Somewhat HOT: Compgeek stuff

[MIDIman]

Their website has been stuffy today, but I got an e-mail of their Labor Day deals, and thought I would share. Some of these have already been mentioned here, so please excuse the repeat!

FEATURED ITEM:
No, this is NOT a joke!
DiamondMax-80 81.9 Gigabyte UDMA/100 Hard Drive w/2MB Buffer by Maxtor....$329
http://www.compgeeks.com/cgi-bin/details.asp?cat=Drives&sku=205-9819

CD-RW KIT:
4x4x24 IDE Internal CD-RW Kit w/Adaptec Software - Retail Box! by Artec...$109
http://www.compgeeks.com/cgi-bin/details.asp?cat=MultiMedia&sku=205-9740

CD-RW KIT:
4x2x24x CD-RW 2MB Buffer IDE Internal Drive w/Adaptec Software by Samsung..$99
http://www.compgeeks.com/cgi-bin/details.asp?cat=MultiMedia&sku=205-2045

UDMA/100 HARD DRIVE:
DiamondMax-45 Plus 7,200RPM 46.1 GB IDE HDD w/2MB Buffer by Maxtor........$199
http://www.compgeeks.com/cgi-bin/details.asp?cat=Drives&sku=205-5462

CPU:
Pentium II 300 MHz CPU w/512 KB L2 Cache, NEW by Intel..................$75.50
http://www.compgeeks.com/cgi-bin/details.asp?cat=Mboards&sku=205-2230N

DVD-ROM DRIVE:
5X DVD-ROM IDE Internal Drive (32X CD) with Cool Beveled Face! by Samsung..$59 note: someone else verified this as having no region lock
http://www.compgeeks.com/cgi-bin/details.asp?cat=MultiMedia&sku=205-6043

SCSI CONTROLLER:
PCI-to-Ultra2 SCSI/LVD Host Adapter Card Model: AHA-2940U2 by Adaptec.....$149
http://www.compgeeks.com/cgi-bin/details.asp?cat=Drives&sku=205-2942

NOTEBOOK HARD DRIVE:
4.0 Gigabyte 12.7mm IDE/ATA-3/ UDMA Notebook Hard Drive by Hitachi.........$99
http://www.compgeeks.com/cgi-bin/details.asp?cat=Drives&sku=205-2274

DVD-ROM DRIVE:
6X IDE DVD-ROM Drive (32X CD) with Cool Beveled Face by Toshiba............$79
http://www.compgeeks.com/cgi-bin/details.asp?cat=MultiMedia&sku=205-2096

To check out all of our other hot New Arrivals this week, visit
http://www.compgeeks.com/cgi-bin/new_prod_disp.asp

Only 3 more messages till I'm a senior!

 

[Braxus]

the 5x DVD unit is region free and the 6x unit is also region free (might need to do a firmware flash).

Also if you need a newer firmware for the drive, this is a good place to look.

http://perso.club-internet.fr/farzeno/firmware/dvd/dvdf.htm

 

[smak]

just thought i'd let ya know that the Toshiba will also read hidden data tracks in case you needed to make FULL BACKUP copies of any of your programs. (provided your burner will write them - most plextors do).

 

[Vincent]

The Toshiba drives are going fast--only 3 left. I don't really need one for myself but I'm still tempted.

 

[j00]

what does region free mean? i kinda need a dvd drive as i just sold my cdrom now i have nothing. im new to dvd stuff so have no clue what it means. and is the toshiba one worth the extra 20$? thanks.

 

[Bob/NYC]

j00:
Regions are geographical, now supposed to be hardware locked as of 1/1/00 to region 1-N., Central and most of S. America. Region free means any DVD from anywhere. There's software to over-ride hardware controls on decoder cards.

Toshiba is a newer generation-I have one and would recomend it.

 

[Angrymarshmello]

I have a similar one to that Toshiba and its a nice drive - but I had some qwerks installing MSOffice 2K Pro last format (did multiple reboots, the drive coughed it up) butother than that its great.

