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Rip Lock Issues on i7 27" 2.93ghz iMacs, Which Optical Drive do you have?

Triquetra

Triquetra

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 16, 2007
17
0
As per Macworld testing, it looks like the new Hitachi Optical Drives being used in new Macs Apple has been building feature something called "Rip Lock" which slows down Handbrake rips (slower than Core2Duo machines!)

Since I just purchased an i7 for the purpose of being able to encode directly from disc (out of convenience, of course) and the optical drive brand is not a customizable option, (as per the various AppleCare reps I've called,) This worries me. Mine delivers on Friday (9/3), and I'm worried about opening it if it has this slow optical drive!

Anyway, point of this thread? If you have an i7 2.93ghz (must be the 2.93ghz model!) Can you please post your optical drive brand? (Under: About this Mac/More Info/Disc Burning?) Thank you to everyone who can help me out.

What I'm thinking is all the CTOs are coming with this less than desirable drive, because all of the CTOs tested machines on Macworld have this issue (if you check the Handbrake test.) I am including a link at the bottom of this post for speedmark testing done by MacWorld. As you can see the i5 is not affected as it has the stock Pioneer Drive.

Thank you!

http://www.marketingtactics.com/Speedmark/
 
My 2010 i7 iMac has a HL-DT-STDVDRW GA32N optical drive, I guess this is a Hitachi drive, handbrake rips take about 30-40 mins for me, depending on the length of the movie.
 
zViiPeR said:
My 2010 i7 iMac has a HL-DT-STDVDRW GA32N optical drive, I guess this is a Hitachi drive, handbrake rips take about 30-40 mins for me, depending on the length of the movie.
Click to expand...

That's what I was worried about. On a new i7 it should take about 15 minutes to rip a full 2 hour dvd, or course it depends on settings, but we don't need to get into that, I don't want to change the nature of this thread. Anyone else with an i7 2.93ghz drive that can post what they got?
 
bally555 said:
My 2010 Imac i7 has OPTIARC DVD RW AD-5680H.
Click to expand...

When did you order it?, Online CTO? Or you picked it up in the store?

There are three Apple is using it seems, Optiarc, Pioneer, and Hitachi.

Thank you for replying!
 
bally555 said:
I picked it up from the store on 7th august
Click to expand...

I wonder if it's the non-Hitachi drive because you got it as an "In Store-Stock" model. Thank you for your help!

Anyone else with an i7 iMac 2.93Ghz that can take a look? I appreciate it.
 
Triquetra said:
I wonder if it's the non-Hitachi drive because you got it as an "In Store-Stock" model. Thank you for your help!

Anyone else with an i7 iMac 2.93Ghz that can take a look? I appreciate it.
Click to expand...

Not likely. I have an Apple Store bought mid-2010 i7 model and it has the Hitachi. They (Apple) likely order whatever is cheapest and available from their vendors and install whatever the truck drops off that week.

My older 2007 C2D 24" iMac had the same issue. Ever since Snow Leopard, I could no longer use the Mac and Handbrake to rip discs. Now I have an HTPC and sprung for the Slysoft tools and never looked back. I do use the i7 and Handbrake for converting ISO files and it is scary fast on those.
 
rworne said:
Not likely. I have an Apple Store bought mid-2010 i7 model and it has the Hitachi. They (Apple) likely order whatever is cheapest and available from their vendors and install whatever the truck drops off that week.

My older 2007 C2D 24" iMac had the same issue. Ever since Snow Leopard, I could no longer use the Mac and Handbrake to rip discs. Now I have an HTPC and sprung for the Slysoft tools and never looked back. I do use the i7 and Handbrake for converting ISO files and it is scary fast on those.
Click to expand...

So sad that we need to accept this. This majorly impacts software that some of us use everyday!

So far we have 3 Hitachi and 1 Optiarc.

This isn't looking good for me. Do you feel like the Slysoft tools give you as good a result (clarity) while ripping? For me it need to work on my Apple TV as well as iPhone (and soon iPad). I like handbrake because their settings work on everything.
 
