08/1997
Subject: REVIEW: Mediavision Reno CD Rom Drive
Reviewed By Andrew Bolt
Specs
=====
Model: Mediavision Reno Portable CD-ROM Drive
Price: £174.99 including Squirrel
From: Siren Software, Manchester, UK (0161 796 5279)
Amigas: A600/1200
Speed: Double (306kB/s)
Access Time: 180ms
Power: 4xAA batteries for personal CD use, 12xAA batteries for
CD-ROM use or 13.5V mains adaptor
Audio Plugs: 3.5mm headphone jack, 3.5mm line out jack.
SCSI: 2x50 way SCSI2 Micro 'D' connectors. Built in termination
via DIP switch, external SCSI ID selector.
Multisession:Yes
MPEG: No
Buttons: Play/pause, stop/off, track up, track down, open, button
lock switch, volume
LCD Display: Track no, time, busy, low battery, on, no disk, open.
Dimensions: Audio section: 14x14x2cm
+ docking station: 25x14x2cm
Accessories: Cheap 'n' nasty headphones, nice carry case, 3.5mm stereo
male -> male lead, SCSI cables and adaptors, mains power
supply.
The Mediavision Reno CD-ROM drive is unique in that it can be used a
portable audio CD player, or as a double speed SCSI CD-ROM, via a small
docking station.
I bought the drive after being seduced by its dual purpose design. If
your getting a CD-ROM, why not pay and extra £10 for a portable one
too. Hmm, why not?
Well, the Reno really isn't a particularly good portable audio CD
player, when compared with something you could pick up down at Argos
for £90. It's quite a bit bigger for a start, but it doesn't seem to
like working at all from batteries. Admittedly my batteries are
knackered old rechargeables, but they only last for about 40 minutes.
Also the track access is painfully slow as the mechanism grinds and
clunks away. I suspect this is why 8 extra batteries are needed for
computer use, as these access times would be unbearable when accessing
data strewn across a disc. So if your planning to use this thing on the
move, be prepared to shell out for some Duracells.
One good thing about the drive though is its reluctance to skip. I had
to shake it very violently to get it to mess up.
Connect the AC adaptor and the drive is transformed. Instant, and I
mean instant, access to any track, and without as much painful
grinding, although it does tend to make a plasticy ticking sound.
Together with some Amiga software to make up for lack of fast forward
and track programs, you can have quite a nice audio CD setup.
I didn't get a plug with the mains adapter though (I think this is
illegal now in the UK for new electrical goods), and there is no
information on what fuse to fit, so I just fitted the lowest I could
find to avoid frying the drive.
Anyway, the main reason to buy the drive is, of course, to use Amiga
CD-ROM disks, which it does very well. The claimed transfer rate of
306kB/s is verified by Sysinfo, and the access time of 180ms is
exceptional for a twin speed drive.
The build quality is good, but some may not like the mid-grey colour.
The docking station is guided into place by 2 metal rods and is then
locked securely onto the CD player. The top opening lid may not have as
much sex appeal as a motorised drawer, but its fine for whipping CDs
out while they're still spinning :). The magnetic clamp that makes the
CD so shock resistant, does however make the drive stiff to open. Also
a problem with the layout seems to be the lens, which is positioned at
the front of the drive and could easily be touched by accident.
The carry case is very neat and well designed, although it'll take you
a few weeks to work out what all the zips and velcro flaps are for. The
supplied headphones, unfortunately, are crap.
The documentation supplied is very sparse to say the least. 2 A4
photocopied sheets. This is due to the drive being foreign (the text on
the box is only in French, German and Italian) so the original manual
has been nicked and replaced with the sheets, which will probably
differ depending who you buy the drive from. Also stolen from the pack
for some reason is the PC and Mac software, which could come in handy
in the future, so I might try and get hold of this.
Power Computing has recently stopped selling the Reno drive due to its
lack off support for the CDi Video CD format, which I don't see as much
of a problem. If I want fuzzy jerky video I can just pop down to the
rental shop and get it for a couple of quid.
The drive will still play MPEG/AVI from files on CD using the CPU
although you really need an 040/060 to get decent speed.
A plea to PD authors: Please write a decent AVI/MPEG player that isn't
a slow port, full of bugs and which requires 4 lines of cli commands to
get working, and also a working utility to play CDs through the Amiga
audio.
If the Reno is your first SCSI device you will need to chose your
interface. I opted for the Squirrel because its the cheapest. I was
worried about speed but according to the instructions it's capable of
3Mb/s on an 030 A1200, which is quick enough for any devices I'm ever
likely to be able to afford. (incidently, I found that after fitting an
030 my internal 3.5" IDE HD went from 1.39Mb/s to over 2Mb/s according
to Sysinfo).
Fortunately the Squirrel comes with an excellent manual and set of
software spanning 3 disks (2 of which are useful CD oriented PD utils)
which makes up for the photocopied sheets.
Overall Ratings: (divided into an excessive number of categories)
Portable use: 49% - Not too good
Hifi use: 75% - Pretty good
Computer use: 94% - Excellent
Documentation: 18% - Very tatty
Features: 90% - Yep, lots of features
Accessories: 79% - Good, but let down by headphones
Looks: 85% - Pretty smart, especially in its carry case
Speed: 78% - 10x floppy speed, 0.25x hard disk speed
Squirrel SCSI: 95% - Excellent piece of kit
Value: 90% - Only a few quid more than a normal CD-ROM
Overall: Just scraped a 90%, due to the fact it does the
important computer side of things very well
Or, see what Amiga Format (issue 78) has to say:
Speed - 4/5 - A standard double speed drive but sustained
transfer rates are impressive.
Manual - 3/5 - Adequate instructions are provided, so you should
have no real problems
Accessibility - 4/5 - The hardest thing to work out is which way the
carrying case fits. Supplied with software for
Squirrel and CD tools
Features - 5/5 - It's hard to see what more could be added to this
mechanism
Value - 5/5 - Outstanding value-added price makes it
competitive with other "multimedia" solutions
with the added advantage of portability.
Overall - 94% - This brilliant CD-ROM system represents supreme
value for money.