The big question lately is Sony or Pioneer..

[Craig Tucker]

Its kinda like having children, if you wait till the time is right, it will never happen.

yeah, tell that to the people who adopted a betamax.

Some kids are little angels, some are a nightmare

[arealgijoe]

8)

Our first VCR was a Sony Beta, 290+ lbs, $1,695 plus $17.50 for a L-500/60 minute tape! At a show in Detroit while I was salivating at big multi-track open reel audio tape decks my wife was L@@king at the Sony all-in-one TV-VCR-dual tuners and clock in nearly 300lbs of walnut venier.

Needless to say SHE bought the Sony w/Beta. Worked great until it FRIED about 60 days later, Sony had to replace the 19" monitor part. Sony said a little single diode failed and took out every board in teh monitor.

I did not like the all in one part, but my wife wanted it and she paid for it. The first VCR I bought was many years later, a Stereo VHS.

Do not laugh (too loud), Beta is still used outside the home. I still have the Sony VCR chasis and a seperate working beta deck (bought used), at least it worked the last time I used it.

just imagine what system you could assemble today for 1,695? What if you were to convert (adjusted for inflation) those 1975 dollars into 2002 dollars????

I still have and use working cameras from the 50s, 3D formats, several big multi-track open reel tape decks. I even take old 70s era quad (suround sound) tapes, digitize them and burn 5.1 channel AudioCDs that play in my Sony DVD player in full discrete suround sound via my Sony 935 A/V reciever with dts decoding. The best of the old and new combined.

J E

[babaji]

SONY

- Best of both world cheap -R media and more versatile +RW

I returned The HP external dvd-200i after 2 weeks. Did not do the cheap media -Rs and was loud like a jet engine! almost sounded like something was wrong with it. Also couldnt rip Tomb Raider with it (IT COULDNT EVEN DETECT THE DISC) my lite-on 163d had no problem seeing+ripping it!

[edthesped]

I went for the Sony, I like being able to use whatever media is cheaper and my GE plays both -R's and +R's. I have burned about 24 disks so far, all formats, and no coasters yet. Even though people balk at it I'd like to figure out how to easily put SVCD's onto a DVD.

[Fonze73]

I went with the Pioneer A05 (In a CenDyne package) mainly for the price ($170 after rebates). Mostly what I use it for is storing raw video from my camcorder. The members of the family that do have DVD players all have new ones so I am not to worried about compatablity issues. Worst case I send I video as a SVCD.

While it would be nice to have something that would work with all media types I figure I will get my money out of it over the next couple of years until I have to upgrade anyway.

Henry

[dbaker6165]

I have the sony but i usually use dvd-r cuz dvd+r are expensive. I think its nice to have options and if you can afford to have options then go for it!

[Tbear]

I have the Sony. I got a good deal on it thru Dell $256. I have used both +/- R/W and -R.

The reason I got it. Is because I did get a good deal on it. And like the fact that it can do both formats. I was leaning towards the A05, but found the deal at Dell.

[Kennyshin]

NEC, too. NEC ND-1100A OEM drives cost now as little as under 200 USD though I am not very sure whether I can get one or two units at that price right now. I will decide by the end of today (2 AM Sunday in Seoul now) to send the email.

[Zakna]

Sony all the way. With the recent firmware upgrades, I see no reason to buy another drive. It's a great drive out of the box, and becomes a spectacular one once you bring it up to the newest update.

[marisag427]

I went with Sony because I like flexibility.

And I wanted to send my son's videos to grandparents without having to worry about format. Right now their players support dvd-r but in case they bought new ones I didn't want to have to worry about which format they had to get.

I don't mind paying extra for convenience.

[Kennyshin]

Pioneer DVR-A05 for me. There's just NO Sony drive in South Korea.

I said earlier this month Pioneer DVR-A05 is for me but the external Sony (DRX-500UL) was just too sexy and inexpensive so I made in the end even the few Pioneer users sell theirs and buy Sony together.

I'm also waiting for a Samsung DVD Multi writer for which I'll probably pay less than 200 USD and of course Sanyo or Ricoh Mt. Rainier writer with 4x DVD+RW.

BTW, the Sony DRU-500A drives are now in South Korea, too, and cost $400 per unit in Seoul while I am buying the external IEEE 1394/USB 2.0 OEM drives for $320 per unit in Tokyo. What a wonderful world.

The drives look very similar to my present avatar.

[dun4cheap]

I went with the Sony hands down. Its all about options and the Sony has them all. My other question here is if Pioneer is a 3rd generation then why are they having problems with firmware. Second is a True Blue pioneeer is the same price retail wise as the pioneer. But who pays retail? Not me. I got my Retail Sony from Dell for $248 out the door. I have not seen any Retail Pioneers for less than $319. I certainly don't consider Cendyne for $170, $200 or what ever a true Retail drive its oem so the support is not through pioneer. I would definately stay away from NEC crap. Now if Yamaha comes out with a combo DVD machine that would be nice. Ultimately I like the 8meg buffer that Sony offers, I truly believe this helps make the difference from a working cd or dvd to a coaster. Maybe this is why yamaha, aopen(most) and sony all have 8 meg buffers.

