New 16x DVD-RAM Discs Incompatible With Previous DVD-RAM Burners
TSST (Toshiba Samsung Storage Division) announced that owners of currently available DVD-RAM burners may face specific problems if they use the newly certified 16x DVD-RAM media in their drives.
The DVD Forum has approved the specifications of the "DVD-RAM 6X/8X/12X/16X" format. The new specs include information on the so-called Class 1 DVD-RAM products, which are compatible with 6x recording speed for DVD-RAM or higher. The Class 1 products (DVD-RAM burners and media) will be recognizable by their "DVD-RAM2" logo. Panasonic and HLDS showcased new 16x DVD-RAM burner prototypes at the IFA last September, and Hitachi Maxel has announced its plans to develop DVD-RAM2 media in the near future.
The currently available DVD-RAM discs support up to 5X speed and are dubbed as Class0 (standard writable speed 2X). The new DVD-RAM format discs will support the 6X, 8X, 12X and 16X speeds (Class1: standard writable speed 6X).
TSST said that it cannot guaranty the compatibility of the the new DVD-RAM discs with the current (Class 0) DVD-RAM burners, and that the new discs should be used with the new Class 2 hardware only.
Specifically, TSST said that by inserting new DVD-RAM format media into the following ten (10) DVD-RAM burner models, will result in drive performance issues, as follows:
A) the media cannot be ejected from the disc drive; or the computer stops responding and the media cannot be ejected from the disc drive, or
B) the media is ejected automatically while continuing to spin (at approximately 1600 rpm).
The drive models subject to these issues are :
SD-R1312/SD-R1412/SD-R1512/SD-R5112/SD-R6112
SD-R2212/SD-R2312/SD-R2412/SD-R2512/SD-R9012
TSST suggests that in case owners of the DVD-RAM compliant drives mentioned above face the specific incompatibility issues, they should reatart their PC in order to remove the discs.
TSST said it has developed modified firmware for its ten DVD-RAM compatible models that will solve these issues. However, none of the above drives were designed to play new DVD-RAM format media and TSST does not warrant that they will play with such media. The modified firmware does not make the drives forward-compatible with new DVD-RAM format discs.
The currently available DVD-RAM discs support up to 5X speed and are dubbed as Class0 (standard writable speed 2X). The new DVD-RAM format discs will support the 6X, 8X, 12X and 16X speeds (Class1: standard writable speed 6X).
TSST said that it cannot guaranty the compatibility of the the new DVD-RAM discs with the current (Class 0) DVD-RAM burners, and that the new discs should be used with the new Class 2 hardware only.
Specifically, TSST said that by inserting new DVD-RAM format media into the following ten (10) DVD-RAM burner models, will result in drive performance issues, as follows:
A) the media cannot be ejected from the disc drive; or the computer stops responding and the media cannot be ejected from the disc drive, or
B) the media is ejected automatically while continuing to spin (at approximately 1600 rpm).
The drive models subject to these issues are :
SD-R1312/SD-R1412/SD-R1512/SD-R5112/SD-R6112
SD-R2212/SD-R2312/SD-R2412/SD-R2512/SD-R9012
TSST suggests that in case owners of the DVD-RAM compliant drives mentioned above face the specific incompatibility issues, they should reatart their PC in order to remove the discs.
TSST said it has developed modified firmware for its ten DVD-RAM compatible models that will solve these issues. However, none of the above drives were designed to play new DVD-RAM format media and TSST does not warrant that they will play with such media. The modified firmware does not make the drives forward-compatible with new DVD-RAM format discs.
