Very short DVD-ROM/CD-ROM drive, perfect for the A4000D!

[patrik]

Hi everyone!

This is something for all A4000D owners .

I little while ago I was exchanging the CD-ROM drive in my parents computer for a new DVD-ROM drive. I had removed the old CD-ROM drive and put it on the floor. When I took the new DVD-ROM out of its box and saw it at the same time as the old CD-ROM laying on the floor I noticed how short the new DVD-ROM drive was - it almost looked square in comparision to the old CD-ROM drive. I have definately never seen such a short drive before. The first thing that sprung into my mind was how well it would fit in my A4000D. The drive measures up to a length of only 17cm which results in a bit over 4.5cm of clearance between the DVD-ROM and the powersupply in the A4000D. I think everyone who has mounted a DVD-ROM/CD-ROM drive in an A4000D would agree with me if I said that that is pretty kickass :=).

The DVD-ROM drive is a Lite-On XJ-HD166S. I also noticed that their latest CD-ROM drive - the Lite-On LTN-527T has the same short length (17cm).

Have fun!


/Patrik

[Karlos]

That's cool :-) I heard of so many ill fitting CD drives in the 4000D.

So, that's the drive sorted. Now there's just the trifling matter of getting an A4KD to go with it :-D

[Will-i-am]

Dumb question #1....from a slightly silly man....I assume the DVD drive will not be expected to play DVDs? ON the Amiga, that is? I'm having a serious problem with a couple cheap CD drives that almost are short enough to squeeze in and I have been chewing over solutions. A DVD drive like that would be okay assuming there is no trouble merely playing CDs on it, but if the potential existed to play DVDs on it, well I might be able to get my wife to agree to let me buy "just one more piece of hardware". I'm not "whipped" by any means, but the computer area here is divided into two sections: the computers that actually work, and my area, where several Amigas are in various stages of repair while I try to get all the bits and pieces to actually fire up.

[Karlos]

I never had any problems getting DVD drive working with my A1200. Well, the DVD drive itself is now broken, but it used to work a treat. CD and DVD discs were fine on it.

Playing DVD movies is another matter - you need enough power to decode mpeg2 and a suitable player that can recognise the disc layout. AMP seems to work OK.

[patrik]

@Will-i-am:

You will not be able to play DVDs in full speed with any of the accelerators available for the A4000D. But why not buy the CD-ROM drive i linked to, it costs about 15$ instead of the $30 the DVD-ROM drive costs.


/Patrik

[Will-i-am]

ah well, I skimmed past the CD drive you linked to, Patrik, but  once I checked it out it sounds good...my confusion about the dvd player is still there, what with desenting opinions and all. I have a Cyberstorm PPC card in the A4KD, which is pretty darn fast (Vista Pro is a LOT of fun now) Would that be fast enough? It's rather an academic question since my little monitor isn't much good for real movies....I use the Beast for animations and some CADD work and survey business being what it is these days I'm pretty much restricted to the anims...but watching a movie downstairs in the Amiga Room would be nice when the ladies of the house would prefer not hearing Sanjuro for the 1,000th time!

[adolescent]

Thanks for the tip.  I've been looking at the LTC-48161H CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive.  It's around $45 and has the same dimensions.  

[patrik]

@Will-i-am:

Maybe I was a bit definite when saying that no accelerator for the A4000D would be fast enough to play a DVD disc. I am positive that the A4000D with a CyberStormPPC and a CyberVisionPPC graphics-card would have a hard time playing a DVD disc in full resolution (PAL - 720x576, NTSC - 720x480) and 24-bit colour. However, it might be possible to play in some lower resolution with a reduced colour-depth.

The best advice I have for you is to just try it out and see if it actually can play a DVD disc. This by either temporarily connecting a DVD-ROM to your A4000 or in some way transfer a small mpeg2-clip with the same resolution, framerate etc as a DVD to your A4000. Karlos suggested using the AMP software for playing DVD discs/mpeg2-files.


@adolescent:

Yeah, all Lite-On DVD-RW and COMBO drives and their newer DVD-ROM, CD-RW and CD-ROM drives features the short 17cm length.


/Patrik