TDK 840G DVD Writer


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TDK 840G


OEM:
Plextor
Chipset:Sanyo
40xCDR PCAV
24xCDRW PCAV
4xDVD-R CLV
2xDVD-RW CLV
DVD-RDL
8xDVD+R ZCLV
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
40xCD
12xDVD
BDROM
HDDVD
EIDE, 2MB
More info
$250 8.8/10
21 votes
Read 32
comments

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DVD Media comments for this DVD Writer (click on the link to read the comments):
1 Arita 4xDVD+R (RICOHJPNR01) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
2 CompUSA 1xDVD-R (PRINCO......) comments, 2 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Fujifilm 4xDVD+R (RICOHJPNR01) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Fujifilm 4xDVD+RW (RICOHJPNW11) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 GQ (Great Quality) 2xDVD-R (SONY........) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 HP 4xDVD+RW (PHILIPS.041) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
2 Imation 2.4xDVD+RW (CMC MAG.W01) comments, 0 good, 2 mixed, 0 poor.
1 KHypermedia 2.4xDVD+RW (CMC MAG.W01) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 KHypermedia 1xDVD-R (TDKG02000000) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Liquid Video 2.4xDVD+R (OPTODISCOP2) comments, 0 good, 0 mixed, 1 poor.
2 Maxell 4xDVD-R (MXL RG02....) comments, 1 good, 1 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Memorex 4xDVD+R (CMC MAG.F01) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
2 Memorex 2.4xDVD+RW (INFODISCA01) comments, 2 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Memorex 4xDVD+RW (PRODISC.W02) comments, 0 good, 0 mixed, 1 poor.
2 Memorex 4xDVD+R (RICOHJPNR01) comments, 2 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 RiData 4xDVD+RW (RICOHJPNW11) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 RiData 4xDVD-R (RITEKG04....) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
2 Sony 1xDVD-R (SONY........) comments, 0 good, 0 mixed, 2 poor.
1 Staples 8xDVD+R (CMC MAG.E01) comments, 0 good, 1 mixed, 0 poor.
2 StarLogic 1xDVD-R (PRINCO......) comments, 1 good, 1 mixed, 0 poor.
1 TDK 4xDVD+R (CMC MAG.F01) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 TDK 16xDVD+R (CMC MAG.M01) comments, 0 good, 0 mixed, 1 poor.
5 TDK 4xDVD+R (RICOHJPNR01) comments, 5 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 TDK 4xDVD-R (TTG01.......) comments, 0 good, 0 mixed, 1 poor.
1 TDK 4xDVD-R (TYG01.......) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
2 Teon 8xDVD+R (CMC MAG.E01) comments, 0 good, 0 mixed, 2 poor.
1 Teon 4xDVD+R (PHILIPS.C08) comments, 0 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Value Disc 4xDVD+R (CMC MAG.F01) comments, 0 good, 1 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Verbatim (DataLifePlus) 4xDVD+R (MCC.....002) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Yamakawa 4xDVD-R (DKMZ01......) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
Post your DVD Media comments here
Comments
32 comments, Showing 1 to 25 comments
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Firmware 1.11 now available at the TDK site


Comments posted by Scoater from United States, August 07, 2005. Rated this writer 10 of 10.





Firmware 1.10 now available at the TDK site


Comments posted by Scoater from United States, April 30, 2005. Rated this writer No rating.





Firmware 1.08 now available of the TDK site


Comments posted by Scoater from United States, December 18, 2004. Rated this writer No rating.





Firmware 1.07 now available of the TDK site


Comments posted by jojobrown from United States, June 14, 2004. Rated this writer No rating.





Firmware 1.06 now available of the TDK site


Comments posted by Bob L from United States, April 01, 2004. Rated this writer No rating.





