1/28/97


I have about $2300 to buy a writable CD system for a high end Mac computer. Does anyone have any experience with any of these systems for things like reliability, longevity, etc. We deal with lots and lots of images and the Jazz and Zip drives get too expensive for the students when storing many images.

Thanks

Judy M

Judy Murphy, PhD

Microscopy Technology Center

San Joaquin Delta College

5151 Pacific Ave

Stockton, CA 95207

Phone: 209/474-5284

FAX: 209/474-5600

e-mail: murphy@sjdccd.cc.ca.us

program web page: http://www.sjdccd.cc.ca.us/ElectMicro/sjdc.html


Judy,

This may be a case where you want to wait a year. The DVD discs are

starting to come out now, with the 2nd generation late this year or next

year. Don't get 1st generation--the standards for F2 is already known and

incompatible with F1. DVD will likely replace CD-ROMs in a few years.

Phil

Philip Oshel

Station A

PO Box 5037

Champaign, IL 61825-5037

(217)244-3145 days

(217)355-3145 evenings

oshel@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu


Can you please explain what DVD media is please......are they comparable to

mini-discs?

Thanks, Adam.

Adam Vivian-Smith

PhD Student

CSIRO/ University of Adelaide Voice: +61 08 8303 8627

Division of Horticulture Fax : +61 08 8303 8601

Urrbrae, Adelaide Email: Adam.Vivian-Smith@adl.hort.csiro.au

S.A., 5064

AUSTRALIA


Judy -

We have a Pinnacle Micro RCD 5040. Works great. Cost was around 1k from

MacWarehouse (800-255-6227). There is a later model, I think. All the

best.

Jim Heuer

General Electric Co.

(510) 862-4501

heuerj@vncpo1.ne.ge.com


DVD : Digital Video Disc?? They can store as much as 4-20 GB.

Gary...

Gary Dietrich Chinga

garyc@stud.ntnu.no


> We deal with lots and lots of

> >images and the Jazz and Zip drives get too expensive for the students

when

> >storing many images.

We had the same problem with students and buy a Sony CD-R (2X). The CDs

does not cost so much (About $10). The price of the CD-R was $1000 for

about 1 year ago.

Gary Dietrich Chinga

garyc@stud.ntnu.no


>This [i.e., buying a writable CD drive] may be a case where you want to

>wait a year. The DVD discs are

>starting to come out now, with the 2nd generation late this year or next

>year. Don't get 1st generation--the standards for F2 is already known and

>incompatible with F1. DVD will likely replace CD-ROMs in a few years.

...but will the drives be able to *write* (not just read) the current CD

standard? If you want to distribute info widely (rather than just

archiving), which Judy apparently wants to do, you don't want to do it on

DVD until most people have access to drives that can read them.

Alfred

akracher@iastate.edu

Alfred Kracher


Phil, regarding your statement...

>This [i.e., buying a writable CD drive] may be a case where you want to

>wait a year. The DVD discs are

>starting to come out now, with the 2nd generation late this year or next

>year. Don't get 1st generation--the standards for F2 is already known and

>incompatible with F1. DVD will likely replace CD-ROMs in a few years.

>>...but will the drives be able to *write* (not just read) the current CD

>>standard? If you want to distribute info widely (rather than just

>>archiving), which Judy apparently wants to do, you don't want to do it on

>>DVD until most people have access to drives that can read them.

>>Alfred

The issue of access to read the disks is why we decided to use CD-R's instead of

Zip drives or other storage media. Nearly everyone has a CD player for

retrieving data and the one recorder (Optima 650) can be moved around for

recording. We are fairly happy with this recorder but it seems to me that I get

more recording errors than I would like (2 or 3 image files per 50 need to be

individually recorded or otherwise manipulated, but these are mostly Photoshop

files and these problems may be confined to that type). Not having wider

experience with CD-R's I don't know if it is more or less than typical.

Good Luck,

John Vetrano

js_vetrano@pnl.gov


True. As far as I know, the 1st generation of DVDs will be

read-only or if writable, then only to 1st gen DVD. 2nd gen DVD will read &

write only 2nd gen DVD. Current CD-ROM will only read & write to current

CD-ROM. Except probably not to all current CD-ROM; as they go to 12X (maybe

even 8X) they're changing what they hold constant: the angular velocity or

the data density. Currently CD-ROMs change speed as they read from

inside=>out. The "faster" ones hold the rotation speed constant, as I

recall. Anyway there is/will be compatibility problems between <6-8X

CD-ROMs & (8?) 12X and higher ones.

Phil

Philip Oshel

Station A

PO Box 5037

Champaign, IL 61825-5037

(217)244-3145 days

(217)355-3145 evenings

oshel@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu


DVD is the new standard for multigiga byte storage. CD-ROMs with

multiple layers of data. The 1st generation is about 4GB, the 2nd about

9GB. I believe they'll be about the same diameter as CDs. Not comparable to

mini-discs.

Phil

Philip Oshel

Station A

PO Box 5037

Champaign, IL 61825-5037

(217)244-3145 days

(217)355-3145 evenings

oshel@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu


Judy,

I'd recommend going with a CD-writer too, for the following reasons;

1) Your clients (students, faculty members, etc) are MUCH more likely to have

immediate access to a CD reader than a DVD.

2) CD standard won't dissappear in a hurry because the whole music industry is

locked in on it. It's probable that DVD's will read 'old' CD's too.

3) Assuming a micrograph is around 1MB in size, a CD will hold approx. 600

micrographs - more than enough already. Why would a student, working on your

average sized project, want a DVD that holds 4,000-20,000 micrographs? Of

course it's a different matter for archiving within the EM lab.

4) I don't know the cost of a DVD witer, but I bet it's a LOT more than a CD

writer. You've got the money for a CD writer now. Why wait til you can afford

a DVD?

Geoff Avern

Microscopy Labs

Australian Museum

Sydney, Australia

Philips CDD 522 - we're very happy with it.


I read an recent article about the development and marketing of DVD disks and

drives. The introduction of writeable DVD drives is planned only for next year

and of course it will take some time until they become affordable.

Petra

Dr. Petra Wahlbring

Centre de Recherche Public Centre Universitaire (CRP-CU)

Laboratoire d'Analyse des Materiaux (LAM)

162a, av. de la Faiencerie L-1511 Luxembourg

tel. +352-466644-402 fax +352-466644-400

e-mail: petra.wahlbring@crpcu.lu or 100112.2335@compuserve.com


We, Pioneer has demonstrated a prototype DVD-R at Japan Electronics Show

last October. You can get some information from following WWWs. (Some of

them are in Japanese with some pictures. Try your exploration!)

http://www.pioneer.co.jp/dvd/index.html

http://www.panasonic.co.jp/dvd/

http://eiplaza.toshiba.co.jp/dvd/j/news/index.html

Thanks in advance.

Takanori Maeda e-mail: maeda@crdl.pioneer.co.jp

Corporate R&D Lab. voice: +81-492-87-3900

PIONEER ELECTRONIC CORP. fax: +81-492-79-1512

http://www.pioneer.co.jp/crdl/crdl/

6-1-1 Fujimi Tsurugashima Saitama 350-02 JAPAN


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