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DVD-RAM recording has been making recordable DVD possible for years, but DVD-RAM discs cannot be read by normal PC DVD-ROM drives or by set-top movie players. The ideal product is one that can write to DVD discs that can then be read in almost any DVD device. Philips has managed to do just that.
The DVDRW208 is based on the comparatively new DVD+RW format. Philips claims around 80 per cent compatibility for DVD+RW and we wouldn't really argue with that.
In our tests we found that almost any DVD-ROM drive could read the DVD+RW media, while home DVD players from Pioneer, Sony and, of course, Philips also had no problem.
Set-top box DVD players from Samsung and Denon refused to accept the discs.
Performance
When you are writing very large amounts of data, performance is important. To evaluate this, we copied 3.9Gb of data from a PC hard disk to a DVD disc. This took the Philips drive 21 minutes 14 seconds, while a Pioneer drive using DVD-RW technology spent a staggering two hours 23 minutes on the same task.
With DVD+RW discs costing the better part of £10 each, you really want some smaller and cheaper removable storage. The Philips provides it. Unlike many other drives on the market, it will happily write to CD-R and CD-RW.
Software
The drive connects to the PC using a spare IDE plug. Bundled software includes MyDVD from Sonic, a simple application for producing your own DVD or CD video discs.
The inclusion of Ahead's Nero 5.5, one of the best CD writing packages around, completes the package, and this latest version supports DVD writing.
Conclusion
Like all new technology, it doesn't come cheap. If you really need to transport large amounts of data between PCs or make your own DVD movies, this is a fine device - at a price.
Contact
Philips: 01756 702892 www.philips.co.uk
ALSO CONSIDER
Panasonic LF-D311
One of the cheaper recordable DVD drives on the market, using DVD-R and DVD-RAM.
£495
***
Computeractive, Issue 98
See also:
The latest model in the Panasonic DVD-RAM series is here, and combines both DVD-RAM and DVD-R capabilities in one drive. 17 Oct 2001All Optical Drives (CD/DVD Drive)
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