search technology reviews, news, features, group tests
Popular Searches:   video , windows , free
Mobile Edition  | 
 |  Register
 |  Newsletters  | 
Sitemap  |  RSS
RSS
Thursday November 26, 2009 11:06 PM AEST
Skip Navigation LinksPC Authority > Group Tests > THE WRITE BURNER

THE WRITE BURNER

by Staff Writers  on Jan 1, 1900
Tags: THE | WRITE | BURNER
CD-RW drives have been a mainstream PC peripheral for a considerable time now, and in most cases, can be found as a standard component in a typical entry level PC rig. We are also well past those frus
CD-RW drives have been a mainstream PC peripheral for a considerable time now, and in most cases, can be found as a standard component in a typical entry level PC rig. We are also well past those frustrating days when one was obliged to bear the burden of producing numerous 'coasters' while running off hour-long backups of essential files, thanks to Burn-Proof or equivalent buffer-underrun protection and drives of ample speed.

In a sense, current CD-RW drives have allowed CDs to emerge as the latest form of 'disposable' media; cheap, quick and convenient for creating CD-ROMs and sharing files with your friends and colleagues. This month, the Labs team takes a look at the latest drives available on the market, featuring phenomenal write speeds of up to x32 in the TDK model, capable of devouring an entire CD of data in little more than a couple of minutes.

Perhaps the only drawback is the limited capacity of 650MB, which does not count for much given the kinds of large multimedia files that users currently throw about these days. This is where the four DVD writers and DVD players with writing capabilities come into the fray. Satisfying on the capacity front with a minimum of 4.7GB of space to fill, DVD burning is however mired in a confusing battle of standards and compatibility issues, in response the Labs team has endeavoured to untangle the mess and offer you some clarity (see Sex, lies and DVD, page 50).We have not only checked out what DVD burning can do for your desktop, but also what it can do for home entertainment. We also take a look at DVD players this month, like the Pioneer DVR-A03, designed to supersede your VCR. So, read on to find out what optical storage can do for you now, and what's on the horizon.
LABS MANAGER: Ashok Zaman
STAFF WRITER: David Kidd
CONTRIBUTORS: Darren Ellis, Phil Chia
This article appeared in the March, 2002 issue of PC Authority.


Ads by Google

RELATED ARTICLES
Labs roundup: Optical drives: Introduction
With no sign of the end of the format war coming to pass anytime soon, prices continue to fall and we’ve got the latest models to take a look at.
DVD burners
The DVD standards battle on, and prices continue to drop, so is it worth buying a DVD burner now? We put an assortment of DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW drives to the test to answer that very question.
Hard disk roundup: every category tested
Hard disk roundup: every category tested
High-capacity desktop drives have never been so affordable. Darien Graham-Smith puts 23 to the test to find the best
Comments

Be the first to comment on this article.
Thoughts on this article? Add a comment below.
Login or register to submit a comment.


Buyer's Guides

 
Intel
 
PC Authority Featured Retailers
hot bargains from the mwave store
City Software, Australia's online computer store with up to 80% off RRP
special offers from dell
Special promotions from the Apple store - Redeem here
PC Authority Featured Retailers
Apple Black Friday sale - one day only
 
 
LogMeIn
 
 
Amazing Dell Coupons now available
 

Plan Finder

Powered by WhistleOut

1) Apple iPhone 3GS 16GB35 plans 15%
2) Apple iPhone 3GS 32GB35 plans 5%
3) Blackberry Curve 85206 plans 1%
4) Blackberry Bold 900014 plans 6%
5) Nokia N9742 plans 7%
Three Virgin Mobile Vodafone
« 1 of »
1) iiNet32 plans 11%
2) Netspace33 plans 5%
3) Optus47 plans 6%
4) 37 plans 4%
5) Telstra BigPond41 plans 4%

Compare: Mobiles | Broadband

PC Authority