HP has long been champion of the DVD+R format and this latest HP Dvd940i internal drive supports writing to both DVD+R and DVD-R single or dual layer, DVD+/-RW, DVD-Ram and of course CD reading and recording, all with Lightscribe labelling on appropriate media.

This drive has a black faceplate with user controls limited to a single eject/close button. There’s a small hole for the emergency manual eject and a single LED status indicator.

On the back panel, from left-to-right, there are two-pin digital audio and four-pin analogue audio connectors, the three-way drive select, the 40-pin IDE connector and the usual four-pin power connector.

Supplied with the drive are a fold-out install leaflet, a Lightscribe user guide, a Getting Help booklet and a warranty statement (warranty is one year, limited). There’s also a packet of four fixing screws and a CD-Rom containing Nero Express 6.6 writing software, Cyberlink’s PowerDVD 6 DVD player and Microvision Surething SE – Lightscribe edition labelling software.

There’s been a lot of hype about the Lightscribe system, which works by using the same laser used for writing data, to write the image onto a special coating on the top surface of the media; the disk being flipped over by hand to write the label.

Claims are that Lightscribe is better and more convenient, than hard to handle, sticky, wrinkly labels. However, at present, Lightscribe is monochrome only, takes as long as 36 minutes to write the label in highest quality mode and requires higher cost media, with the Lightscribe dye layer on the top surface.

A Lightscribe CD-R currently costs roughly 53p compared to about 18p for a standard CD-R blank, although when using labels, there is the cost of the label and the extra manual work involved in sticking it onto the media.

Compared to the still highly priced, next generation Blu-ray and HD DVD drives, DVD writers are now very much a low-cost, commodity product. The HP Dvd940i is certainly a very good example, with the ability to read and write to everything but Blu-Ray and HD.

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