Ricoh MP5125A DVD Writer

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Ricoh MP5125A

OEM:Ricoh
Chipset:Ricoh

12xCDR CLV
10xCDRW CLV
~~DVD-R~~
~~DVD-RW~~
~~DVD-RDL~~
2.4xDVD+R CLV
2.4xDVD+RW CLV
~~DVD+RDL~~
~~DVD-RAM~~

~~BD-R~~
~~BD-RE~~
~~BD-R DL~~
~~BD-RE DL~~
~~HDDVD-R~~
~~HDDVD-RW~~
~~HDDVD-RDL~~
~~HDDVD-RWDL~~
~~HDDVD-RAM~~

32xCD
8xDVD
~~BDROM~~
~~HDDVD~~

EIDE, 2MB
BitSetting
More info

$200

9.0/10
42 votes
Read 48
comments
(38646 views)

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DVD Media comments for this DVD Writer (click on the link to read the comments):
2 Arita 2.4xDVD+R (RICOHJPNR00) comments, 2 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
2 BestMedia Platinum 2.4xDVD+R (RICOHJPNR00) comments, 1 good, 1 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Bulkpaq 4xDVD+R (MEDIA ID001) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Datawrite Classic 2.4xDVD+RW (PRODISC.W01) comments, 0 good, 1 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Datawrite Generation 1 2.4xDVD+R (PRODISC.R01) comments, 0 good, 0 mixed, 1 poor.
1 Fujifilm 2.4xDVD+RW (RICOHJPNW01) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 GQ (Great Quality) 2.4xDVD+RW (...........) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 HP 2.4xDVD+R (MCC.....001) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Imation 4xDVD+R (CMC MAG.F01) comments, 0 good, 1 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Infiniti 4xDVD+R (RICOHJPNR01) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Intenso 2.4xDVD+RW (RICOHJPNW01) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Legacy 2.4xDVD+R (RICOHJPNR00) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Maxell 2.4xDVD+R (RICOHJPNR00) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Memorex 4xDVD+R (MBIPG101R03) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Memorex 2.4xDVD+R (RICOHJPNR00) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Memorex 4xDVD+R (RICOHJPNR01) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Mirror Platinum 4xDVD+R (IS01....001) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
2 Mirror Platinum 4xDVD+R (MEDIA ID001) comments, 0 good, 1 mixed, 1 poor.
1 Mitsubishi 2.4xDVD+RW (MCC.....A01) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Packard Bell 2.4xDVD+RW (OPTODISCOP1) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Philips 2.4xDVD+R (CMC MAG.R01) comments, 0 good, 0 mixed, 1 poor.
1 Ricoh 2.4xDVD+R (RICOHJPNR00) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
2 Ricoh 2.4xDVD+RW (RICOHJPNW01) comments, 2 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Rimax 2.4xDVD+RW (RICOHJPNW01) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 RiMedia 8xDVD+R (POMSI00201.) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
4 Ritek 2.4xDVD+R (RICOHJPNR00) comments, 4 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Sky 2.4xDVD+R (PLASMON.001) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Sony 2.4xDVD+RW (RICOHJPNW01) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Traxdata 2.4xDVD+R (RICOHJPNR00) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Traxdata 4xDVD+R (RICOHJPNR01) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
2 Verbatim (DataLifePlus) 4xDVD+R (MCC.....002) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 1 poor.
1 Verbatim (DataLifePlus) 2.4xDVD+RW (MCC.....A01) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
Post your DVD Media comments here

Comments

48 comments, Showing 26 to 48 comments

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just bought from pc world £199 with great software can copy direct to rw+ disc without going onto hard drive first
copied straight from digital camcorder onto rw+ disc supplied worked fine in stand alone dvd player (bush)
but when i copied the rw+ disc to r+ disc it would not play in bush dvd player but would play on pc
i will try different software to remedy this
if anybody has please e mail me
thankyou

Comments posted by jones8430 from Other, January 02, 2003. Rated this writer 9 of 10.

Great product!

So far I have used the following Media:

Platinum DVD+R
Platinum DVD+RW
Ricoh DVD+R (for data and video)
Ricoh DVD+RW(for data and video)
Ricoh CD-RW
TDK CD-R
Imation DVD+R

for Video (DVD, VCD, SVCD) and data with Pinnacle Studio 8.x and Nero 5.5.x OS is XP.
All disks run perfectly on my standalone Sony NS305 and Toshiba SDM1612 PC-Drive. I never encountered any problem with the drive or software using this drive

My Phillips 957 standalone Player stutters with most disks as do all Phillips players I checked with my disks at a store. The same problem I had with VCD and SVCD I created with a TEAC CD-R burner. A friend's Yamakawa also has problems with discs I created with the Ricoh but not as bad as my Philips.

