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 9 of 16)
Sep 27, 2006 8:48 am
JOhn,
Just a note about your last post, I think the frustration arises in the fact that most manufacturers will not accept the drive back on its own as a user replacement under warrentee.
when i complained to ACER, they would not allow me to send them only the drive back, i was looking at sending the whole laptop back which i had just reinstalled all of my software & operating system on and had loads of confidential stuff on there too
which i needed for business.
obviously this did not suit me & probably puts alot of other people off also
Sep 27, 2006 6:22 am
UPDATE
Still having no problems with DATAWRITE TITANIUMS
Just tried some SONY DVD-R 1x - 16x from Woolworths, 9.99 for 25
they burn at 8x no problem also (dye SONY16D1)
Sep 27, 2006 12:11 am
A lot of people seem to be having problems with this drive, and others (like myself) arent. For those that are having problems I think the only solution is complain, complain, complain! If you have a new laptop with a drive that is not burning then the manufacturer clearly has a responsability to make it work. Most drives can be removed from the laptop so if you can manage without a CD/DVD drive for a while then it may be best just to rip it out and demand one that works.
Sep 21, 2006 6:02 am
WOOT!!!!!
ive just burned a dvd at 8X (and 1 at 4X)I have also coastered 1 at 8X tho (failed to write short lead out)
just installed nero 7
using DATAWRITE titaniums(8X) (CMG.MAG.AE1) DVD-R
the full 4.2gb VIDEO_TS & AUDIO_TS
firmware is still D200
Acer Ferrari 4002 firmware s3a23
Good luck all!
November 25th, 2005 at 7:31 am was my first post here, so its only taken 10 months!! hehe
Sep 18, 2006 5:31 am
My Matshita UJ-845S came with Acer Aspire 5590. I have to say that it sucked a lot. The drive worked fine until it's 4th day that I had been using it. I inserted a CD as usual, but this time I heard a weird "crack" noise came from the drive. When I want to eject the CD, the drive was trying to push the CD out, but it was blocked by some kind of metal part. As a result, the drive sucked in the CD again as the metal part blocked the way, so the CD stuck inside.
I pulled the drive's front panel off. I found out that the metal part performs as a machanical gate that will shut (block the way) soon after you've inserted a CD, and will move away when you want the CD to be ejected.
The drive now performs incorrectly after only four days of use, good job!
dan
Sep 12, 2006 11:04 am
I got a similar problem, i'm not able to burn on 16x speed DVD-R's, it gives me the same error message, that i need to update the firmwire, anybody who knows what i can do 'bout this problem??
Sep 6, 2006 6:53 pm
Also, i am also wondering if it is possible to flash the firmware with D100 all the time? So it just revert back to its factory settings...
In this case, isnt it ideally region free? However i am not sure if i can do this, or does flashing the firmware only doable for a higher version?
Anyone please, enlighten me! Thanks
Sep 6, 2006 6:38 pm
After reading everybody's comments, i am just wondering if i can flash my UJ-845D with the firmware for UJ-845S since they both uses the D series firmware...
Can anyone tell me? Or has anyone tried this?
Thanks alot!
Sep 1, 2006 9:20 am
I have an A100 stallite that ill not burn to DVD-R Packard Bell Blank DVD's
anyone in the UK suggest a good Brand it will burn too please...........
signed
distraught
Aug 30, 2006 8:19 pm
I have an Acer aspire 1694 with the UJ-845D. My problem seems simple, the drive won't recognise DVDs. Burn speeds were never a problem before it stopped reading them for no good reason, the part I love is it stopped reading them a week after the warranty expired.
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