this really cheap brand of Fuji's that I do not see out anymore. Then mailed me some cool CDs for free to replace them.

Mostly I use my favorite, even before I got the Optorite, the Fujifilm CDs, the 50 pack when I see them on sale. They are Taiyo Yudens and haven't failed me yet. I also have been using some TDK DVDs, that burn at 4X on both the -R and +R side. Staples and some other stores have deals on them from time to time.

Now their list of supported media is very large. Besides the HD-BURN heature, I would say it has worked with anything else I have tried it with, including these crappy Compusa DVDs, although I would not recommend then.

Also, the software include from BH something, is excellent. But I use the latest version of Nero 6 with it HD-BURN and none HD-BURN and it is very fast, has 8MB cache and works great.

Really nothing comes close for the dollars. Enjoy.

One more thing, I have a Lite-on LVD-2001 and it plays great on everything I have burned on the Optorite. I convert my backups to Divx files, then do data copies to a CD or get 4 or 5 movies on a DVD using a data copy and it works.

[jacksona]

jolo:

I think it's a bit cheeky to refer to "flamers" (flammers, sic) who "lurk in the background" to describe people who's Optorite owning experience has not been as satisfactory as your own.

My opinions (and those of others) are just as valuable as yours in these forums.

I stuck with Optorite from fw v2.09 through to v2.50 and every type of DVD-R media I could get my hands on. The compatibility was and still is atrocious !

HD Burn, which many got excited about, only seems to work on very limited range of CD media. Also the HD Burn discs cannot be read on anything but another Optorite drive.

I've now given up and dumped the Optorite DD0203 in favour of an NEC ND2500A. This drive is how burning SHOULD be, absolutely fantastic. It is also much cheaper in the UK than the Optorite 8x equivalent.

There you go, a balanced view, not a flame in sight

[fritzi93]

Mine has been perfectly satisfactory since upgrading the firmware to 2.30, so it's puzzling to read of other peoples' difficulties. Also, it seems that the very process of upgrading firmware has proved disastrous for some. I did it in Windows, and it went without a hitch. Maybe some of us have just been lucky? (No, that wasn't sarcasm, I would very much like to read a plausible explanation for this).

[indolikaa]

jolo:

I think it's a bit cheeky to refer to "flamers" (flammers, sic) who "lurk in the background" to describe people who's Optorite owning experience has not been as satisfactory as your own.

I was the one that warned about the anti-Optorite lurkers, not jolo. Please, if you're going to take exception with an opinion, please take exception with the right person.

My opinions (and those of others) are just as valuable as yours in these forums.

Cheeky observation.

I stuck with Optorite from fw v2.09 through to v2.50 and every type of DVD-R media I could get my hands on. The compatibility was and still is atrocious !

I have burned hundreds of DVD-R discs in my -DD0203 drives. Hundreds of Taiyo-Yuden discs. I've never had to reauthor a disc because it wouldn't play in someone's DVD player.

Authoring Rule 1: Quality media + proper authoring set-up = quality results.

HD Burn, which many got excited about, only seems to work on very limited range of CD media. Also the HD Burn discs cannot be read on anything but another Optorite drive.

Which Optorite readily admits and disclaims. As for compatibility, well, the smart consumer would've done their homework and come to this conclusion. As for the stuipd consumer? **** 'em for not educating themselves.

Again, please read Authoring Rule 1.

I have given up and dumped the Optorite DD0203 in favour of an NEC ND2500A. This drive is how burning SHOULD be, absolutely fantastic. It is also much cheaper in the UK than the Optorite 8x equivalent.

And if this works better for you, more power to you.

There you go, a balanced view, not a flame in sight

Which is a complete disappointment. The lack of thoughtless flaming takes away the entertainment value of this forum.

[jacksona]

fritzi93

I had mixed experiences using the windows flasher, but I think the most significant was using DD0201 v2.30 on my DD0203.

I experienced stalled flashes for every level of DD0203 fw from version 2.16 to 2.30. This was using the windows flasher with drives in PIO mode and antivirus off, as suggested. Although each time the drive confirmed afterwards that the fw had been updated successfully.

