TDK 24*10*40 or Yamaha 20*10*40

[ufrich]

Hey guys im really debating on whether to get the TDK 24 speed burner or , for the same price i can get the Yamaha 20 speed burner. i realize the TDK is the faster one but i hear people complaining that the burner rarely ever reaches those speeds. If anyone has these burners or knows any pros or cons on either one of them i would greatly appreciate the input. Thanks

[otheos]

The 24x Z-CLV from Sanyo (TDK) is a bit touchy with media and won't burn at 24x with most media, but this will soon change.

Now for the real differences:

The Yamaha, has an 8MB buffer. this means that it will take more time before the BURN Proof kicks in. Remember the use of BURN proof slows down overall speed (as no matter how fast the burner burns, if it stops 10 times for 10 seconds each, you're back to 4x burning days.

Personally I prefer the 8MB buffer of the yamaha to the 2MB of the TDK with 24x. I believe in realistic use the Yamaha will prove faster.

Finally, what I mostly like about the yamaha is that it does NOT stop writing to change speed (unlike the TDK and all Z-CLV drives) this means that if you want to make a master to send it to press (for reproduction) you will have to use a non-stop burn process (16-CLV that the TDK supports). since this is not very common, it won't be too great a sacrfice to burn at 16x for this specific use.

What is important however is data integrity. And the fact that all your CDR's will contain (admitedly very small) gaps is not ideal. Not that it's prooved but they are thoughts about it.

Overall speed difference between the two drives is about a minute. That's almost 20% given that it only takes 5 minutes for the whole process. However, the difference between 5 and 6 minutes is not that great. Given the fact that if you multitask the Yamaha will be definetely faster due to the larger buffer, I'd consider the Yamaha a higher performing drive.

As for their reading capabilities I believe they're about the same, DAE is great and CDRW read is similar to CD.

The yamaha is now a true 10X RW drive (unlike the older 2100 that was 10x CAV RW) so their RW capabilities are almost identical (I believe the Yamaha erases a bit faster).

My advise is to go for the Yamaha. It is overall a better drive, and a true multitasker. It doesn't look as good (but that's subjective) as the TDK, but comes with Nero 5.5 (I think the TDK comes with Nero as well but I'm not sure) which is the best bundled piece of burning software today.

Yamaha support is just great (don't know about TDK admitedly).

You can read reviews for both drives at cdrlabs

Good luck.

[ufrich]

Hey otheos thanks for the info, your input has helped alot, actually it brings up another question. That is would it then be more feasible to just go out and buy a 16X burner if these hi performance burners hardly ever achieve these speeds? im looking for a burner that burns what is says on the box throughout the whole burn process. Granted that these burn proof programs do help you from making coasters, but if i end up getting 6X or 4X performace out of my 20X or 24X speed burner, then there is really no point in upgrading my 4X and spending hundreds of dollars. Again thanks for the input.

[otheos]

The highest rating that is achived over the whole disc is 16x CLV. This means nearly all 16x burners apart from the Yamaha (or OEMs).

The 16x CLV is fast (less than 2min more than a 24x).

Now the 24x starts at 16, changes to 20 and finally to 24 near minute 30.

the 20x Yamaha starts at 12x and climbs to 20 by minute 15 and then stays there.

The new anti-coaster mechanisms read (or even test) the quality of the media and adjust to an appropriate speed. So as long as you have the correct media, you will get the above mentioned speeds. With the "older" 16x burners you will have less problems finding media as they are out for quite some time. Like I said though, 24x certified media will be very common in the very near future.

As for Burnproof, it's very usefull (and for ATAPI devices it is actually necessary). If you are used to do otherthings with your computer while burning then BURN PRoof is a must. Obvioulsy it takes more time for the process to finish but you end up with a working CDR instead of a coaster. If you want to speed up the process just let your computer burn without extra load and BURN proof will not kick in.

Since high speed recording is more demanding , you will find that it's easier to have it kicking it when burning at 24x than 16x and that's why I said that the Yamaha is better in this aspect since it has a large buffer and can stay starved from data for a longer period (hopefully by the time your HD starts feeding again).

The 24x is not hype, nor is the 20x yamaha. They are faster, and under exactly the same conditions chances are they will outperform a 16x burner. Now (not talking prices here) as I said I would go with the Yamaha but since price is a factor you might find that the 2 extra minutes of an "older" 16x burner are worth the bucks difference from a new 24x. After all the introduction of new products means that we at last get the chance to buy the "older" top of the range we could never afforded before!!!!

So depending on what you're willing to spend, and your use (do you plan to burn more than 30 CDR a week?) you decide. Remember that for CDRW use (that most people use for day to day backups) all these drives, 24,20 or 16 and 12x still use 10x RW!!

The cdrlabs site was down last time I checked, so check back later for the reviews.

All the best.

[ufrich]

Hey otheos thankyou once again for the info, it has really helped me in making my descision. i went ahead and bought the Yamaha 20X speed burner yesterday and im going to install it today and see how everything goes. Again thanks for the info.

[otheos]

You're very welcome, I hope you enjoy your new drive. I still wait for mine to come in (I asked for the "scsi" flavor).