With the Internet these days to help stay on top of things, I don't maintain many magazine subscriptions. However, I have just received the September Maximum PC "Dream Machine 2003" issue where they throw together an outlandishly powerful PC for ten thousand bucks, whatever. Another article did catch my eye in which they built a kick-ass AMD unit for around one thousand dollars US. Now you're talking my language. Of particular interest to us, is the optical drive they researched and used: A dual format DVD 4X writer for less than 215 bucks from Pacific Digital. It is available internationally.
The dual-format DVD burner can record an hour of video onto a DVD-R or DVD+R disc in just 15 minutes. It writes to DVD+R and DVD-R discs at 4x; to DVD+RW at 2.4x; to DVD-R at 2x; to CD-R at 16x; and to CD-RW at 10x speeds. It reads DVD-ROM at 12x and CD-ROM at 40x speeds.
The Pacific Digital dual-format drive comes with Roxio EZ CD and DVD Creator Basic 6.1 and Intervideo WinDVD 4.0 playback software.
'Our new dual-format drive is a complete solution that lets users watch DVD movies, make video CDs, create music CDs and store data in all current formats," said Tony Tate, vice president of sales and marketing. 'It gives them the flexibility to record on, or read, any DVD or CD media they choose."
An external model (U-30183) will be available at the end of July. |
Established in 1996, the company announced last April its new U.K./European operation, Pacific Digital Europe, along with the opening of new sales offices in Ireland and Germany. They will sell and promote Pacific Digital's products including optical storage, through a two-tier distribution system to distributors and resellers throughout Europe. The two new sales offices will service the U.K., Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Belgium, Norway, Finland, The Netherlands and Eastern Europe.
Source: pacificdigital.com
