Logitec's portable burner slot loads 8cm discs: an industry first?

If you've been tempted by Panasonic's new HDC-DX1 AVCHD camcorder seen heading our way, then check this DVD drive from Japan's Logitec (no, not Logitech). The LDR-PMC8U2 is said to be "an industry first" to slot load those 8-cm mini-DVDs used by Panny's 3CCD recorder. It also supports standard format CDs and DVDs with an on-the-go bonus Y-USB cable for drawing power off 2x USB ports when 5V 500mA just ain't enough to support the unit's max read/write data rates: 8x DVD±R/+RW, 5x DVD-RAM, 6x DVD-RW, 4x DVD+R DL/-R DL, 24x CD-R/-RW 24, and 8x DVD-ROM and 24x CD-ROM. It also touts Labelflash support for burning custom motifs or images onto compatible media. All in a slim, portable drive measuring just 17.5-mm (0.69-inches) thick. Hitting Japan at the end of December for ¥22,050 or about $188 should they ever come this way.

[Via Impress]

[ANDRE R. @ Dec 13th 2006 8:52AM]

I thought the wii was the first to introduce this actually, well not the burning feature but the 8cm slot loading.

[jono @ Dec 13th 2006 8:54AM]

Doesn't the Wii support slot loading 8cm discs for gamecube game slot loading?

[will @ Dec 13th 2006 8:56AM]

wii did it first. You should change the title to be more sarcastic.... like per usual.

[Thomas Ricker @ Dec 13th 2006 9:02AM]

Will, sarcasm added to title.

thomas

[myscrnnm @ Dec 13th 2006 9:06AM]

Logitec can technically say this because the Wii uses 8cm GameCube optical discs. It won't be able to use DVDs until next year.

[Chocolate Starfish @ Dec 13th 2006 9:15AM]

When you said burner slot, it reminded me of that old lady who spilled McDonalds coffee in her lap.

[Jeff @ Dec 13th 2006 9:23AM]

Since we're discussing McDonald's Coffee Lady anyway, please do yourself a favor and read this...

http://www.vanosteen.com/mcdonalds-coffee-lawsuit.htm

Thank you.

[treetrunk @ Dec 13th 2006 10:22AM]

Oh come on. Anyone with a brain knows that suit was absolute nonsense. Coffee is a hot beverage made with boiled water. Therefore its temperature may be up to 100 celcius and one should take appropriate precautions. Squeezing a cheap styrofoam cup between your thighs whilst removing the lid and sitting in a moving vehicle is not appropriate precautions!

While it's unfortunate that she was injured quite badly, the woman was at fault here. Common sense tells you the coffee if hot and common sense tells you that hot liquids scald.

[Rus @ Dec 13th 2006 10:14AM]

AS an Apple Tech ... I welcome this "innovation" ... I have fished 5 8cm mini CDs (from Sony CD digital cameras) over the last 5 years of slot drives

[tayaya @ Dec 18th 2006 11:41AM]

Slot loading drives that accept both 12cm and 8cm discs are noth anything new. Wii certainly didn't do it first.

The DVD drive in my AVIC-N1 from Pioneer accepts 8cm discs, as do many other head units by Pioneer as well as other manufacturers, through the same slot you put your 12cm DVD and CD discs in.

[Grey Acumen @ Dec 13th 2006 11:30AM]

Indeed, that wasn't an issue of "callous disregard for customers" but a case of "take responsibility for your own stupidity and don't do stupid stuff"
She was 81 years old, she should darn well know better than to not be able to equate hot liquids with burns.

But that really doesn't have anything to do with this. Whether or not the Wii can READ DVDS is entirely different from whether or not it can LOAD them. Wii should technically be the first.

But then again, maybe Logitec got the design from nintendo, or vicaversa. So I'm not really going to worry about it.

[Ralph @ Dec 13th 2006 11:25AM]

Wii did, indeed, release a dual size slot feed drive first.

[duke @ Dec 13th 2006 12:10PM]

they had me sold at the slim design, one time in the past i predict that 8cm discs will be the "future", sure enough it still didn't come true, but i see more and more medias in the shops, in between gadgets. CD 700MB vs. 210MB, and for DVDs, 4.37GB vs. 1.4GB

still they provide good amount of storage, even tho spin ratio slowed so much at closer center, but they are constantly improving the technology, if anyone could imagine a Blueray 8CM disc, which probably covers 5 or 6 GIGs of spaces, won't that be a great companion for modern laptops ?

[Tom @ Dec 13th 2006 12:15PM]

Their claim is that this is the first slot load DVD burner that can burn to 8 and 12cm discs, not the first slot load drive to accept any 8cm disc. And no, as others have stated, the Wii wasn't first either. The PowerMac G4 Cube in 2000 accepted 8 or 12cm discs just fine, and I used to burn a ton of mini CDs with it. It's something that surprised me when future Apple slot load drives changed to only accept 12cm discs. I'd love to have the ability to burn to miniDVDs on my MacBook Pro.

[Adam @ Dec 13th 2006 12:36PM]

It was actually the slot-load cd/dvd drives of the SL iMacs (and later the PB G4) that first had this feature. There were two guides just inside the drive that would center the disc properly. The combo drives introduced in the next generation of PB G4s (where you had to push the disc in nearly all the way) also were able to accept these, but in a slightly different way. It would suck the disc in all the way, then two guides would bump the disc into the proper position. Sadly, all the drives from the DVI PB G4->on do not have this feature.


/Apple Tech

[Rick wilson @ Dec 13th 2006 1:36PM]

doesn't matter who does what with slot load, panasonic gets royalties! ahahahaha, go blu-ray!

[cmonkey @ Dec 13th 2006 7:02PM]

The two USB connectors are not because 5v isn't enough; the potential difference is still 5 volts. The reason is that per the USB standard, a device can draw a maximum of 500mA off of a USB port. By using two USB ports, the device can then draw 1A, which is apparently necessary to burn DVDs at 8x, or perhaps to burn Labelflash images.

[kOa7 @ Dec 13th 2006 10:49PM]

I thought it said 8" disk. That would be awesome.

[Stevie @ Dec 14th 2006 12:54AM]

'Since we're discussing McDonald's Coffee Lady anyway, please do yourself a favor and read this...

http://www.vanosteen.com/mcdonalds-coffee-lawsuit.htm

Thank you.'

the first mistake was buying somthing from Mickey D's, thats health risk right their

sucks for the Lady, but common sense would have saved Her

and yes Apple was first

-Stevie