This 840g is way to complicated to set up. I had the 420N and it was a DREAM, so I upgraded.
It worked fine for about a week. Then it started. Could not write end of disc at once. Called tdk tech support. Made about 25 new coasters. Updated Adaptec stuff. Updated to V1.04. Got their cleaners, 'cause TDK only supports Roxio (which is lame), but, they had me trouble shooting in both Roxio and Nero 6. They had me put in fresh installs of XP PRO several times to make sure I had each program completely uninstalled. Had me change around the IDE configuration of my drives. I swear. I rebuilt this computer about 15 times in 6 days.
I liked the 440 so much that I bought two of these 840's. I took one back yesterday to CompUSA. If THIS burn I'm doing now does not work - I'm taking this one back today (within the 14 days) and I'm getting PLEXTOR or SONY. Wait about one minute and I'll tell you this drives fate. tick tick tick.
Okay - UDF Anchor Volume Descriptors - dumped th used read buffer - and I have my first good disk in 7 days !!!!
I gotta tell ya. This is bull. You should not have to do this stuff in this day and age when you set up a machine. Now, how long will it work ???
Ya know. I'm a bit angry right now, so, I'm taking it back anyway - and getting a SONY or the 880 model ! The 840 sux !


Comments posted by Gus from United States, February 27, 2004. Rated this writer 3 of 10.





Once I got this player working right, it has been a dream. I can backup all sorts of discs using just DVD Shrink and Nero.

However, it was difficult for me to get working right. I had an issue right off the bat with the drive with it saying everything was unreadable. After installing the included adaptec software, this was fixed. Then, nero didn't like the drive and had errors on finishing burns, so I needed to upgrade nero. Then, I realized the drive was in PIO mode instead of DMA which caused the drive to read and burn very slowly (4-7 times!) So that an 8x burn took 45 minutes. (to fix, uninstall your IDE channel where the drive resides in device manager and reboot, make sure to select DMA mode before you reboot)

Now, I can burn fast and everything is working great.


Comments posted by tzakiel from United States, February 17, 2004. Rated this writer 9 of 10.





I just got this burner and it came with 1.03 firmware. I tried to burn 8x on Memorex 4x DVD+R media without success. I upgraded to 1.04 firmware and I've burned the same disks at 8x without a problem. I also use this along with my LaCie 52x CDRW. TDK makes a nice burner.


Comments posted by macuzr from United States, February 15, 2004. Rated this writer 8 of 10.





I have used the following media: MEMOREX, SONY and PHILIPS. All have successfully burned movies. I was able to burn at 8x using MEMOREX and SONY; the PHILIPS was rated at 2.4x.

I did not upgrade the firmware. I did upgrade my software, CopyDVDPro (CopyToDVD 2.4.16). However, when I used another MEMOREX disc, it only burned at 4x. After talking with the software tech support, they said 8x burning will be hit or miss. If the media supports it, it will work if not it won't. This can be DISC BY DISC basis.

Overall I like the drive. Good features. I the fact that the TDK drive has two 6 pin FireWire connectors (external model). Plextor had one 4 pin and one 6 pin. Though the Plextor model was cheaper ($30 cheaper at Best Buy).

I haven't rated it yet because I am still trying it out. Haven't done everything with it. Have burned movies and copied CDs. So far that was successfull.


Comments posted by Robert from United States, February 06, 2004. Rated this writer No rating.





Okay, here's an update on my +RW writing dilemma.

I've discovered that Fuji 4x +RW's (RICOHJPNW11) write and erase properly in Nero 6.3. This is when using v1.04 firmware in the drive. However, I've also found that when burning the Fuji +RW as an ISO or data disc, you have to burn at 2.4x speed otherwise CRC errors occur in some of the files. DVD Videos on the other hand burn perfectly at 4x...Go figure.

So in summary TDK -/+R work great, the 4x rated +R's will burn at 8x, and Fuji +RW's burn good at 4x for video and 2.4x for data. And of course I haven't had any problems with CD-R's or CD-RW's, see my other post somewhere below.

AVOID IMATION DVD+RW's! They don't erase reliably! It's not a problem with Nero. I just tested these Fuji's by writing and erasing them about 7 times (in Nero 6.3) and they work fine. There's something wrong with the Imation compatibility. I couldn't erase any of the 10-pack I bought even on the first attempt.


Comments posted by DV Jones from United States, January 24, 2004. Rated this writer 10 of 10.





