Linuxathome.net - Linux news and help for home broadband internet users
 Home | Files | Case Mods | Reviews | Forum | Search | Links | RDF Feed | Contact
Sections

Installation Guide
Setting Up
Internet Sharing
Port Forwarding
Services Config
Installing Programs
Game Servers
Using IPTables
Useful Commands
Kernel Upgrading
System Recovery
Red Hat 7.2 Setup
OpenBSD Setup
BPA Login Setup
PPPoE Setup
Add New Hardware
Using PPTP VPN
VMware ESX Cmds
Our RC5 Team
Folding@Home
Help Support Us

 
Articles
Linux Security
NetStats FAQ
Linux KIS Trojan
CAT5/LAN Cables
Domain Names
Presario RH Install APC Debian DVD
 
Slashdot.org
  • Privacy Complaint Targets Google Over Unsolicited Ad Emails
  • Psychedelics Help People With Alcoholism Drink Less
  • Japan Signals Return To Nuclear Power To Stabilize Energy Supply
  • Korea Shatters Its Own Record for World's Lowest Fertility Rate
  • New Aluminum-Sulfur Battery Tech Offers Full Charging In Under a Minute
  • New York State Bill Would Require Speed Limiting Tech In New Cars
  • Notorious DRM Company Takes Aim At Switch Piracy
  • Hackers Are Breaking Into and Emptying Cash App Accounts
  • New Film 'BlackBerry' To Explore Rise and Fall of Canadian Smartphone
  • Chattanooga, Tennessee offers America's First Community-Wide 25 Gig Internet Service
  • California To Ban the Sale of New Gasoline Cars
  • Experts Warn of Widespread Exploitation Involving Hikvision Cameras
  • Google Pixel Sees Huge Sales Growth, Has 2% of North American Market
  • Bay Area Startup Wants To Make Call Center Workers Sound 'White and American'
  • Biden is Canceling Up To $10K in Student Loans, $20K For Pell Grant Recipients
  •  
    Affiliates

    TweakTown.com
    ZGeek.com
    pebkac-consulting.com.au

      RICOH MP5125A DVD+R/+RW Review

     
     Date: January 13th, 2003
     Type: Review
     Supplier: RICOH
     Author: mayhem
     RRP: $595 AUS

    Introduction:
    With CD-R/-RW recording equipment becoming common place among new computers a new technology has been brewing for some time, that is DVD recording. Although it has been out for a while already, the drives have been high priced and featured slow recording speeds. Just like its predecessor (CD's), DVD recording is becoming more common place in the market with the units dropping in price and increasing in features.

    Introducing the MP5125A DVD+RW / DVD+R writer from Ricoh, the trusted supplier of state-of-the-art office automation equipment for over 60 years. The Ricoh MP5125A does it all, burning DVD+RW, DVD+R, CD-R and CD-RW discs. The ideal DVD solution for both DVD video recording as well as PC data storage!

    About DVD+RW/+R
    DVD+RW is a direct descendant of CD-R/RW and has been promoted by the DVD+RW Alliance, formed by companies that have played a central role in the promotion of CD-R/RW. With a large storage capacity of 4.7GB, DVD+RW supports stress-free fast writing and free appending/editing even after data has been recorded. DVD+RW is well suited to applications where data may need to be freely overwritten in everyday use, such as for storing data or making DVD-Videos, and can be used for almost all applications. On the other hand, DVD+R has been developed for those instances where important data should never be erased or data is to be distributed/exchanged and compatibility is extremely important. While keeping data from being erased or overwritten, the discs share a high level of compatibility because of its physical specifications that are basically the same as DVD-ROM discs. With its excellent compatibility, recorded DVD+R media can be read or played by almost all the DVD-ROM drives and DVD players. Click Here for Compatibility List.

    Random access and rewritability make DVD+RW an excellent and affordable storage format for backups, storage or any application that requires editing. With the supplied packet writing software you can use a DVD+RW as if it were a 4.7GB hard drive attached to your computer, this makes backups and file sharing from location to location simpler and more cost effective than tape solutions.