Ricoh tested some players and drives for read compatibility:
http://www.ricohpmmc.com/dvd/asia/cope/video.html

Comments posted by Marc Danapel from Other, January 01, 2003. Rated this writer 9 of 10.

I've had a disastrous 6 weeks with this drive. I've had endless problems writing DVD+R disks and have lost many. After hours of investigations and consultations with Ricoh support (who ain't got a clue! - I gave up)

I have an new AMD XP2000+ system running Windows XP professional. After installing the supplied S/W, I did a couple of PS2 backup's to DVD+RW (using Nero) and they worked fine. I even blew the supplied +R and that also worked - so I was a happy chappie. I then delved into video stuff and made many sample experimental copies to +RW - no problem. I then started to blow +R and that's when things went wrong. Only 1 in 4 actually worked (there were no errors reported - and not even the 5125A could read them!) I even resorted to using (expensive) Ricoh media to prove a point (x2.4 approved!) but still lost the disks. I even swapped the drive as I was convinced by now it must be faulty (and Ricoh support agreed!) but it still did the same. After further converstations with Ricoh support (whose's final conclusion was to try Windows 98 as they have had no problems with that!!), I've given up and returned the drive.

Conclusions -
Superb DVD+RW drive - worked everytime.
Crap DVD+R - I'm convinced this is a rehashed 5120A gone wrong! Ricoh - a bag of Sh**.
PC World - excellent company who gave a full refund (even after 6 weeks)once the situation was explained. I've had many items from them and will continue to use.

Comments posted by JM from Other, December 27, 2002. Rated this writer 1 of 10.

This writer seems a good buy....£199 at PC World.

Installed with no fuss, software supplied is mixed...but what bundles aren't, main thing was to use my full version of nero else couldn't use my two burners, as different makes and the bundled nero only supports Ricoh.

I've used it to burn Ricoh and datawrite DVD +R and +RW with no problems, and the Ricoh play on my Maxim MX11-20 standalone with no problem. The datawrite stutters which I assume is a media compatability problem as it plays ok on the PC.

I am doing what many people do and buying mixed makes of DVD+R/RW to try them out have some mirror and Ritek in a mixed pack from valuemedia in the UK, the datawrite are very good value from www.blankmedia.com

Brummieman

Comments posted by Brummieman from Other, December 24, 2002. Rated this writer 9 of 10.

Bought this writer from Dixons a couple of weeks ago. Would only respond to the copy of nero supplied. would not respond to Easy CD Creator 5 or more importantly with my Videowave 5 purchased for the job. Two main problems
1) does not recognise writer when trying to burn
2) when trying to render files of about 40 mins it says directory not large enough.
Not very happy with RICOH support or ROXIO who now supposedly support Videowave.

Comments posted by Dave from Other, December 23, 2002. Rated this writer 6 of 10.

About multisession and recordable DVDs:
The "standard" doesnt allow multisession for Video-DVD, but some programs doesnt matter.
For Data-DVDs multisession is no problem after all, but you should install a GOOD UDF-Reader who does cooperate/work with your burnprogram(s) and your system.
For some reasons it just helps when you select UDF v.1.02 in the writing options.

Rating 9/10 cause this drive is great!

Comments posted by _chef_ from Other, December 22, 2002. Rated this writer 9 of 10.

Pleased with results so far both burning and playing in my DVD player.
Anyone any comments about multisession on DVD+R disks. Nero appears to allow access to update but the disc only shows my original session when trying to read. The additional sessions do show up in Nero.

Comments posted by Allan from Other, December 19, 2002. Rated this writer 8 of 10.

Just bought this drive last night. Didn't get much sleep! Using it in the following setup: -
VIA KT400 M/B with AMD Athlon 2200+ XP and 512Meg 333
Hauppauge WinTV 250 PVR capture card and nVidia 4600i graphics.
Capturing form NTL Pace cable TV via RGB to S-video converter (www.rgbtosvideo.com). Doing it this way rather than composite means no Macrovision on pay-per-view films!
The bundled software is very poor. neoDVD is 2 versions out of date. Nero 5.5 has less functionality than the version bundled with my Plextor CDR/W drive. Intervideo software locks up. I did one burn (1.5 hours/4.5GB/DVD quality capture). I don't see how they can advertise 4.7GB DVDs as 120 minutes! The burn went well (as did several test burns). I have no fault with the drive but it is let down by old software that can't be upgraded because it has been left well behind the supplier. The Ricoh DVD+RW played happily in my Sony NS305 DVD player.

Comments posted by Nick Harper from Other, December 19, 2002. Rated this writer 5 of 10.

