[mediahound]

New Superdrive? Pioneer has announced a DVR-105 Drive. I wonder if it will be compatible:

DVR-A05/DVR-105 DVD-R/RW_
4x DVD recorder
This is the first DVD recorder that supports 4X writing with new high speed
DVD-R media and 2X re-writing with high speed DVD-RW media. More over, new
media supporting 4X DVD-R and 2X DVD-RW_
Interface: ATAPI Ultra DMA Mode2
2MB Buffer
Supports:
2X, 1X DVD-RW writing 4X, 2X, 1X DVD-R writing
8X, 4X re-writing, 16X, 12X, 8X, 4X writing
Reading specs (max):
DVD-ROM (1 layer disc): 12X DVD-ROM (2 layer disc): 8X
DVD-R (4X certified): 6X DVD-R (other than 4X): 2X
DVD-RW (2X): 6X DVD-RW (1X): 2X
CD-ROM: 32X Audio CD: 10X
VideoCD: 4X

[Justin W. Williams]

I bet Apple will have to add support into iDVD for it.

[jrramsey]

Originally posted by mediahound:
New Superdrive? Pioneer has announced a DVR-105 Drive. I wonder if it will be compatible:

This is good news. Are any of you familiar with the Toshiba SD-R5002? It's very fast but not yet supported by Apple. Works great on PC's.

I'm very interested in the new Sony which does both +R/W and -R/W? Wouldn't this be the best of both worlds. Sure hope Apple has plans to support this?

[Eug]

The new Pioneer was announced some weeks ago. Looks like a good drive.

As for the Sony being the best of both worlds... not. +RW/-R at this point simply duplicates the functions of DVD-RW/DVD-R. A bonus, but only a small bonus.

If anything, the best of both worlds would be a DVD Multi burner, ie. the new Panasonic LF-D521 that does DVD-RAM as well as DVD-RW/DVD-R, and CD-RW/CD-R. There is also a Hitachi DVD Multi burner already available in Japan, but it's only been spotted rarely for some reason.

[Steve Yun]

I've heard that after-market DVD-R drives will work fine with Discburner and Toast, but will not work with iDVD, and that iDVD will only work with DVD-R's that were sold installed on Macs.

Does anyone know more about this? Will I have to wait for Apple to offer these new drives before I can use them?

[Paul S]

iDVD only works with internal drives, not external, not necessarily just those factory installed from Apple. Many people have installed after-market drives that work with iDVD. Odds are, you could install a new A05 drive and have it work. Unless there is some compatibility issue that hasn't come up yet.

[MikeD]

Is this something that apple will put into their towers? 2x to 4x is a pretty big difference..