Model:  DD0203B (Black)

Manufacturer:  Optorite

Reviewed By:  Miguel

Review Date:  08/06/03

   It is still unclear as to which DVD recordable format will dominate.  While the battle continues, various manufacturers have been releasing multi-format drives supporting both DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW formats.  Optorite, a fairly new manufacturer of optical drives, is one such company.  They are mostly known for their fast CD recorders but they are entering the DVD recorder market in a big way, releasing a fast 4X dual format DVD+-RW drive.   The Optorite DD0203 sports a white or black bezel and introduces one unique feature not yet seen in any other drive...HD Burn Technology.

Contents

The drive comes in a fairly small but attractive box that includes a "That's" brand 4X DVD+R disk, quick install guide, audio cable and mounting screws.   The software bundle is from BHA, which includes B's Recorder GOLD5 Basic and B's CLiP5.  Also included is a copy of Sonic MyDVD software.  The recording software is said to support the HD Burn Feature this drive has introduced.   We will look at each of these in detail later in the review.

Design

We will be reviewing the black model.   It does look quite attractive, however,  the inner tray is beige!  While not a big deal, it still puzzles me as to why manufacturers do this.  How difficult can it be to include a black loading tray.  Personally, I like drives that open/close quickly.  The Optorite DD0203 is one of these drives.  There have been complaints about the eject button on this drive.   We are happy to say that we did not encounter any issues with the eject button.  It works flawlessly, even on a case with a built in drive button like the NEST.  Perhaps the issue is with the white bezel model.   Maybe there are slight differences between them as far as design goes.  Overall, excellent build quality throughout.

**click to enlarge**

The sticker indicates the drive was manufactured just last month (June 2003).  This is definitely one from the first batches sent out from the factory.

Features

  The drive's most impressive feature is the introduction of HD Burn technology that has been developed by Sanyo Electric Co.  This new technology doubles the writing capacity of conventional CDR media, allowing you to write 1.4GB of data onto a 700MB CDR.  While the ability to write 1.4GB of data on an inexpensive 700MB CDR sounds exciting, the technology is so new that there aren't any DVD players capable of reading the disc without a firmware modification.   Sanyo does state, however, that they will disclose the new technology and propose other DVD manufacturers that they adopt this technology as an industry standard.   This certainly makes the Optorite DD0203 a wise, future-proof investment.

  The Optorite also features the popular Burn Proof technology which prevents buffer under-run errors. 

Other features include a generous 8MB buffer (only with latest firmware!), 4X recording on both DVD-R and DVD+R discs and black or white bezel designs.

Specs

Next: Installation