I also have a Hitachi drive, which bring the tally up to 4 now. I read somewhere (older articles and on PCs) that people have been able to remove or disable the rip lock feature with a firmware update on the drive or hack.
 
Hetman said:
I also have a Hitachi drive, which bring the tally up to 4 now. I read somewhere (older articles and on PCs) that people have been able to remove or disable the rip lock feature with a firmware update on the drive or hack.
Click to expand...

You would think Apple would disable riplock to keep the the product performance more cohesive throughout their lines. So it looks like they are using Hitachis in most of the i7's.

Let me also add something I learned yesterday, I called with the serial number of my new iMac and they were able to give me the part number of my optical drive: 661-5523. If anyone wouldn't mind, would you call Apple with your serial number, and find out what your drive's part number is? Maybe this is an indication of what will be put in mine?
 
I have an i7 2.93Ghz that was built in California for me as a third replacement for my late-2009 i7 and it has the Hitachi/LG model. Interestingly enough, a replacement originally due to a bad Optiarc drive that was no faster than this Hitachi, but did eat several CDs, scratching them beyond readability.

I'm taking about 25-35 minutes, depending on movie, using the "Apple Universal" preset within HB.

Discuss...
 
ACKRITE said:
I have an i7 2.93Ghz that was built in California for me as a third replacement for my late-2009 i7 and it has the Hitachi/LG model. Interestingly enough, a replacement originally due to a bad Optiarc drive that was no faster than this Hitachi, but did eat several CDs, scratching them beyond readability.

I'm taking about 25-35 minutes, depending on movie, using the "Apple Universal" preset within HB.

Discuss...
Click to expand...

This is probably because you had a bad Optiarc, check my original post for the MacWorld scores, you'll see what I mean about speed. So RipLock will let you go as fast as a bad Optiarc drive!

These are the settings I use:

Start with the iPhone preset (to make sure it will work on my iPhone and other iOS devices)

Bump the KPS to 2500 (for MAX quality) - I tried better and could not see a difference. This gives me about 2GB rips.

Then set it to Loose under Anamorphic settings.

This is how I do it, not saying everyone does, and I'm hoping to get an i7 that will allow me to rip/encode each movie in 15 minutes.
 
OPTIARC DVD RW AD-5680H:

Firmware Revision: 3AHB
--------------------------------------

2010 iMac 27" | Core i5 2.8GHz | 8GB DDR3 | HD5750 | 1TB Seagate: ST31000528AS
 
macman05 said:
OPTIARC DVD RW AD-5680H:

Firmware Revision: 3AHB
--------------------------------------

2010 iMac 27" | Core i5 2.8GHz | 8GB DDR3 | HD5750 | 1TB Seagate: ST31000528AS
Click to expand...

Is this on the i5 in your signature? or on an i7 2.93 you have? I think the stock models are safe.
 
Seriously, the best you can do with one of these powerful machines is this:

Grab a USB or firewire enclosure and a well-respected 5.25" DVDR drive - Plextor, Pioneer, etc. Find out which ones are really fast and have good firmware support and go with that.

They also tend to be a lot faster than the internal ones found on the iMac - when I get my ripping done, the encoding isn't the slowest part of the process, it's getting the data off of the DVD. From an ISO, I can encode at 300fps on my i7 iMac, from a DVD (when it works) I'd be lucky to get 1/3 of that with the stock DVDROM via Handbrake.

Slysoft's tools work well for removing the nasty stuff on DVD's. But it's windows-only. I don't use it in bootcamp, I have two Win 7 HTPCs that do the dirtywork for me.
 
Optiarc DVD RW AD-5680H
Firmware Revision: 3AHB

Purchased my machine in store about 2 weeks ago
 
Hm....

Just know that the OPTIARC DVD RW AD-5680H drive isn't the fastest drive there ever was - the drive in my G5 2.5 (Pioneer DVD-RW DVR-117D) is considerably faster even though this computer is faster by an order of magnitude.
 
aliensporebomb said:
Just know that the OPTIARC DVD RW AD-5680H drive isn't the fastest drive there ever was - the drive in my G5 2.5 (Pioneer DVD-RW DVR-117D) is considerably faster even though this computer is faster by an order of magnitude.
Click to expand...

