Traxdata CDR 4120 PRO 4x write/12x read CD recorder

Emedia Professional, Oct, 1998 by Hugh Bennett

LEGEND (*) - Supported (o) - Not Supported

RELATED ARTICLE: Traxdata CDR 4120 PRO

Synopsis: Traxdata's CDR 4120 PRO is a solid and well-rounded package that successfully balances state-of-the-art 4X recording power with ease of use for both home and business users. The TEAC CD-R55S recorder at the core of the bundle does not disappoint, boasting both reliable 4X recording and rock-solid CLV 12X CD reading and audio extraction capabilities. Further distinguishing the Trax bundle is the array of packaged software, including CeQuadrat's PacketCD 3.0 and WinOnCD 3.5, which provide significant flexibility for most recording tasks.

Price: $479 internal full package (including software, media, and SCSI adapter); $419 internal drive bundle without SCSI adapter: $479 external PC and Mac version

For more information, contact: Traxdata Ltd. The

Tithe Barn, Tithe Court, Langley, Berkshire United Kingdom: 44 (0)1753 586655; Fax 44 (0)1753 595547: http.//www.traxdata.com; InfoLink #434

RELATED ARTICLE: TEAC's CD-R555 4X/12X CD Recorder

How times change. Only a couple of years ago, Yamaha had the unique distinction of being the sole provider of 4X CD recorders, but with the end of 1998 on the near horizon a number of additional manufacturers including TEAC, Matsushita, Sony, Mitsumi, and Plextor are now offering 4X devices or plan to do so soon. It should come as no surprise, then, that in relatively short order, 4X systems are expected to replace 2X systems as entry-level products.

The attraction of faster recording speed is hard to deny. Quad-speed writing (600KB/sec transfer rate) records a full 74-minute (650MB) disc in 19 minutes, while double-speed (300 KB/sec transfer rate) recorders take 38 minutes to write the same amount of data. It's no wonder that professional, business, and home users cotton to quad-speed recorders.

At the heart of Traxdata's CDR 4120 PRO is TEAC's new CD-R55S mechanism. This second-generation TEAC CD recorder uses a similar design to their first 4X product, but with substantially improved 12X read performance over the original 4X CD-R505 design. In addition, the CD-R55S is more broadly compatible with most of the quad-speed-capable blank media now on the market than was the case with the CD-R50S.

EXCELLENT DISC READING PERFORMANCE

One area where 4X recorders have made great strides in the past year is read performance, and TEAC's CD-R55S currently leads the pack with full 12X (1800KB/sec data transfer rate) CLV capability. Tests conducted with CD Tach 98 reveal the CD-R555 does not disappoint, with seek times and transfer rates near the published specification using 1 6KB block sizes at all physical regions of the disc.

DISC TESTING

Written disc quality is an extremely important way of evaluating the performance of any CD recorder, so to ensure discs written with the TEAC mechanism are of sound mind and body, the CDR 4120 PRO was put through the wringer. Twelve full 74-minute discs from six media manufacturers (two each of Kodak, TDK, Mitsubishi/Verbatim, Ricoh, Mitsui Toatsu, and Taiyo Yuden) were recorded and analyzed using Audio Development CD CATS and Philips JET test equipment. Additionally, while timing the operation, interchangeability was estimated by performing byte-level comparisons of the discs' contents to source data using a mix of fourteen 8X to 32X max CD-ROM drives from Plextor, Toshiba, Mitsumi, Panasonic, NEC, Philips, TEAC, and Goldstar.