cool looking 12X panasonic dvd drive for 69.00

[jau]

at compgeeks.com there is a cool looking 12x panasonic dvd drive for 69 dollars. here is the link. Anyone have experience with this drive? Also can use the master card exclusive for 10% off.

 

[anonymouschris]

great find! got one myself a lil bit ago. paid $80 shipped.

 

[kingz]

I also bought it for $80 shipped in the FS forum form compuwiz1. Shipping would be $14 for me, so I actually compuwiz1 gave me a better deal The 10% off is for orders over $100 I think

 

[eLuminati]

this drive is nice. i can burn 12x on the fly with the dvd as the source. thx compuwiz

 

[freeman]

According to Compgeek.com

A DVD decoder card is required for operation for DVD movies (sold separately)

Where can I get decent decoder card with good price?

Can it be made "region free"?

 

[eLuminati]

no hardware decoder needed if your setup is fast enough.
PM me for region issue if u want

 

[kingz]

You can always use a software DVD decoder (Make sure you got a PII or higher, which I hope you do ) like WinDVD. I got me the Radeon 64MB VIVO, gotta love the built in Rage Theater chip.

 

[Gunbuster]

The bezel looks Sonyish

 

[mindwarp]

good deal.. bump

 

[Paul]

Looks cool, but where do I get the cable to connect it to my vid card?

 

[lilstevo]

you don't need a cable to connect to your video card if your using a software decoder. If you are using a hardware decoder then there should be a loop through cable that comes with the card.

 

[luv2chill]

Does anyone know if this drive has S/PDIF out (the two-pin connector)?

Thanks

l2c

 

[SPICE]

yes, it does.

 

[misle]

What is a good Software Decoder for this Drive? What do you guys use?

Thanks,

Matt

 

[loogie]

The best ones are PowerDVD and WinDVD.

 

[ticoalu]

just one simple question about this cool lookin DVD drive,
is it RPC-1 (regoin code area free) or is it RPC-2 (the region code locked).

 

[jaykay]

M-Tech computers is selling this Panasonic 16x/48x for $59 + $11 shipping. I'd ordered one yesterday and waiting to receive.

(Courtesy of PriceWatch)

Panasonic 16X/48X

 

[DSLHunta]

How are the Panasonic's at audio ripping? I will be using it to view DVD's and to burn CDs mainly I need to know if its as good as the Pioneers?

 

[dcdomain]

Damn, that does look stylish. Just noticed today in one of the school labs, they had DVD-RAM drives. Thought they were DVD-Roms, but they were a bit larger than usual, so upon closer inspection, it was a DVD-RAM drive. Think it was a Panasonic. Pretty cool, when the trade slides out, the tray actually depresses if you put in one of those DVD-RAM cartridges.

 

[Malchior]

Veryvery tempting... any reviews and detailed specs on the 12X and 16X?
Definitely need to know the DAE speed and accuracy on these... dunno if these are regionless... if you want regionless/regionhackable then get a cheap Creative or something...

 

[MustangSVT]

computerGeek has bad rating at resellerratings. (but when i ordered couple years ago they were ok, however i dont want to take a chance), i might try m-tech one. thanx


ack--- was too tempting.. i ordered one from m-tech. $70 for total for a 16x DVD. kewl.

 

[Slim 69]

Thanks for the link to M-tech jaykay. Couldn't resist...

 

[Gonzalez]

Just checked at M-tech, and that drive seems to be no longer available, rats...

 

[NoWhErE]

ticoalu & others wondering about RPC-1 or RPC-2, please refer to the following link Regional Playback Control ·RPC II for complete information.

Since the DVD-ROM drive is a 12x or 16x read speed and includes dual laser diodes for CD-R playback Manual, we can assume it is a quite recent drive. According to RPC-II specification, DVD-ROM drives manufactured after Dec 31, 1999 shall be RPC-II.

For reference -

Phase I RPC implementations allowed computer-based DVD playback systems to implement RPC functions in the playback system, so long as the RPC functionality was closely coupled with the CSS authentication and decryption functionality. Thus, the host computer was allowed to implement the RPC functions through software or hardware playback systems. During Phase I, only one region was allowed to be set for any given computer DVD playback system.

Phase II, in contrast, allows the region of the computer-based DVD playback system to be reset by the consumer but requires that the manufacturer of the DVD Drive implement the RPC functions in firmware in the drive itself. In general, this means that the consumer may reset the region of his/her DVD Drive 5 times (and may have this 5 times resetting capability re-established by an authorized service center an additional 4 times after purchase).

Now if I hear about anybody trying to bypass the Region Code or using DeCSS, I'm gonna have to send the DVDCCA after you...

NoWhErE

 

[jau]

yea i don't see it at mtech either....