Verbatim 48x12x48 cd-rw 19.99 after rebates

[John P]

Go figure, I buy 2 Cendyne CD-RW's in the last year hoping for LiteOns and end up with Verbatims. Then today I go buy a Verbatim hoping for a Verbatim and end up with an OptoRite

 

[Tazan007]

Hehe, yea it sux but Verbatim doesn't make cdr drives themselves so it would have been either a liteon, aopen, or optorite. It seems all the new 48x burners are saturated with optorites and aopens. I guess liteon found a better deal with Sony...all sony's have been rebagged liteons.

 

[Tazan007]

Also, can someone please run CD Speed on the Optorites and see if their's is using CLV or CAV writing method.

Thanks

 

[John P]

Hehe, yea it sux but Verbatim doesn't make cdr drives themselves so it would have been either a liteon, aopen, or optorite.

I am pretty sure Verbatim makes their own CD-RW's. This is the model number on the Cendyne 32x12x40 I bought:

Verbatim VBT321240A

 

[Tazan007]

Nah, it is probably a rebagged liteon. Sony does the same thing. They have their own face plates and model number information on the top of the drive says it is sony and etc but if you open it up, you will see the liteon model number on the PCB.

 

[Krueger81]

Well I work at Bestbuy and I got a universal Buslink for 69.99 minus two $20 MIRs and it's a Liteon LTR-48246S so I will be using it instead of the Optorite. Anyone want one that didn't get in on the deal

Phil

 

[mikek]

I got one Cendyne last week at OM and one Verbatim today. They are identical 48x16x48's, same manufactured dates, and almost the same serial number (starting with AGE 150). They must both be Optorites.

 

[Tazan007]

Yes the ones that start with AGE are optorites. Can one of you with the optorites please run CD Speed (comes with nero) on it and see if the drive is using CLV or CAV technology.

Thanks

 

[us]

i think 99% of these are junk drives.. i've drove around and none are liteons..

 

[ericboo]

Whatever the manufacturer, I installed one for a friend this weekend and it is much qiueter than my Samsung or Cendynes.

 

[mindless1]

Is there an easy way to tell what's inside the Verbatim box before purchase or opening it, like the serial number or drive number on Cendyne labels?

 

[pcmax]

I'm all for liteons too but FWIW every review I could find (about 6 or 7) on the optorites were good. Only issue I could find is that one guy in one forum said they wouldn't burn SD2.

 

[IMHawaii]

I'll just add my experience here too. I got one of these drives last week as a substitute for another deal.
I haven't installed yet so I don't know what the firmware will say.

- On the box -48x12x48 -- in the box 481648 on the bezel.
- on the box verbatim product #vbt481248. -- in the box model number CW4802
which appears to match a Optorite model #. It also matches an Accesstek #
- Picture of the drive on the box does not match drive inside. From what I read
Lite-on's have only 1 button. Others have 2. The drive inside has 2 (skip, stop/eject).

My guess... it's not a Lite-On.

Update: My bios and Nero said it was: Cendyne_481628AX with firmware version 150F

 

[Boomer2]

The one I picked up today near PV Mall in north Phoenix, AZ, said "48x16x48" on the drive inside and had a huge serial number starting with "99B0C".

Takin' it back. After last week's deal I can wait a while for more LiteOns to be on sale.

 

[Ian@CDRlabs]

Originally posted by: eddieg
I just picked one up and I cant tell who the heck made it. Only thing I can tell you is the model number is CW 4802.
Only thing I found on a search was a burner called Opti something with that model number. It may be going back to OM


erg EDIT: I am pretty sure it is this OPtoRite ( whatever that is ) here http://www.directron.com/cw4802.html
because it is a 48x16x48 not 48x12x48 like the box says

Originally posted by: IMHawaii

Update: My bios and Nero said it was: Cendyne_481628AX with firmware version 150F

Yeah those are Optorite drives - http://www.optorite.com/cw4802.htm

Even with the newest firmware, the writing quality and media compatibility is terrible on those drives.

 

[Macro2]

RE:"They are identical 48x16x48's, same manufactured dates, and almost the same serial number (starting with AGE 150). They must both be Optorites. "

Those could be Benqs. The benq has a retangle shaped tray door and 3 concave ridges side to side on the top of the case.

Mac

 

[Tazan007]

I for one don't trust those reviews of the optorites. The reviews have the drive using CAV technology, the CW4802 I got uses CLV and only averages 34.7x with CD Speed and it is louder then my Liteon. The serial number starting with AGE150 is an Optorite drive not Benq. I have the CW4802 which has a manufactured date of December 2002 and the serial number starts with AGE150 and it has the 150F firmware. It seems to be a different version of the CW4802 then the one that's been reviewed. I am assuming all the ones manufactured in December 2002 are using CLV and the ones before December were using CAV. Only way I can explain the difference from the reviews of this drive. I also try to flash the drive to the older firmware, 150D and 150E and they both still show up in CD Speed as using CLV. I don't know what the heck is going on but I'm pissed.

