Finished my new PC except for one piece, the BR-Drive. - Blu-ray Forum

Sean4000 · 07-13-2008, 05:26 AM

Question:
What are your recommendations on a BR drive with the following technicalities: reliable burns cycles, fast SATA interface, multi platform (PC, MAC, LINUX) support, and fastest burn speed. I have done some research but really want the opinions of members of this site. What I have found is minimal knowledge at best.

OLD SPECS:
800Mhz Athlon T-bird
256MB PC-133Mhz SDRAM
40GB 5400rpm WD IDE HDD
12XCD-RW IDE Drive
Geforce2MX AGP4X Video card
Windows 2000

NEW SPECS
Dual AMD Quad-core 2346HE CPUs
16GB DDR2 667 SDRAM
2TB (4X500GB) WD SATA 3.0 7200 HDDs
ARECA ARC-1210 RAID controller card
nVIDIA 9800GX2
TYAN Thunder S2927-E Motherboard
Xubuntu Linux 64-bit edition 8.04
22X DVD-RW SATA ODD

The ultimate goal of this endeavour is to have the ultimate system for my upcoming re-remaster of Star Trek TOS. I am searching for the HD-DVD drive but am ready to just go ahead and get the XBOX version. It is strictly for copying anyway.

I also have a copy of 64-bit Houdini 9 ready to go. All I need is Blu-ray to complete the cycle.

Thank you for your time guys.

JadedRaverLA · 07-13-2008, 06:09 AM

Well, the LG GGW-H20L is the only 6x BD burner currently on the market. It also happens to play (but not burn) HD DVDs, so it should work great for your purpose.

There are some great 4x drives out there now. The Sony BWU-200S (and the OEM Panasonic LF-PB271JD) do a great job with burning BD media, but cost more and are slower on BD-R media than the above LG drive.

The other 4x drives out now (by Pioneer and Lite-on) don't burn to double-layer media so I would toss those options just based on that.

There are more 6x drives due later this year (finally), but for now, that's all that's available. Hope that helps.

EDIT: As for Windows/Mac/Linux compatibility, ALL Blu-ray burners are compatible for burning and reading data from discs on any of those operating systems, but you can currently ONLY watch Blu-ray (or HD DVD movies) from Windows. That's a software problem, though, not a hardware one. All the drives I mentioned are SATA.

blu-dave · 07-14-2008, 12:00 AM

woah, 16gb? and why not less at higher speeds. ?

X-Ninja · 07-14-2008, 12:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blu-dave

woah, 16gb? and why not less at higher speeds. ?

Yeah seriously. I didn't even know that 16GB of RAM was possible. Its probably the most useless way to make yourself broke, but non-the-less... This guy is a god!

Trade'ya computers.

Come on... You know you want to.

Sean4000 · 07-14-2008, 05:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blu-dave

woah, 16gb? and why not less at higher speeds. ?

Hello there,

My motherboard can only handle ECC DDR2-667. However, the ceiling is 32GB! Let me tell you, speed is plentiful but amount makes the biggest difference when performing 64 bit blender renders, and Houdini Master renders.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JadedRaverLA

Well, the LG GGW-H20L is the only 6x BD burner currently on the market. It also happens to play (but not burn) HD DVDs, so it should work great for your purpose.

I am researching this burner now, thank you for the recommendation.

Quote:

Originally Posted by X-Ninja

Yeah seriously. I didn't even know that 16GB of RAM was possible. Its probably the most useless way to make yourself broke, but non-the-less... This guy is a god!

Trade'ya computers.

Come on... You know you want to.

I'll trade my old one!

It is seriously ready for retirement although MINT Linux runs circles around Windows2000!

I wish I were a god, but I'll settle for my current job, CTO of a VFX House.

katharsis · 07-14-2008, 05:45 AM

I didn't know that

Quote:

Xubuntu Linux 64-bit edition 8.04

recognizes all of the 16GBs of memory!?

Wasn't the limit at around 8?

If it does I seriously need to upgrade my system!!!

Any problems running any kind of software under that OS compared to a Windows or Leopard machine?
My problem with Linux has always been that there were too many programs that I needed, which were not compatible / had a Linux counterpart.

Sean4000 · 07-14-2008, 06:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by katharsis

I didn't know that recognizes all of the 16GBs of memory!?

Wasn't the limit at around 8?

If it does I seriously need to upgrade my system!!!

Any problems running any kind of software under that OS compared to a Windows or Leopard machine?
My problem with Linux has always been that there were too many programs that I needed, which were not compatible / had a Linux counterpart.

Recognized memory: 15.98GB!

The ONLY thing keeping me back from using another OS is the fact that a robust NLE does not exist on Linux. Houdini has one that is good but not the best out there, Like Avid of FCP. WINE will not run either Avid or FCP.

HOWEVER!, Lumiera will change all of that when it is released and Linux will have a VERY serious NLE application. www.lumiera.org

Join our IRC if you want to talk to me or any other of the developers.

