Panasonic (Matshita) UJ-845
Notebooks are not usually big on upgrade potential. The parts are difficult to obtain, are generally more expensive, and people are nervous about opening up an expensive piece of equipment.
One of the few upgrades paths is the optical drive. Typically a notebook will have a CD burner, possibly with DVD reading capabilities. The latest notebooks will undoubtedly contain a DVD burner, but the great majority will be lacking this feature. Enter the Panasonic UJ-845!
Marketed as an OEM drive, the UJ-845 is unlikely to be found in retail stores. However it is easily purchased from any number of websites, and for a surprisingly reasonable cost, especially considering that is dual-layer, slot-loading, and supports DVD-RAM. That’s good going even by desktop standards.
For the purposes of this review, an Acer Travelmate 800 was used as the test notebook, replacing its standard QSI CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive.
Description & capabilities
The drive is a standard 12.7mm notebook unit that should fit most notebooks. It is also suitable for appropriate SFF PCs, and could be used in conjunction with the right housing to provide a slim line external DVD burner.
The official capabilities of the drive are:
- 5X Speed DVD-RAM Writing
- 8X Speed DVD-R Writing
- 4X Speed DVD-RW Writing
- 24X Speed CD-R Writing
- 16X Speed CD-RW Writing
- 8X Speed DVD+R Writing
- 4X Speed DVD+RW Writing
- 24X Speed CD-ROM Reading
- 8X Speed DVD-ROM Reading
- Buffer Under Run Protection
- +R Dual Layer Writing
Nero InfoTool gives the following report on the capabilities of the drive:
| Drive: | MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ-845S |
|---|---|
| Type: | DVD-RAM Recorder |
| Firmware Version: | D100 |
| Buffer Size: | 2 MB |
| Date: | 01-11-05 |
| Location: | 1:0 |
| Read Speed: | 6.0 X |
| Write Speed: | 4.0 , 2.4 X |
| Read CD Text: | Yes |
| Return C2 Pointers: | Yes |
| Read CD-R: | Yes |
| Read CD-RW: | Yes |
| Read DVD-ROM: | Yes |
| Read DVD-RAM: | Yes |
| Read DVD-R: | Yes |
| Read DVD-RW: | Yes |
| Read DVD+R: | Yes |
| Read DVD+RW: | Yes |
| Read DVD+R DL: | Yes |
| Read Digital Audio: | Yes |
| Read CD+G: | No |
| Read VideoCD: | Yes |
| Write CD-R: | Yes |
| Write CD-RW: | Yes |
| Write DVD-R: | Yes |
| Write DVD-RW: | Yes |
| Write DVD+R: | Yes |
| Write DVD+RW: | Yes |
| Write DVD+R DL: | Yes |
| Write DVD-RAM: | Yes |
| Buffer Underrun Protection: | Yes |
| Mount Rainier: | No |
| Modes: | Packet, TAO, DAO, SAO, RAW SAO |
| Region Protection Control: | RPC II |
Basically, the drive supports almost every format you could possible want! Note the difference in what Panasonic believe is the drive speed, and what Nero reports.
Comments (page 14 of 16)
Jul 28, 2007 2:21 pm
I have a Toshiba Qosmio G25. I never needed to burn any DVD's or CD's until the past couple of weeks. I am having all kinds of trouble with this drive. I have jumped through hoops to get DVD's to burn, but still can't get a CD to burn. I'm sure this computer is out of warranty and I guess it's my fault for not testing the burner out when I first got it.... but why should I HAVE to test it? IT SHOULD WORK.
I was able to get a Memorex DVD+R to work, but have had no luck with Memorex CD's. I've used compressed air on the drive. I guess my next step is to buy a cleaning disk.
Such a pain.
I'm also going to look into buying a new burner.
Jul 15, 2007 6:11 am
I have an Acer Aspire 5672WLMi, i haven't seen the problems with the 845s burning disks. However when i play games, the music will never play, some games it won't even play at all!
Jun 8, 2007 3:14 am
i have a matshitaDVD-RAM UJ-845S. on my acer ferrari..now it says its not working.where can i download this driver from?
Jun 6, 2007 9:23 am
Do NOT buy any Panasonic/Matshita drive: they do not allow you to read different zone DVDs (no matter what the software is). IMHO, manufacturers like this should definitely be boycotted!
Jun 6, 2007 9:21 am
i have an acer 1691 wlmi with a UJ-845D slot loading drive....it reads some dvd's while it fails to read some which i burned using the same drive...it just cannot burn cd's and can read very few cd's too...im an amateur and cant understand what to do..the customer care guys just expect me to spend around 200 USD to replace it...im an indian resident and cannot avail of the warranty..can anyone help me out pleeeeezzz....
May 17, 2007 4:45 pm
I can´t burn dvd-r (TCL trademark) in my matshita dvd-ram uj-841s. i´ve tried with a verbatin dvd-r and it worked.
please send me some help.
May 17, 2007 2:30 am
Oh, sorry to mention that the link Matshita DVD RAM UJ-841S Update is meant for Sony VAIO UJ841 drive, but as the firmware updater will check before flashing your Matshita UJ 841S, I think its no harm download and try this updater.
Just my 2 cents.
May 17, 2007 2:27 am
If you need the firmware for Matshita UJ-841S, you may want to have a look at the link below:
Matshita DVD RAM UJ-841S Update
May 4, 2007 6:34 pm
I need a firware for my DVD-RAM UJ841S, I can play and burn CDMusic, but not play and burn DVD of speed 8x at 16x.
May be help me?I'm really preocupated because my Laptop is new.
If the model of laptop is used. It is SATELLITE M115-S3094.
please help me!
'Thank you'
Apr 26, 2007 11:10 am
oops, Toshiba Satellite M115 with Matshita UJ-841S fussy on factory audio CDs
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