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Fumanchu on 29 April 2009
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Ascended_Saiyan3 said:
Guiding Light said:
Linkzmax said:
I'm going to re-link this because it seems many missed it. http://www.xbox.com/en-AU/support/xbox360/manuals/xbox360specs.htm "# 12x dual-layer DVD-ROM "

It seems MikeB is now admitting it, though some are still claiming otherwise. There's really no point in arguing any further. People are either set in their view, or they'll look at the facts, of which there are plenty.

Actually, MikeB is right and wrong (this includes me as well).  The X360 drive IS 8x on DL-DVDs.  This is proven by the transfer rate to HDD from the Gamespot link.

The chart in the link below shows what the average transfer rate is for each multiple.

http://www.osta.org/technology/dvdqa/dvdqa4.htm

This, CLEARLY, lines up with 8x DVD speeds.

The wrong part of our thinking was that the AVERAGE transfer speed was lower than it is.  BD drive is still faster at certain sections of the disc, but the 8x DVD read speed gains this back over the remaining area of the disc.

 

In the end, X360 can only rely on the DVD drive, because all units don't have HDDs (hence the load times in games).  Meanwhile, the PS3 can stream from the BD drive AND the HDD to eliminate load times, in games, altogether.  Also, MUCH data transfer time is lost beyond 6.8GB of data in the name of ejecting and replacing a disc.

 

Your chart is wrong.  It stipulates average but it is showing the maximum data transfer speeds for each read speed.

If 8x = 10.57MB/s maximum the (technical/no optimising) average reverts down to about 6x = 7.93MB/s

This is what MikeB has been quoting from Beyond3d. 

The HDD install times taken from Gamespot put the AVERAGE at ~11.5MB/s indicating that the maximum should be closer to the 12x speed whilst never actually achieving this speed because MS leaves 500MB off the last (tracks?) of both layers - the fastest speed.

MikeB is saying this is unique to the newly added faster drives - but I haven't seen install times from any slower drives out there...

With all the information that has been brought to light here it's hard to be skeptical that indeed they are 12x DL-DVD drives.