Pacific Digital U-30201 DVD±RW recorder -
Page 1
Pacific
Digital is a well-known supplier of storage and multimedia solutions. Established
in 1996, Pacific Digital Corporation provides complete solutions with a focus
on CD-ReWritable optical technology.
Located in California, Pacific Digital is developing technologies aiming towards
the efficiency
improvement of mass storage subsystems. The company expanded its product line
lately with new storage controllers, Combo drives and DVD recorders. We present
the new Mach -8 multi DVD recorder, supporting recording on all DVD/CD formats.
- Features
Mach-8
offers 8x DVD+R and 4x DVD-R writing speeds. Buffer Underun protection for CD/DVD
as well as writing strategy controll mechanism are included in the drive's
features, making your life easier when creating your CD/DVD compilations.
- Specifications
DVD Family
|
Writing
|
DVD-R |
1x, 2x, 4x max. |
DVD+R
|
1x, 2x, 6x, 8x max.
|
| Rewriting |
DVD-RW |
2x ( 2700KB/sec ) CLV |
DVD+RW
|
4x (5400KB/sec) CLV
|
|
Reading Speed
|
|
12x (16200KB/sec) maximum CAV
|
DVD+R/-R, DVD-RW/+RW
|
max. 8x
|
| Access Time |
160 ms |
CD Family
|
Writing Speed CD-R
|
16x, 24x, 32x, 40x max.
|
| ReWriting speed CD-RW |
4x, 10x, 16x, 24x max. |
| Reading |
CD-R/-ROM max. 40x, CD-RW max. 32x |
| Access Time |
140 ms |
| Buffer Size |
2MB |
Interface
|
E-IDE/ATAPI MMC compliant |
| Writing methods |
Track at Once, Disc at Once, Session at Once,
Multi-Session, Packet Writing (Variable & Fixed),
Multi-track Reservation |
| Supported media formats |
DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD+RW, DVD-RW, CD-R, CD-RW
(CD) CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-ROM XA, CD-Extra, CD-I,
Mixed-Mode CD, Video CD, Photo CD, CD-TEXT,
Bootable CD, CD-R, CD-RW, Multi-Session |
| Transfer mode |
PIO mode 4, DMA mode 2 and Ultra DMA mode 2 |
From the specification table above, it can be seen that the Pacific Digital U-30201
supports writing of DVD±R/RW and CD-R/RW media. The new drive offers
8x DVD+R (6-8x Z-CLV)
recording, DVD+RW and DVD-R at 4x CLV, while DVD-RW can be burned at 2x CLV.
The maximum CD writing speed for CD-R is 40x CAV and 24x P-CAV when using
Ultra Speed CD-RW media. Reading of CD-ROM/-R/RW can be done at 40x CAV maximum.
Single layer DVD-ROM media can be read at 12x CAV, while DVD±R/RW discs
can be read at 8x.
The drive uses a 2MB buffer. It also
supports RAW DAO 96 writing (CD).
The Pacific Digital U-30201 uses the RPC II region control, allowing a user to change
the drive's region at most 5 times. For our tests, we set the region
code to 2 (Europe).
- The drive
The
complete retail package, includes two CD-ROMs,
containing the Sonic MyDVD CD/DVD authoring software,
CyberLink
PowerDVDXP
player, installation drivers and a pdf manual.
One blank CD-R discs is also included.
A quick installation quide, audio cable and mounting screws and warranty
card complete the retail package contents.
The drive's front panel has the usual features. The tray door has the
RW DVD+ReWritable, DVD R/RW, and Compact disc ReWritable logos located on the
left, centre and right respectively. On the lower half of
the drive's faceplate, below the tray door, starting at left there
are
the
headphones
jack,
volume control and power/activity led, and on the right the eject button.
The emergency eject hole is located just above the volume control. The activity
LED lights up green when busy and red when reading/writing is in progress.
On the rear panel (schematic included above for clarity) there are
the analogue and digital audio outputs (SPDIF), the IDE connector
and the power input.
Removing the screws and opening the drive's cover voids the drive's warranty.
For reference reasons, we post the following pictures.
The LSI chip shown above, located on the upper side of the controller
circuit board, is from Kyoto-based semiconductor
manufacturer ROHM CO., LTD. This IC contains
a 3-phase Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) spindle motor driver, PWM driver for
feed motor, and BTL driver
for actuators. It is specifically designed for half-inch
high disc drives which need to address
the challenges of high speed and low heat generation in
restricted spaces such as those imposed by notebook PCs.
The Pacific Digital U-30201 further incorporates (located on the underside
of the controller circuit board), a high-speed DVD dual Optical Disk Controller
chipset
from MediaTek
Inc. consisting of two
CMOS
ultra-scale
integrated
circuits,
the MT1816E
and MT1818E. The MT1816E is the
front-end analog signal processor and MT1818E is the servo control and Endec
IC.
- Installation
The Pacific Digital U-30201 was connected to our test PC and was identified
as "LITE-ON DVDRW LDW-811S" under
WinXP. This is not unusual as this drive appears to be exactly the same as
the LiteOn drive, except that it is manufactured in China whereas the LiteOn
is manufactured in Taiwan. All tests were done with firmware revision vHS0E.
Note that our drive has a serial number starting from 4323...
This indicates that the drive is based on LiteOn LDW-811S. In different case
where the serial starts with a P, then the drive is based on the BTC 1008IM
burner.
The following pages include the test results for the Pacific Digital drive
in comparison with two other dual DVD burners, the Optorite DD0401 DVD and
the LiteOn LDW 811S. The comparison with the LiteOn drive should prove quite
interesting, to see just how close the results between them are.
