[form.aat]

I would like to know if the Superdrive in the 15" Tibook supports both the - and + DVD-RW standards and if not, which one it supports.

Thanx
form.aat

[Eug]

For writes:

-R yes.
-RAM no
-RW no
+R no
+RW no

For reads:

-R yes
-RAM no
-RW yes
+R likely yes
+RW likely yes

[dazzla]

Originally posted by Eug:
For writes:

-R yes.
-RAM no
-RW no
+R no
+RW no

For reads:

-R yes
-RAM no
-RW yes
+R likely yes
+RW likely yes

The superdrive can't write rewritable media? Damn that sucks

[Riemann Zeta]

Recall, however, that the Apple Superdrive is technically capable of burning both -R and -RW media. Unfortunately, Apple's current firmware prevents -RW media from being used. Perhaps future firmware will unlock the -RW potential.

Pardon the digression, however, I have a question. What exactly is +R/+RW media? It seems that -R and -RW are the industry standard. Which company invented +R/+RW and why is it important?

[Eug]

Originally posted by Riemann Zeta:
Recall, however, that the Apple Superdrive is technically capable of burning both -R and -RW media. Unfortunately, Apple's current firmware prevents -RW media from being used. Perhaps future firmware will unlock the -RW potential.

Pardon the digression, however, I have a question. What exactly is +R/+RW media? It seems that -R and -RW are the industry standard. Which company invented +R/+RW and why is it important?

There is no one Apple SuperDrive per se. Right now, there are four different versions I know of:

1) Pioneer A03
2) Pioneer A04
3) LG/Hitachi GMA-4020B
4) Panasonic UJ-815

The first two are desktop drives with DVD-R and DVD-RW. Currently both DVD-R and DVD-RW are supported in the desktops.

The 3rd is a desktop drive capable of DVD-R, DVD-RAM, and DVD-RW, but the DVD-RAM support has been removed. So, like the Pioneers, it supports DVD-R and DVD-RW. DVD-RAM won't even work with 3rd party software. (Ironically, OS X already supports DVD-RAM inherently.)

The 4th is the laptop drive, and it is also DVD-R, DVD-RAM, and DVD-RW, but both DVD-RAM and DVD-RW support have been removed. Thus the laptop drives do not burn DVD-RW or DVD-RAM, even with 3rd party software.

+R/+RW is a competing format which basically does the exact same thing as -R/-RW but with different media. It is supported by companies such as Ricoh, HP, Philips, etc. The Sony does both + and -. These drives work on Macs with Toast. I dunno about iDVD.

[n_lim]

Is the superdrive in the 17" the same model that is in the 12"? I recall hearing that the firmware is the only thing keeping the 12" SD from burning at 2X, any truth to this claim and if so, are firmware hacks available?

[Eug]

Originally posted by n_lim:
Is the superdrive in the 17" the same model that is in the 12"? I recall hearing that the firmware is the only thing keeping the 12" SD from burning at 2X, any truth to this claim and if so, are firmware hacks available?

Drive in 15" TiBook: UJ-815 Rev. D0C4
Drive in 17" AluBook: UJ-815 Rev. D0C7
Drive in 12" AluBook: I dunno

[thePurpleGiant]

Originally posted by Riemann Zeta:
Pardon the digression, however, I have a question. What exactly is +R/+RW media? It seems that -R and -RW are the industry standard. Which company invented +R/+RW and why is it important?

AFAIK, the +RW format is actually superior to the -RW format. The -RW format allows the *whole disk* to be rewritten at once, but not added to and removed from like, say, a hard disk. In this sense it is similar to DVD RAM. DVD+RW allows the user to add and delete files off the DVD at will. The only problem is lack of compatability with DVD players. DVD+R is no better or worse than DVD-R, except it is less compatible. In fact DVD+RW was available for much longer until DVD+R came onto the scene to complement it.