Seems to be a bit of confusion with this burner judging by those last two comments.
Firstly, to Druss this is a DVD+R/RW burner and will therefore not work with DVD-R/RW disks.
Try Datawrite DVD+R and DVD+RWs disks. I've had great success with these.
Secondly, to Nelly unfortunately copying a DVD is not quite as simple as that. Check out the DVD rip guides to the left. Smartripper does a great job of copying the files to your hard drive which you can then burn with Nero (as long as they are less than 4.38GB !)
Things get a bit trickier when the original DVD is too large for a DVD+R/RW.

Comments posted by Scobo from Other, December 16, 2002. Rated this writer No rating.

Top Purchase from PCWORLD for £199 only!!

I ditched the supplied software in favour of a combination of Adobe Premiere 6.0 and Minerva Impression 2.0, (but am using the packaged version of Nero).

RICOH DVD+RW & DVD+R (OK)
PHILIPS DVD+RW (OK)
TDK CD-R (OK)
MOMOREX DVD+R (NOT OK) (thinks it's an Audio-CD!)

Somebody else on this thread said that they've got Memorex DVD+R to work, so it might just be me.

Even managed to get the DVD+R working on my PS2!!

Comments posted by Jabbarman from Other, December 13, 2002. Rated this writer 9 of 10.

Great little unit, cost me AUD550 (~190GBP) at Harris. Tested +RW&+R with Ulead Movie Factory, both work ok but you need the +R patch (trial version dosn't have this)

Works with all media tried so far (Ricoh+RW, Verbatim+R, Laser +RW)

Comments posted by Russ from Other, December 13, 2002. Rated this writer 8 of 10.

Further to my comments below, I have now burned some Datawrite +R discs - £13.99 for 10 (inc VAT)from

http://www.blankdiscshop.co.uk/acatalog/RecordableDVD+R.html

No coasters and run fine on my Hitachi DVP 250E and Scan 2000 machines

Comments posted by Jack from Other, November 21, 2002. Rated this writer No rating.

Just bought one from PC World for £199.

Easy to install and I've now burned both DVD+R and DVD+RW using the "Super Newbie guide for DVD to DVDR" on this site.

Excellent results on my Hitachi DVP 250 E with both +R and +RW.

I also have a Scan SC20o0 and whilst this plays the DVD+R, it can't handle the DVD+RW disks.

Comments posted by kjskot from Other, November 17, 2002. Rated this writer 10 of 10.

Fantastic!!

Couldn't be easier (I'm new to this)

Bought it from PC World for £199.

Only tried DVD +RW - but it played straightaway on my portable Sharp DV-L88S

I have the drive mounted in an external firewire case (no room in my PC case)

Comments posted by Andrew from Other, November 11, 2002. Rated this writer 10 of 10.

Picked one up at Dixons for £199.99 today.
No installation problems and was burning with my existing copy of Nero straight away.
Tested the supplied DVD+RW a few times. It played every time in my Logix 3000 including a DVD rip authored with SpruceUP.
I used Nero 5.5.9.9 with the DVD video template.
Haven't tried a "+R" but they're not much cheaper than "+RWs" at the moment anyway.
Very pleased with it so far. Just need some cheaper media.
Bye, bye (s)vcd !!

Comments posted by Scobo from Other, November 02, 2002. Rated this writer 10 of 10.

Bought from PC world, like everyone else, didnt bother with packaged software. I wanted in mainly for creating DVD's of my home videos (currently on DV tape from a camcoreder). This drive combined with Ulead studio 6 and Ulead moviemaker gave superb results. Really good quality achieved.

Comments posted by Mark Sawtell from Other, October 21, 2002. Rated this writer 8 of 10.

Purchased this drive (Sony dru120A, a repackaged Ricoh MP5125A) from Fry's for $279.00 ($349-$50 rebate) on 09/18. Installation under XP was simple. I flashed drive to 1.38 Ricoh firware, used DVD bit setter to flag +RW media as DVDR, junked neoDVD and created disks using Ulead DVD Workshop 1.2. NO COASTERS with +RW nor +R Sony, Memorex media. This drive is FAST, full DVDs take ~25 mins to burn. Resulting disks play flawlessly in my Apex 600A.

Comments posted by Tlaloc from Other, October 20, 2002. Rated this writer No rating.

i just bought this burner and it is a great burner

Comments posted by tibo from Other, October 12, 2002. Rated this writer 10 of 10.

200 GBP (British Pounds) from PC world!!! Great recorder, didn't even open the software, used latest Nero and was burning within 5 minutes of fitting, works on all my players and console games machines. best buy of the year and I have bought a LOT of stuff this year! I say again £200. GREAT!