 

[dc]

the toshiba is out.

considering the samsung, anyone have one? any good?

 

[Braxus]

Any idea if Yamaha CD-RW drives are able to make full backups of programs? More specificly the CRW8824S drive.

 

[SnOop005]

I really like the face plate!!

 

[Joel]

<< considering the samsung, anyone have one? any good? >>



Don't bother ... those are out too!

 

[HepDude]

Is a region-free DVD drive required for the macrovision-off setting of these software programs to work?

 

[cynicalfork]

It looks as if both the DVD drives are back in stock now...

 

[Bob/NYC]

Macrovision encoding is different from geo. regions.

 

[uranium]

reminds me of those long promotional emails

 

[HepDude]

<< Macrovision encoding is different from geo. regions. >>



[Hey, these new buttons rule! Thanks, AnandTech Webmasters!]

I guess I should rephrase that as -

Has anyone tried using the macrovision-off feature of the region-change software on a region-locked drive?

 

[Bob/NYC]

Remote Select works with the decoder card's regions and also defeats Macrovision there, not at the drive level. The Realmagic's Hollywood+ (Sigma) allows 4-5 changes before it has to be sent back for reprogramming, normally. Software eliminates both problems.
Other hardware and software may vary.

You can defeat Macrovision, or any new encoding, with X10's Entertainment Anywhere-formerly DVD Anywhere. It works with MP3 Anywhere.

 

[prodigy]

I've had good experiences in the past with compgeeks, hopefully it will continue. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[subpar]

The Toshiba SD-M1212 6x DVD-ROM that Compgeek is offering is supposedly region free, can read hidden tracks and also has a SPDIF out. Great deal...I picked up a couple of these drives for 2 systems that I have built. I will report on my experiences with these drives when I receive them.

subpar

 

[Gunbuster]

The Samsung DVD is a pull from a Emachine, thats why it has the dorky faceplate (in real life the faceplate/bezel looks a lot cheaper than the picture)

 

[SimMike2]

Anyone know if using your Mastercard and putting &quot;Master Card exclusives&quot; in the comment section of the Computer Geeks order nets you a 10% return on the purchase. I tried this a couple of months ago and it worked. Funny thing is I thought I was using my Mastercard, but it was really my Visa card. I still got the 10% credit!

 

[Mercenary]

Hmm the samsung has a bigger buffer than the Toshiba, does anyone know about these drives

 

[HepDude]

My Samsung arrives today, I'll report back.

It received a good review on one of the sites that lists region-free drives, so I figured at $59, it was worth a try.

However, the hidden track capability and SPDIF out of the Toshiba sounds good, and Toshiba makes good standalone DVD players.

 

[Bob/NYC]

My retail Toshiba SD-M1212 6x DVD-ROM does *not* have SP/DIF, only the standard digital and analog outputs. The decoder card has the SP/DIF output and doesn't use the drive's audio connector.

 

[HepDude]

The Samsung arrived from CompGeeks.

It is clearly a &quot;pull&quot; and clearly in new condition. It includes one CDROM-audio-internal cable and that's it. No screws, no manual. [you can find the manual online at:
http://www.sosimple.com/service/pdf/SD604.pdf ]

So far, the Win98 MS driver seems to work fine, though. I'm using the software DVD player included with my Matrox G400 DH, and the DH DVDmax feature works fine connected to my TV.

It does include an SPDIF connection ! Unlike all my other previous CD-ROM, CD-RW and DVD-ROM drives, instead of being marked &quot;not used&quot;, the SPDIF connector is marked &quot;Digital&quot; and the two pins are marked DO (presumably Digital Out) and G (presumably Ground).

I hooked it up to the &quot;CD SPDIF&quot; connector on my SBLive card, and got that to work with the vanilla MS CD player, and the &quot;CD Digital&quot; input of the SBLive mixer. Cool.

Thanks, MIDIman !