#Mitsumi vs. Panasonic
4 messages in this thread
Hi,
Another person getting ready to make the plunge into CD-ROM. I'm looking at a
number of the lower priced systems. Can't quite afford those double speed
wonders…
Specifically, I've seen a bit of press on Panasonic drives. While I've bad
experiences with Panasonic in other areas of electronics, I have no knowledge
of them as a computer supplier.
The lower end of the Panasonic line is priced along the lines of the Mitsumi
drives. Can anyone out there offer opinions on how these drives compare? Is
Mitsumi the drive of choice on the low price end?
Also, I don't plan to get a sound card right now because it doesn't interest
me. What happens if I run a CD-ROM multimedia title without a sound card. Does
it lock up or just keep running in silence?
Thanks,
Bob
Most MPC titles should still work. I've run video for windows videos with no
sound, and titles that wanted MIDI or wave sound with no problem. DOS aps are
another matter, I had several which refused to work for anything cause they
didn't find the right sound card. I've since added the PAS 16 to my own
system, but have run many of the aps on other compters with no card. some aps
give me a message, but I click ok, and it goes on and works with no sound
Thanks for the info. t's more or less what I expected. Seems that the software
vendors would be smart to ensure their software would work with any, all or no
sound cards. BTW, how do you like the PAS 16?
Best, Bob
I like it, it is quieter with less noise than the SB Pro and PAS cards. Even
the SCSI I/F works ok, but it does not keep me from using Hitachi bus or Future
Domain SCSI cards in the same machine when I use one of the other drives but
none of the 3 CD-ROM interfaces uses DMA, so no problem. I use the SCSI I/F
for my Hitachi CDR3750 drive, which is good enough to let me do video for
windows on my poor 25MHz 386. The cpu time used is only about 25% for 150KB
transfer. This made me happy since I didn't have $600+ for a 486 motherboard.