Panasonic LF-D311

The trouble with recordable DVD is that no-one seems to be able to decide on precisely which format to use. Rather confusingly, different manufacturers are backing different recordable DVD formats with, at present, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD-RAM and DVD+RW all vying for a piece of the action.

The upshot is that recordable DVD hardware and media have been kept at artificially high prices, putting off just about everybody other than dedicated desktop video makers and the very earliest of adopters.

Panasonic's LF-D311 is an attempt to redress the balance with a lower-cost drive that straddles two very different recordable DVD formats. The drive is capable of recording to 4.7Gb record-once DVD-R discs. It's likely that these will become a lot cheaper than the current £15-a-piece going rate, and DVD-Rs can be read or played back in most DVD-ROM drives and DVD players, which makes the format perfect for home video enthusiasts.

The LF-D311 can also use DVD-RAM, which can be recorded to over and over again, but these discs have the dual disadvantages of being caddy-bound and not supported by a wide range of DVD devices. Effectively, the DVD-RAM part of the drive is useful for little else than backing up your data.

But with 9.4Gb, double-sided DVD-RAM available, it can handle vast amounts of information - albeit slowly. It took us an hour to format a DVD-RAM disc and another two hours to transfer about 2.4Gb of data.

Confusingly, the two separate formats result in two drive letters being added to your computer upon installation. We were also disappointed to find that the drive couldn't write to CD-R or CD-RW, unlike some of its competitors.

At just under £500, the LF-D311 isn't particularly cheap, either. It's one of the least expensive recordable DVD devices available and offers a unique choice of recording formats.

If you're a desktop video editor, it makes an interesting solution for producing your own DVD movies and for backing up vast chunks of raw footage. But for the rest of us, it makes sense to wait until the arguments over DVD formats calm down.

Contact
Panasonic UK: 08705 357357 www.panasonic.co.uk

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Iomega Peerless
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Computeractive, Issue 91.