DVD writers group test review
DVD+R/+RW format DVD writer
Review date: 22 May, 2003. Review by: IT Reviews Staff
As one of the members of the DVD Forum, Panasonic is one of the companies trying to make DVD-RAM and its ilk more popular. This format group has advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages first; a DVD-RAM disc can be re-written to up to 100,000 times (DVD-RW only manages 1,000) and it doesn't require any special burning software, since files can be dragged and dropped using any file manager once the disc is formatted. A good way to look at a DVD-RAM drive is to see as another hard drive.
As for the disadvantages, the media itself is expensive, and few home DVD players support DVD-RAM. But with this multi-format drive, you can also opt for writing to DVD-R or DVD-RW, which have much better compatibility with home players. Panasonic has made a breakthrough in pricing, too, compared with previous models of this type.
The LF-D521E DVD Burner II is a normal-sized player, but with a substantial tray to take the large DVD-RAM cartridges, although bare discs can also be used. It's not the faster burner on the block; DVD-RAM and DVR-R both record at 2-speed while DVD-RW is a disappointing 1-speed and DVDs read at 6-speed.
The CD speeds are nothing to write home about either; CD-R is 12-speed, CD-RW is 8-speed and the drive reads CDs at 32-speed. As with the other drives reviewed here, this relatively poor CD read/write performance is a reflection of the heavier equipment needed to handle DVD and CD access in one machine. The drive is fairly noisy when searching for data, but it does quieten down a good deal when playing a DVD or CD.
Panasonic supplies the LF-D521E DVD Burner II with a useful bunch of utilities. FileSafe is an archiving program, DVD-MovieAlbumSE 3 is a video editing package, MyDVD3.5 is used for creating DVD-Video Disks, and there's also the WinDVD4 player. For writing to DVD-R and -RW discs you get B's Recorder Gold 5 Basic and also Clip 5, which is a packet writer for DVD-RW and CD-RW.
Company: Sony
Contact: 0990 424424
Company: Pioneer
Contact: 01753 789789
Company: Aopen
Contact: 0870 429 3220
Company: Panasonic
Contact: 0845 600 3535
Company: Ricoh
Contact: 020 8261 4000
Company: Plextor
Contact: +32 3 735 55 22
