PC Magazine -- April 9, 1996

Olympus Image Systems Inc.: Deltis CD-R2

Holly Aguirre

There is something to be said for simplicity. The virtually hassle-free Deltis CD-R2, with a list price of $1,289, provides even novice users with a quick and easy way to create their own CD-ROM disks. One of the cheaper options in this roundup, the Deltis comes bundled with GEAR MM 3.2 software from Elektroson and is being marketed towards those in need of a write-once, high-capacity optical storage device in such industries as medical imaging, legal offices, and customized audio/video. Be warned, however, that while the GEAR MM software is intuitive and versatile (especially for audio applications), on-the-fly recording of large numbers of files is its Achilles' heel.

The Olympus unit offers basic 2X-read/2X-write functionality and few frills: Just a volume control, headphone jack, and flickering indicator light adorn the front panel. The caddy design features an auto-load/auto-eject feature. Setup is as easy as plugging in the supplied Future Domain SCSI-2 adapter to your PC and then connecting directly to the sturdy Olympus external subsystem.

Equipped with a generous 1MB data buffer memory, the Deltis lives up to its title of 2X, cranking out an hour's worth of audio files in 30 minutes almost to the second. The GEAR software made copying Red Book audio tracks from a normal audio CDs as easy as dragging and dropping files out of File Manager. Logical icons, such as a little compact disk engulfed in flames, make burning disks a snap. Also, when you click on the "CD info" icon, all tracks are archived in sequence for each individual session, in case you lose your place during a burn.

On some of our more demanding tasks, though, the software choked under pressure. Although tech support and the literature both claim that the unit can produce Enhanced CD (CD Plus) and Photo CD disks, the Deltis failed our lab tests in these areas. Also, as with other GEAR MM-equipped systems, writing our database of more than 17,000 files in the On-the-Fly Recording test consistently caused buffer underruns. Elektroson has acknowledged the problem and promised a fix in the next version.

The GEAR software does allow you to verify a disk before actually writing it, which many of the other packages fail to do. The manual is fairly self-explanatory and a breeze to follow--although there are no explanations for certain failures, as in the case of the multisession error message.

With the problems we had on our tests, it's hard to recommend the Deltis CD-R2 with GEAR wholeheartedly. Many users will never experience the problems we did, and those interested primarily in audio CD creation will be hard-pressed to find a more accommodating package. But until the shortcomings we turned up are addressed, the jury is still out.

Deltis CD-R2. List price: $1,289. Olympus Image Systems Inc., Melville, NY; 800-347-4027, 516-844-5000; fax, 516-844-5353.

Suitability to Task

                    Power     Ease

Initial startup     Good      Good
Backup              Fair      Fair
Disk duplication    Good      Good
Format flexibility  Fair      Fair