I use the following apps:

Open Source:
Ardour 2.5: Audio editing
Blender: Animation, FX, etc
Cinepaint: HDR Image manipulation
GIMP: Photo retouching
Wings: Modeling
Kino: DV capture

Commercial:
Houdini 9: Extreme VFX tool and EXTREMELY Expensive

Light Zone: Advanced HDR imaging
Maya: Animation, Modeling

Others:
Pidgin: instant messaging
Open Office Suite: Office related
VLC/Mplayer: Media Player

JadedRaverLA · 07-14-2008, 07:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by katharsis

I didn't know that recognizes all of the 16GBs of memory!?

Wasn't the limit at around 8?

If it does I seriously need to upgrade my system!!!

Well, the current 64-bit (x86-64) processors support up to 1 TB of physical RAM. Most chipsets have caps at 16GB - 32GB or so, due to the number of memory slots.

As far as OS's, all the 64-bit OS's I'm aware of can handle at LEAST 16 GB of RAM, with many able to handle far more.

32-bit OS's, are limited to 4GB of physical address space, limiting the RAM to that (and video RAM and other mapped memory will eat into that 4GB).

Sean4000 · 07-14-2008, 08:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JadedRaverLA

Well, the current 64-bit (x86-64) processors support up to 1 TB of physical RAM. Most chipsets have caps at 16GB - 32GB or so, due to the number of memory slots.

As far as OS's, all the 64-bit OS's I'm aware of can handle at LEAST 16 GB of RAM, with many able to handle far more.

32-bit OS's, are limited to 4GB of physical address space, limiting the RAM to that (and video RAM and other mapped memory will eat into that 4GB).

Bingo. On the nose.

blu-dave · 07-14-2008, 10:16 AM

Hey there Sean, just thought i would mention...In your first post you said that your gpu was a 9800gx2 but in your sig it says 8800gt.

Sean4000 · 07-14-2008, 03:39 PM

UPGRADED!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814133217

Got her in the day before I made the thread. My sig is out of date.

07-13-2008, 05:26 AM	#1
Sean4000 Senior Member Member since:Nov 2007 Location:Metairie, Louisiana Blu-ray collection:79 Blu-ray reviews:10 Trading Score:8	Finished my new PC except for one piece, the BR-Drive. Question: What are your recommendations on a BR drive with the following technicalities: reliable burns cycles, fast SATA interface, multi platform (PC, MAC, LINUX) support, and fastest burn speed. I have done some research but really want the opinions of members of this site. What I have found is minimal knowledge at best. *OLD SPECS:* 800Mhz Athlon T-bird 256MB PC-133Mhz SDRAM 40GB 5400rpm WD IDE HDD 12XCD-RW IDE Drive Geforce2MX AGP4X Video card Windows 2000 *NEW SPECS* Dual AMD Quad-core 2346HE CPUs 16GB DDR2 667 SDRAM 2TB (4X500GB) WD SATA 3.0 7200 HDDs ARECA ARC-1210 RAID controller card nVIDIA 9800GX2 TYAN Thunder S2927-E Motherboard Xubuntu Linux 64-bit edition 8.04 22X DVD-RW SATA ODD The ultimate goal of this endeavour is to have the ultimate system for my upcoming re-remaster of Star Trek TOS. I am searching for the HD-DVD drive but am ready to just go ahead and get the XBOX version. It is strictly for copying anyway. I also have a copy of 64-bit Houdini 9 ready to go. All I need is Blu-ray to complete the cycle. Thank you for your time guys. Last edited by Sean4000; 07-14-2008 at 05:16 AM.

07-13-2008, 06:09 AM	#2
JadedRaverLA Power Member Member since:Apr 2007 Blu-ray reviews:2	Well, the LG GGW-H20L is the only 6x BD burner currently on the market. It also happens to play (but not burn) HD DVDs, so it should work great for your purpose. There are some great 4x drives out there now. The Sony BWU-200S (and the OEM Panasonic LF-PB271JD) do a great job with burning BD media, but cost more and are slower on BD-R media than the above LG drive. The other 4x drives out now (by Pioneer and Lite-on) don't burn to double-layer media so I would toss those options just based on that. There are more 6x drives due later this year (finally), but for now, that's all that's available. Hope that helps. EDIT: As for Windows/Mac/Linux compatibility, ALL Blu-ray burners are compatible for burning and reading data from discs on any of those operating systems, but you can currently ONLY watch Blu-ray (or HD DVD movies) from Windows. That's a software problem, though, not a hardware one. All the drives I mentioned are SATA. Last edited by JadedRaverLA; 07-13-2008 at 06:14 PM.

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07-14-2008, 12:00 AM	#3
blu-dave Senior Member Member since:Jul 2007 Location:England	woah, 16gb? and why not less at higher speeds. ?

07-14-2008, 10:16 AM	#10
blu-dave Senior Member Member since:Jul 2007 Location:England	Hey there Sean, just thought i would mention...In your first post you said that your gpu was a 9800gx2 but in your sig it says 8800gt.

07-14-2008, 03:39 PM	#11
Sean4000 Senior Member Member since:Nov 2007 Location:Metairie, Louisiana Blu-ray collection:79 Blu-ray reviews:10 Trading Score:8	UPGRADED! http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814133217 Got her in the day before I made the thread. My sig is out of date.

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