Until

In sheer frustration I decided to try the DD0201 v2.30 fw.

This fw flashed perfectly first time !! The windows tool even identified the bin file as v2.30 whereas the DD0203 version of the firmware showed just a squiggle. (maybe Taiwanese character font)

I assumed this was a fluke, so I flashed the DD0203 fw back. It stalled.
Then I flashed the DD0201 fw back. Perfect again.

The only variable in all of this was the fw bin file itself. I can't explain it, I don't know enough about the technology, but maybe someone out there can ?

[jacksona]

Indolikaa.

I stand corrected.

(Apologies jolo)

The only exception I took was with the attitude that anyone who disagrees with how fantastic the Optorite drives are is just a flamer and a lurker.

forum.rpc1.org has a 25 page thread of people with problems with the DD0203.

[indolikaa]

Indolikaa.

I stand corrected.

(Apologies jolo)

The only exception I took was with the attitude that anyone who disagrees with how fantastic the Optorite drives are is just a flamer and a lurker.

forum.rpc1.org has a 25 page thread of people with problems with the DD0203.

The anti-Optorite lurkers is a metaphor. I could just have easily posted the same thing in regards to Nero. Or DVD-R. Or DVD+R, for that matter.

It's nice to see you took the post in its proper context, though.

[RabidDog]

but it has a feature called 'HD Burn' that no other drives have,

Unique feature or male nipple??*
I was mighty excited about that ability, then I realized that no other device can play these things. I dont own a DVDburner but am on the lookout, would I buy an optorite or an Nec ... NO! I might buy a Plextor instead, which has Gigarec, which can be read on other devices.Or maybe a Liteon.. but then I'm very happy with my mitsumi Cdrw so maybe a 7801

*what is it for

[CrAzEdPeddlaR]

Hmm... I see how the HD Burn's compatibility issue is a problem. I went overboard 2 years ago on a good sale, and currently have left about 700 blank CD-r's, none of which seem to support the HD-burn, which is a shame. I'll have to find a compatible disc and experiment with it, I'm still thrilled about this feature, but this feature aside, it is burning my DVD +r's and -r's at 4x with no complications, and all disc's are playing fine on my Lite-on lvd-2002.

Sanyo promises to release firmware for standalone DVD players which enables support for HD-burnt CD-r media, I'm not gettin' my hopes up, but hopefully they come through with they're mission.

As for the Plextor gigarec burning, the compatibility is an issue with other drives, and burn speeds are very slow, a review is posted here, comparing gigarec vs. HD burn. http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,110926,00.asp

[indolikaa]

700 Blank CD-Rs?!

That's a lot of Napstering.

[RabidDog]

Sanyo promises to release firmware for standalone DVD players which enables support for HD-burnt CD-r media, I'm not gettin' my hopes up, but hopefully they come through with they're mission.

Well that will be nice but what other Mfr besides Sanyo is going to let them near their firmware? just not going to happen.. It hasnt happened even for Sanyo dvd players has it??.
I already get 1Gb per disc ! I just use 99min Cdr in mode 2/xa (870mb std). good enough for me, and they burn at full speed.

*I use yamada dvx6100 myself

[indolikaa]

Well that will be nice but what other Mfr besides Sanyo is going to let them near their firmware? just not going to happen.. It hasnt happened even for Sanyo dvd players has it??.

It brings back memories of Beta, doesn't it?

[RabidDog]

Shame they never perfected that Technology.. If they had got it to Alpha or release status.. who knows... Actually I went the Third way ... v2000.. phillips answer to vhs.

[CrAzEdPeddlaR]

[quote="RabidDog"]

I already get 1Gb per disc ! I just use 99min Cdr in mode 2/xa (870mb std). good enough for me, and they burn at full speed.

Yeah, I was burnin' DivX movies in mode 2 format, but 'discovered' standalone DivX players don't support mode 2 burnt discs... hence I had to get a DVD burner to support larger files with positive playback on my liteon lvd-2002.