[Kennyshin]

What's wrong with Cendyne and why is NEC crap?

[dun4cheap]

I have had problems in the past with trying to get drivers for NEC burners in the past. Firmware etc. The only thing I think they produce of decent quality is their LCD monitors. Other than that I would definately stay away from NEC.

As for Cendyne, I didn't say anything was wrong with them in general. But if your going to compare pricing with the Sony and Pioneer then do it on the same market level. The cendyne is an oem pioneer, so it possibly could be 2nd quality and or have a difference in material and or design compared to the retail product. The Pioneer Retail product can currently be purchased at or around the same price as the sony. Most everyone here is smart enough to hunt down the best deal.

3rd generation has little play in this market. Obviously it didn't give pioneer any advantage. While I am sure the pioneer will mature with firmware it is currently riddle with problems. This definately not to say that the sony drive or other manufacturers have not experienced this. (Lets just say thanks for FIRMWARE)

DVD+R-R While I am not looking to open a can of worms here lets look at the scenario. DVD-R is the original format sort of speak. It allows encryption and will play on many older DVD players. However while all of the DVD players will be downward compatable with the DVD-R the new ones will include the DVD+R market because of the options and abilities it offers.

The DVD+R gives home video enthusiest such as our selves the ability to add chapters any time they want. It is definately directed more towards the home user wrather than the studios. This is no longer a battle between the better format, its about being able to produce both because they are both here to stay.

It does not always make sense. Look and Beta compared to VHS, Beta had the superior video quality, but VHS offered more recordable time on its tape. Fortunately with this new battle it won't require us to toss out the wrong one.


As for the cost of the media, within 6-12 months the DVD media market will be no different than the CD media. $.10, $.20, $.30 a disk is just over the horizon. And Sony, Pioneer and many other companies will have new drives. More than likely they will be combo drives.

[Colindale]

Personnally, I will wait for LiteOn to market thier DVD Writer in the second
quarter of next year. ( forecast at 4x, under $200 US)

If they are as good as thier CD-R Writers, with similar firmware support,
it will leave the opposition in thier tracks.

Also by that time the Media will have dropped in price to a more affordable
level.

Patience is a reward.

[kamuixtv]

Personnally, I will wait for LiteOn to market thier DVD Writer in the second
quarter of next year. ( forecast at 4x, under $200 US)

If they are as good as thier CD-R Writers, with similar firmware support,
it will leave the opposition in thier tracks.

Also by that time the Media will have dropped in price to a more affordable
level.

Patience is a reward.

I have Asus104 (re-badge Pioneer104)...works fine with 2 cheap medias here in my place, who cares when Sony wins today. If DVD+RW wins this war, I'll buy a Lite-on.

[Kennyshin]

As for the cost of the media, within 6-12 months the DVD media market will be no different than the CD media. $.10, $.20, $.30 a disk is just over the horizon. And Sony, Pioneer and many other companies will have new drives. More than likely they will be combo drives.

Great prediction! I think $0.3 will be the average cheap write-once DVD media price one year later. $0.1 seems impossible before 2005 and maybe nobody will manufacture DVD media anymore for that low price. (Blu-ray coming...)

[JasonK]

was just too sexy and inexpensive so I made in the end even the few Pioneer users sell theirs and buy Sony together

There's something missing in this sentence making it gramatically difficult to understand. "So I made in the end?" What does this mean? Are you saying some of your friends with Pioneer and bought a Sony by pooling their money together? Sorry, I only know English, so have trouble with some interpretations.

Regarding the comment earlier about both formats being here to stay, within a few years, there will be something better, and both + and - R/RW will be phased out as well, but it will take years since it's still just catching on for home users. Most still do not have DVD recording capability, and are still using VCRs, although some have PVRs.

[BJ_M]

........I have not seen any Retail Pioneers for less than $319. ....

$265 @ buymstar.com, QBitPC Inc , MWAVE.COM
$299 @ esbuy

these are retail boxed .

OEM 105 are $250ish ...

[LloydAZ]

Its kinda like having children, if you wait till the time is right, it will never happen.

yeah, tell that to the people who adopted a betamax.

Well, I've got a betamax in the closet gathering dust, but it still works. I wasn't an early adopter of the beta format, I bought it used when I found out that macrovision doesn't work on the beta format.

I've also got a closet full of the old RCA CED Videodiscs. It's a little difficult to find a replacement stylus for the player these days.

Take Care!