I got a great deal on this drive at Staples for only $130 after $40 rebate and $30 Staples coupon. Out of the box I burned 4X TDK +R media at 8X using Roxio. For a short time it varied between 5X and 8X then settled in at 8X for the rest of the burn. Also burned 2X -R media at 4X and 2.4X +RW media at 2.4X. Very fast burning CDs too. No coasters at all. I did the upgrade to V1.04 from the TDK site but have not yet noticed any differences. Normally I'd give this drive a 9 because it would be nice if it would burn -R at 8X too. I went with a 10 because I don't want to drag its score down. Great drive.


Comments posted by BobL from Other, January 21, 2004. Rated this writer 10 of 10.





Ditto on DVJones' comments about Nero 6.3, the 1.04 firmware and erasing rewritables. I tried erasing a memorex CD-RW with
the above setup and I get the exact same error. I'll try using different burning software than Nero and see what happens.

Otherwise, I'm pretty happy. Its fast and has otherwise been pretty reliable. I did coaster a few TDK DVD+Rs at 8x speed with the older firmware. Fuji's of been flawless, though.


Comments posted by bluesxman10 from United States, January 21, 2004. Rated this writer 8 of 10.





Purchased this drive and I guess I would love it if my computer would not continue to restart due to a so called driver problem. I would love to make this drive work instead of going back and forth with many.


Comments posted by Poppabig from United States, January 20, 2004. Rated this writer 1 of 10.





This TDK is a rebadged Plextor 708A. It just does not use the same firmware from Plextor.


Comments posted by budz from Other, January 12, 2004. Rated this writer No rating.





Make sure you upgrade to firmware v1.04 (as of this writing), it allows between 5-9x rip speed without doing any tricks with the eject button. It also allows 8x burning on 4x media!! I use Nero v6.3 but I assume any burning program will go to 8x. Also, this seems like a no brainer, but make sure that if you are running DriveSpeed or a similar utility, that you set the read speeds to "maximum" before attempting to rip.

I love this burner. It works great with TDK DVD+R's and Imation DVD+RW's. I have had some problems erasing the Imations in Nero (I get a power calibration error), however they erase fine in other programs like DVD Decrypter. Strange.. This must be an issue with Nero 6.3 detecting the status of the media, or perhaps DVD Decrypter somehow forces the erase no matter what.

VCDs, SVCDs, data CDs, and audio CDs all burn just fine. I use Memorex CD-Rs and Memorex and TDK CD-RWs.

FYI, I play my DVDs and VCDs back on an old Sony NS-300 and they work great which kind of surprised me because of the age of the player.

Get this burner, you won't regret it. It's not worth saving the pennies for a junky burner when this one is just a little more expensive and is a solid unit that can do reliable 8x burns on 4x media.


Comments posted by DV Jones from Other, January 12, 2004. Rated this writer 10 of 10.





I updated to firmware v1.04 and can still only rip at about 2.2x. This is in DVD decrypter. The drive is running in DMA mode, Win2k. I'm sure we'll figure it out eventually. This drive is relatively new and there's not a lot of user information on it out there yet.


Comments posted by DV Jones from Other, January 10, 2004. Rated this writer No rating.





Purchased this drive from Best Buy @ $150 with rebates.
With firware 1.03 burned great..would only do 4x on Memorex media though. Then upgraded to firmware 1.04 even better results. Just about to hack the plextores firmare. With 1.04 memorex and fuji burn at 8x :) takes about 7 minutes to complete. Unlocking the 2x read speed works on mine. DVD shrinks transfer rate goes from 2.4mb to 4-6mb.
YES THIS IS A 708a open up the insides and see.
Plextor makes these for TDK to sell at a lower price point.
Get it now before price goes up..Best Buy just raised it $60
Weird that my plextor cd burner can be unlocked just like the TDK!!!!!LOL :) :-) ::) :>) :<) :'(


Comments posted by doug from Other, January 10, 2004. Rated this writer 10 of 10.