Hope that helps

 

[heat23]

mine is also a CW4802 made in December 2002. Firmware 150F
I just ran CD SPEED on it and heres the results using a 72 minute Data CD

Avg: 36.66x
Start: 22.42x
End: 47.94x
Type: CAV
Seek Time: 116ms (Random)
EDIT: THERE ARE READ TEST RESULTS

Is that good or bad? Whats the difference between CAV and CLV?
Btw: mine sounds like a jet engine too

 

[Tazan007]

heat23, that's pretty damn good. I don't know why mine is CLV and your's is using CAV. I'm slightly pissed. If you put a blank 80min cd in there and test it, it will test the whole cd, and it should give you a higher average speed. Hm, wait a minute. You might have done a CD read test and not a write test. Put a blank CD in there and see what results it gives you.

Thanks again for running CD Speed and giving me the results.

 

[heat23]

WRITE TEST RESULTS using a Memorex 40x 80 minute cd

Average 33.48x
Start 20.03x
End: 40.12x
Type: Z-CLV


How does CLV differ from CAV?

 

[Tazan007]

CAV=Constant Angular Velocity
CLV=Constant Linear Velocity

With CAV the writing speed changes as the drive starts writing from the inner to outter tracks, the rotational velocity remains fairly constant.

With Z-CLV the writing speed changes but it is zone based. The inner tracks it will write at one speed, as soon as it hits the next zone, it will slow down and then boom increase the rotational speed and start writing at a higher speed. I think it has 5 zones, I don't remember. You can tell when it is switching to a new zone when it quiets down a little and then makes a sound like a jet engine taking off. In CD Speed, this will show up as spikes in the speed. It will be writing at 22x at one point and then boom, it starts writing at 31x and then 40x and then 48x. So for a given zone, the write speed is constant...hence constant linear velocity and since it is zone based, it's called Z-CLV.

CAV is faster since it doesn't need to slow down to change speeds, it keeps a constant rotational speed so it doesn't have those spikes that show up in CD Speed when using Z-CLV.

Hope that helps

 

[pcmax]

Thanks for the synopsis on the CAV/CLV thing. Do all liteons use CAV? I read once that the 40's which can be flashed to 48x inherently use CLV but the flash changes it to CAV writing. I have a 40 but have only used clone and crocksio. Is there another program to test writing method besides Nero?

 

[Confuse]

I got one of these drives yesterday. To my surprise the actual drive was faster than the one advertised on the box. I belive it is a benq (aopen) drive since the firmware version is in the A.UZ format (I think, I don't recall. its back in the box) and doesn't match any of the firmware versions bellow. After installing it yesterday and using 48X certified memorex cdrs it was working perfectly. I even used some Memorex Music CDrs that were 24x certified. They burnt fine at their certified speeds. Today however, when I went to burn a CDR it kept freezing at 2% percent progress and stall. After a few minutes nero would complain that the media wasn't a CDR. I was burning a music CD at this time. I then tried to burn a data cd, and it burnt all the way throug, but stalled for about two minutes at the end, then finally the nero popup said the burn was completed. After popping the CD in the drive, both CDRW and CD-ROM couldn't read the disk. I then went for some old cheap Office Depot 4X certified CDRWS and I burnt a bunch of programs and music sucessfully at 4X. Even the CDR that came with the drive spewed out an error after trying to burn a CD. I dont' know whats going on, but I'm considering returning the drive, it does seem its picky about media from what somebody said here. But it was working like a charm yesterday.

 

[Tazan007]

Hey guys, there is actually a review of this drive on cdrlabs.com. I don't know why the CDRLabs guy didn't mention it in his post above. This is the same drive as the MSI MS-8348A drive on cdrlabs. The review uses the 150D firmware whereas the CW4802 comes with the newer 150F firmware. Of course the MSI firmware says it is an MSI drive and not a Cendyne or Optorite drive. But this is the same exact drive. Just look at the CD Speed results of the write test. It uses the same CLV. Also I flashed my CW4802 drive with the MSI 150D firmware and it worked. But there is no reason to go to an older firmware so I flashed back to the current one. But that CDRLabs review is pretty good. It will give you an idea of how good/bad this drive is with the new firmware. It seems to have a decent write quality with good media. What does suck is that my Taiyo Yuden 40x media is limited to 32x for some reason. Oh well, fine by me. I'm almost out anyways.

Maybe the CDRLabs guy can flash his MSI drive with the 150F firmware and update his review. Just to see if the newer firmware made any significant improvment.

Review on CDRLabs

Hope that helps

 

[Ian@CDRlabs]

Tazan007, the 150D firmware on that MSI drive and the 150F firmware aren't the same.

The letter at the end of the number signifies the "manufacturer". Not how new the firmware is. For example D is MSI, G is Verbatim, E is Optorite, etc.