OEM optical/superdrives in iBooks/Powerbooks

[California]

What Panasonic superdrives came with your laptop? Any problems?

I'm interested in knowing the differences in the stock OEM optical dvdr/w drives and how they worked for other people, since I've NEVER yet used any of my dvd burners!

I've got:
Tibook 1ghz -- uj 815 Panasonic Matshitua that Apple just fixed
iBook 1.2ghz -- with a swapped out Mac Mini superdrive, a UJ 835 Panasonic never been used.

I want to put a uj 845 Panasonic into either the 1ghz Tibook or my 1.33ghz 14" ibook -- OR maybe into my 1ghz 12" ibook?

And I've actually never used the oem blank DVR that came with the Tibook.
I've never actually burned a dvd, because I don't know what I need to burn on it!

Would anyone recommend a dvd burner in a 12" laptop? Is it overkill?
It almost seems overkill in a 14" ibook.

Any thoughts about dvd burning? Can I use the dvds I burn in any dvd player? And what kind of superdrive is best if I want to do some sort of Tivo/ television recording off my 'book?

Sorry for all the random questions -- I just have all these burners and don't really know why since i don't use 'em!

 

[Demon Hunter]

I have the Matshita UJ-835E... infamous for not burning at 8x when it's supposed to. It started a petition for replacement and Apple has since deleted many threads about it on its forums.

PB 17" April 2005

 

[FocusAndEarnIt]

I have this one:
MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-845E:

Firmware Revision: DMP2
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipped/Supported)
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -RW, +R, +RW
Burn Underrun Protection CD: Yes
Burn Underrun Protection DVD: Yes
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, DVD-DAO
Media: No

Fast at burning DVDs!!! Oh, and CDs, too.
Works great.

 

[ITASOR]

I have this in my iBook 12" 1.33Ghz G4

MATSHITA CD-RW CW-8124:

 

[California]

I have the Matshita UJ-835E... infamous for not burning at 8x when it's supposed to. It started a petition for replacement and Apple has since deleted many threads about it on its forums.

PB 17" April 2005

Yeah -- I read that it may have to do with Firmware that the 835 isn't burning the way it should? How do your dvds come out, though, after the slooow burn?

 

[Sooper]

The new 15" PBs have this one, but I've only used it 4 or 5 times so far:

MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-846:

Firmware Revision: FAAG
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipped/Supported)
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -RW, +R, +RW, +R DL
Burn Underrun Protection CD: Yes
Burn Underrun Protection DVD: Yes
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, DVD-DAO
Media: No

And yes, you can make DVDs to use in standalone players. I make DVDs all the time in iMovie from my firewire camcorder. Also, it's easy to 'backup' movie DVDs; use MactheRipper to get the files, DVD2ONEX to compress a dual-layer to a single layer (dual-layer media is expensive), and Toast6 to burn to DVD (but any burning app would work).

 

[Demon Hunter]

Yeah -- I read that it may have to do with Firmware that the 835 isn't burning the way it should? How do your dvds come out, though, after the slooow burn?

They come out fine, and honestly I don't burn enough DVD media to pay that much attention to speed. If it was just a firmware thing that would be sweet.

MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-835E:

Firmware Revision: GAN7
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipped/Supported)
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -RW, +R, +RW
Burn Underrun Protection CD: Yes
Burn Underrun Protection DVD: Yes
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, DVD-DAO
Media: No