This drive is working great for now. I recently updated the firmware to 1.04 from TDK's website and it resolved the stuck PIO mode problem that I had. Now I'm able to rip faster in DMA mode:

I 13:53:26 Operation Successfully Completed! - Duration: 00:17:55
I 13:53:26 Average Read Rate: 7,659 KB/s (5.5x) - Maximum Read Rate: 11,120 KB/s (8.0x)

For those having problems ripping > 2x should update to the new firmware and make sure "DMA if available" is set on the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers - Primary or Secondary depending where your burner is connected.


Comments posted by a1iens from Other, January 09, 2004. Rated this writer 8 of 10.





I just burned my first DVD-R in lESS than 8 minutes using the TDK 840G. Earlier this week I purchased the Plextor PX-708A for the same price($299) as the better known TDK 840G. the Plextor burned but for some odd reason it would not even reach its 4X capability. I was disgusted so I returned it to BestBuy. 2 days later (after my debit was credited back :p) I purchased the TDK 840G. It burned the trial TDK 4X DVD+R in 7:55!!! ...4.7 gigabytes in 7:55!!!...I love this thing. This drive is NOT the same as the Plextor PX-708A, as some people were saying in earlier posts. Thanks for your time and if you need a GREAT burner then pick one of these baby's up!!!


Comments posted by William Murray from Other, January 07, 2004. Rated this writer 10 of 10.





I bought this one from Staples for 141.00. Installed and flashed the firmware to1.04 from Plextor. It works good and very quiet. But I had a problem: it start burning at 8x speed and then drop down and finished at around 15 minutes. I wonder why? Any help will greatly appreciated!
I think this is a major problem! :)
Thank you


Comments posted by DuyKhoa from Other, January 06, 2004. Rated this writer 9 of 10.





Haven't had any problems with it at all. Its fast and stable. I get much more compatible DVDs than with my old Liteon 401S. I'm pretty convinced that it definitely is a plextor 708a because not only does it have all the same features, but it also has the 2x rip limit, and you can get around it by holding down the eject button with the tray empty.


Comments posted by Ryan from Other, January 06, 2004. Rated this writer 10 of 10.





how come everybody keeps saying this drive is a rebadged plextor? i mean just because 2 drives look the same doesnt mean they are the same. Has plextor admitted doing business with tdk? anyway i have this drive as well and its a great drive


Comments posted by blackmax from Other, January 02, 2004. Rated this writer No rating.





I haven't had a lot of luck yet with this drive. I have yet to burn a good +R disc. I've tried several different programs, including Nero, Burn at Once, and Copy to DVD.

I upgraded to TDK's 1.03 firmware. Where do you get the Plextor 1.04 firmware? All that I was able to get was an .exe file and a zip file that has a .bin file. Where do you find that 104.ini file to modify.
I'm new to the DVD thing and not sure what I'm doing wrong!
Help!!


Comments posted by Dean from Other, January 01, 2004. Rated this writer No rating.





I also purchased the TDK 840G from Staples. Got home, installed the drive and flashed it with Plextor 1.04 firmware.

Tried to burn a Verbatim 4X DVD+R at 8X using Nero 6.0.0.0 = coaster. I then upgraded to Nero 6.3.0.0 and it burned like a charm, finished in 7:37.

Great drive so far!


Comments posted by hungwin from Other, December 30, 2003. Rated this writer 10 of 10.





Here ya go (TDK using Plextor firmware 1.04)
Cut and pasted from fatwallet..Caveman said it best.

1. open up the 1.04 version ini file and delete all text.

2. Cut and paste the below info into the 1.04 ini file.

[UpgradeInformation]
ApplicationTitle=TDK DVDRW840G
Inquiry=TDK DVDRW840G;
Version=1.04
FirmwareFileName=Opal_104.bin
FirmwareFileSize=983040
BufferSize=16384
[Option]
Use DVDRW Caution=Yes
Use Binary Information=No

3. save this new 1.04 file.

4. double click the PXFirm3_22.exe file to upgarade.

There has to be 5 spaces between the "Inquiry=tdk (5 spaces here) DVDRW840G;" line.



Comments posted by Sepen from Other, December 30, 2003. Rated this writer No rating.




32 comments, Showing 1 to 25 comments
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1 DVD Writer hits, Showing 1 to 1 DVD Writers
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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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