Comments posted by Wheels from Other, October 09, 2002. Rated this writer 10 of 10.

just bought this burner (in Frankfurt, Germany, 299,- Euro) and tried DVD+R and DVD+RW media. It did work with +R, but not with +RW. The +RW discs could not be read by the burner, nor by any other DVD drive. Worse, the +RW media could not be erased again or formatted. Contacted Ricoh Europe and they told me to send it in.
Will report back here.
Nice site, nice forums.
Wurstbrot

Comments posted by wurstbrot from Other, October 07, 2002. Rated this writer No rating.

Tested Pinnacle Studio 8.1 with the MP 5125 A to create menues with sound and animated previews. Studio 8.1 burns DVD+RW and DVD+R.
Gread video editing and burning application.

Comments posted by Marc from Other, September 13, 2002. Rated this writer 9 of 10.

Have burnt to DVD+R, DVD+RW, CD-R and CD-RW discs with no problems. +R and +RW work perfectly in my Grundig Xenaro 5100/2 DVD. +R work in Scott 838, Scott 838i and Nintaus N9901. Bundle software is poor (NeoDVD). Testet with Nero 5.590 and DVD workshop 1.0 and 1.2 Trial.
Read DVD-R.

Comments posted by sb from Other, August 15, 2002. Rated this writer 9 of 10.

Just got this burner.
Have burnt to both DVD+R and DVD+RW discs with no problems. Burns at x2.5, so a full 4.7GB discs takes about 25 minutes to complete.
Using latest Nero release(5.5.9.0) to do the burn.
+R and +RW work perfectly in my Yelo 800 DVD (although havn't tried them elsewhere yet).

Free software supplied with the burner is poor (NeoDVD).

Some authoring DVD packages don't recognise the Ricoh yet, but patches are being released as I write (Videopack 5 is the latest).

I'd rate this as excellent hardware. Best price I found in the UK was DABS.co.uk @£311 (inc. VAT).

Comments posted by BobC from Other, August 06, 2002. Rated this writer 8 of 10.

48 comments, Showing 26 to 48 comments

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1 DVD Writer hits, Showing 1 to 1 DVD Writers

Column Explanation:

Click on this for more technical information.

New comments= New comments since your last visit.
New Writer = New DVD Writer since your last vist.

OEM
Original Equipment Manufacturer.

Chipset
The manufacturer of the main chipset the DVD writer/recorder is based on.

Write support / Read support
DVD-R = Works
~~DVD-R~~ = Is not supported
DVD-R? = Not tested

Single Layer(4.7GB) write speeds
1x (CLV) = about 58 minutes
2x (CLV) = about 29 minutes
2.4x (CLV) = about 24 minutes
4x (CLV) = about 14.5 minutes
6x (CLV/ZCLV) = about 10-12 minutes
8x (PCAV/ZCLV) = about 8-10 minutes
12x (PCAV/ZCLV) = about 6.5-7.5 minutes
16x (CAV/ZCLV) = about 6-7 minutes

Dual/Double Layer(8.5GB) write speeds
1x CLV = about 105 minutes
2.4x CLV = about 44 minutes
4x CLV = about 27 minutes

Single Layer (4.7GB) read speeds
1x read speed is 1.321MB/s = ~56 minutes
6x CAV (avg. ~4x) read speed is max 7.93MB/s = ~14 minutes
8x CAV (avg. ~6x) read speed is max 10.57MB/s = ~10 minutes
12x CAV (avg. ~8x) read speed is max 15.85MB/s = ~7 minutes
16x CAV (avg. ~12x) read speed is max 21.13MB/s = ~5 minutes

DVD Write types
CAV = Constant Angular Velocity, the DVD is written at a constantly increasing speed.
CLV = Constant Linear Velocity, the DVD is written at a constant speed.
ZCLV = Zone Constant Linear Velocity, the DVD is divided into zones. After each zone the write speed is increased.
PCAV = Partial Constant Angular Velocity, the DVD is being written at an increasing speed until a certain speed. After this speed it will not increase anymore.

Connection
Desktop = Standalone desktop DVD Recorder
EIDE = Computer DVD Writer with EIDE/IDE connection
SCSI = Computer DVD Writer with SCSI connection
USB = Computer desktop DVD Writer with USB 2.0 or/and 1.1 connection
FireWire = Computer desktop DVD Writer with IEEE 1394/FireWire/i.Link connection (some standalone desktop dvd recorder supports this also but then it is usually to connect your DV camera to the recorder)

Rating
The first rating is based on a weighted rank (the true Bayesian), it requires at least 5 votes to get a weighted rating.
The second rating between the ( ) is a normal average rating.

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