    Features

  • 2.4x DVD+RW
  • 2.4x DVD+R
  • 8x DVD Read
  • 12x CD Record
  • 10x CD ReWrite
  • 32x CD Read
  • Ricoh's new buffer underrun error prevention technology 'Just Link'
  • 2MB Buffer
  • Internal Type ATAPI
  • S/PDIF terminal for digital audio output
  • Anti-dust, low power consumption design
  • One Year Australian Warranty
  • Contents:
    The drive comes in complete kit form, with everything you will need to create your own data, audio or video DVD's.

    This kit includes the following:

  • DVD+R/+RW Drive
  • 1x DVD+RW Media
  • 1x DVD+R Media
  • Quick Start Instructions
  • On-line User's Manual CD
  • Software CD including:
      • B's Recorder GOLD v3.2
      • B's CLIP v3.2
      • neoDVD Standard v2.6
      • WinProducer 2
      • WinDVD 3.2
  • Analog Audio Cable
  • 4x Mounting Screws
  • Setting Up:
    As with most 5.25" drives, the Ricoh MP5125A is a cinch to install into your machine, all you have to do is slide it into an available bay and screw it in securely. Once that is complete then you need to connect a free ATA connection into it, all it requires is a an ATA33 cable and it is probably a very good idea to put it on your secondary IDE controller as to separate it from your hard drives (this improves the stability and data flow). If your fortunate enough to own a board with 4 IDE ports (i.e. a RAID board or similar) then you can probably set the DVD burner on its own cable, this is how the burner was setup in our test system.

    Once you have installed the drive and your system has recognised its presence you should see something like the following in your drives list:

    Testing:
    In order to put the unit through its paces we burnt all support media types, that is DVD+RW, DVD+R, CD-RW and CD-R to see how the unit performed. Once burned the media was tested in a variety of DVD/CD readers to test for quality.

    The test drives for reading were:

    • Pioneer 16 x Tray Loading DVD-ROM Drive
    • Sony Home DVD Player
    • Voxson Home DVD Player ($178 at your local Dicksmith Electronics)

    DVD+R/+RW recording speeds - Although you may thing 2.4x is rather slow, in actual fact its quire fast, this relates to almost 20x CD recording and can record full DVD's in under 25 minutes, here are some tests that were run:

    From the above you can see that the time depends mainly on the amount of data that is being recorded, but don't forget the more sessions or files that it must record also affects the total recording time (although not nearly as much).

    As you can see the quick erase time is not really dependent on the size of the disc, this is because it simply wipes the FAT (File Allocation Table) and doesn't completely format (so to speak) the DVD.

    NEXT: Testing continued and Conclusion

     

      Supplier Information

     

    RICOH Australia has been in the business of optical recording technology and media since its conception many years ago. They have built up a reputation for reliable and affordable CD-RW drives in the past and are fast making a name for themselves in DVD recording technology. For more product information and specifications please visit the Ricoh Australia website which can be found here: http://www.ricoh.com.au/

    Proudly Hosted By:
    Hosted by PEBKAC Consulting

    Please read our Legal Notice for information concerning our site and its content.
    All logos and trademarks in this site are property of their respective owner. All the rest © 2000 - 2016 by Linuxathome.net

    Reviews

    D-Link DI-704P
    VIA EPIA-M 9000
    Tux Applique
    Ricoh MP5125A
    AMD XP 2600+
    3DProphet 9000Pro
    Radeon 9700 Pro
    XTNDAccess IrDA
    Netgear FS-524s
    DSR2161 KVM
    Game TheaterXP & XPS-510 Speakers
    3D Prophet 4000XT
    AutoView 400
    Back-UPS CS 350
    Dual Neon Kit
    SwitchView KVM
    20x4 LCD Kit
    Window Kit

     
    Kuro5hin.org
    XML error: Attribute without value at line 2.
     
    Google Search
    Enter Keywords:

     
    Bash Jokes

    % make war

    Make: Don't know how to make war. Stop.

     
    Virtualization, Virtual Machine & Virtual Server Consolidation - VMware

    The Community ENTerprise Operating System

    Get Slackware Linux

    Use OpenOffice.org

    Use Asterisk