The difference is your PowerMac came with a desktop drive, those go faster up to 16x read speed, the iMacs use portable drives which go up to 8x.
 
dkly007 said:
Optiarc DVD RW AD-5680H
Firmware Revision: 3AHB

Purchased my machine in store about 2 weeks ago
Click to expand...

Exciting... That you just got it two weeks ago! Mine might have your drive! No one's 27" i7 2.93 got the Pioneer Drive as of yet? I just don't want the Hitachi. I might take a chance at opening it. I just might ask Apple to waive the restocking fee if its the wrong drive. Thank you, anyone else will reports?
 
rworne said:
Seriously, the best you can do with one of these powerful machines is this:

Grab a USB or firewire enclosure and a well-respected 5.25" DVDR drive - Plextor, Pioneer, etc. Find out which ones are really fast and have good firmware support and go with that.

They also tend to be a lot faster than the internal ones found on the iMac - when I get my ripping done, the encoding isn't the slowest part of the process, it's getting the data off of the DVD. From an ISO, I can encode at 300fps on my i7 iMac, from a DVD (when it works) I'd be lucky to get 1/3 of that with the stock DVDROM via Handbrake.
.
Click to expand...

I know, I think it's more convenient to do it all in one step. I'm a tech, but I'm also a Mac User, I want it to be simpler! ;)
 
I have a BTO 2.93ghz i7.

I ordered it from portableone.com and it was built in the US. It, unfortunately, has the HITACHI drive.

I've been hobbled by the awful riplock feature, as well. I don't rip DVDs but when the feature is activated, I've hit a scenario that is even worse!

I've tried to install Final Cut Pro Studio, which spans over 7 DVDs. Each DVD took 1hr+! It was so frustrating that I ultimately cancelled the install. I ended up making .DMG images of all 7 DVDs. Oddly enough, 2 of the DVD images suffered from the rip lock and took 40 minutes each and the other 5 DVDs did not suffer from riplock and took 7 minutes. After I had all the DMGs mounted 2 hours later, install took... 15 minutes!

I've heard that when people had to reinstall MAC OS X, the riplock enables and the install takes hours. I just installed windows via bootcamp and it was excruciating!

I called AppleCare and the "senior supervisor" was a waste of an hour of my time. When are they going to release a firmware update? How can this be possible that the 8x superdrive has been hobbled like this since the 24" iMac and they haven't done anything about it. This is the most aggravating thing ever!
 
ronzoninj said:
I have a BTO 2.93ghz i7.

I ordered it from portableone.com and it was built in the US. It, unfortunately, has the HITACHI drive.

I've been hobbled by the awful riplock feature, as well. I don't rip DVDs but when the feature is activated, I've hit a scenario that is even worse!

I've tried to install Final Cut Pro Studio, which spans over 7 DVDs. Each DVD took 1hr+! It was so frustrating that I ultimately cancelled the install. I ended up making .DMG images of all 7 DVDs. Oddly enough, 2 of the DVD images suffered from the rip lock and took 40 minutes each and the other 5 DVDs did not suffer from riplock and took 7 minutes. After I had all the DMGs mounted 2 hours later, install took... 15 minutes!

I've heard that when people had to reinstall MAC OS X, the riplock enables and the install takes hours. I just installed windows via bootcamp and it was excruciating!

I called AppleCare and the "senior supervisor" was a waste of an hour of my time. When are they going to release a firmware update? How can this be possible that the 8x superdrive has been hobbled like this since the 24" iMac and they haven't done anything about it. This is the most aggravating thing ever!
Click to expand...

Errg this is so annoying! I didn't realize riplock would impede other processes, I hope I don't get the Hitachi in mine. It gets delivered Friday, and I don't even want to open it. Do you guys think I should return it and get an i5 instead for $200 less and a better drive?
 
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