Hewlett Packard DVD200e 2.4x2.4x8 External USB 2.0/FireWire DVD+RW Drive

by HP

Product Details

Product Manual [7.07mb PDF]

• Item Weight: 3.1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 6.6 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00006599N
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: May 21, 2002

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Doesn't work out of the box!, August 31, 2002

By 

Doob In NM (Cedar Crest, NM United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hewlett Packard DVD200e 2.4x2.4x8 External USB 2.0/FireWire DVD+RW Drive (Personal Computers)

This is my first experience with a writable DVD device, so I don't have much to compare it to. However, I thought with a name like HP it would be a quality device. It is finally working for me, but I had two major frustrations with it.
1. It didn't work when I plugged it in to my Firewire. I wasted 4 (expensive) DVD+R disks before calling HP's service number. They told me I had to upgrade the firmware for it to work (!), and I had to upgrade it using a USB connection instead of the Firewire. After I did that, it began to work using my Firewire.
2. The software that comes with it - HP DLA - that allows the device to be written to by dragging & dropping, or that allows a DVD+R disk to be appended to after an initial write, is incompatible with the software that came with Easy CD Writer Platinum 5.0. I thought that by uninstalling the Direct CD package (the Roxio equivalent of the HP DLA), I could at least keep the other Easy CD Writer software installed so that I could use the other packages, such as Soundstream, to easily create music CDs. However, this does not work. I had to completely uninstall Easy CD Writer. The HP software that comes bundled with the DVD writer does not include all the functionality that Easy CD Writer has.

Now that I've gotten it to work, I'm glad I have it. But, it was a frustrating experience initially.

46 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It was worth the wait!, July 11, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Hewlett Packard DVD200e 2.4x2.4x8 External USB 2.0/FireWire DVD+RW Drive (Personal Computers)

I've been waiting for an external DVD burner for +R/+RW DVDs since HP introduced their internal 100i model last year, so I rushed to get one as soon as I heard it was out. I have had the new 200e unit about a week and have had great success burning both types of media from HP and Memorex. Not one coaster (yet) and it is amazingly fast using the Firewire connection. The +R format is compatible with my Sony 550D DVD player, and both play in my Dell Inspiron DVD-ROM drive.

Though I am pretty technical, I think this unit would be easy for anyone to use. You can be up and running and burning DVDs within an hour or so. The learning curve of my first CD burner several years ago was much steeper.

The Software bundle which includes Sonic's MyDVD is fine to get most people started, but I prefer DVDit (already owned it) and just bought Ulead DVD Factory which is awesome. It is exciting to take your DV video and burn it on a DVD and then watch it on a big screen with menus just like commercial DVDs. I create disk images of my project on my 7200 RPM Firewire hard drive and then burn them with Nero 5.9 as recommended on vcdhelp.com. (An excellent resource)

The only problem I have had is so-so compatibility with my Adaptec Hot Connect Firewire PC Card. I spent a long time on the phone with HP Tech Support to troubleshoot the drive and find out that I need to connect the drive to the notebook's built-in Firewire port, but that is an easy work-around. HP support was patient and very helpful. No long wait on the phone either.

I highly recommend this drive. It is too cool!

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Some Notes on the HP DVD200, December 17, 2002

By 

skeptic1 (Los Angeles, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hewlett Packard DVD200e 2.4x2.4x8 External USB 2.0/FireWire DVD+RW Drive (Personal Computers)

Here are some notes on my experience with the hp dvd-200 and the software that comes with it. I use the hp dvd200e, the external version of the drive, and Windows ME on a 1ghz Pentium 3 with 128mb RAM.

Istallation was simple, just follow the directions. You can attach the external version of the drive to your computer using either fireWire (1394) or USB. I use FireWire because it has better transfer rates than USB, but having both allows you to hook the drive up to just about any computer. Other external dvd drives I considered give you either one or the other.

The drive ships with hp RecordNow burning software, a scaled down version of Stomp's RecordNow Max. When I initially used the hp version of RecordNow, I encountered numerous errors burning files onto DVD+R's, a very frustrating experience given the cost of blank DVDs. I experienced only a 30-50% success rate. Then I did two things that seem to have solved the problem. First, I downloaded and installed the firmware upgrade, as mentioned below. Second, I switched to Ritek brand blank dvds. For some reason Ritek dvds work very well with the 200e, even better than the hp blank dvds. Now I have a 100% success rate without any problems whatsoever.

One very good thing about the HP RecordNow software is you can use it to transfer large files onto dvds. You cannot transfer files larger than 2 gigabytes onto a dvd using Nero Burning Rom or Adaptec EZ CD Creator (blank dvds can hold up to 4.3 gigabytes of data).

You should know that blank DVDs are expensive, with DVD+RWs costing more than DVD+Rs. My advice is to search online for multipacks of 10, 25, or even 50 blank dvds, depending on your needs. Buying them one or three at a time is a huge waste of money.

The hp DLA software that ships with the drive works great. DLA is what you use to save files directly onto a DVD+RW as if saving files directly to a hard drive. It operates invisibly, allowing you to either drag and drop files onto the DVD+RW or use Windows Explorer's "Send To" menu option to send files to the DVD+RW.

The software that ships with the drive for watching DVDs on the computer (PowerDVD) works great.

I use Nero Burning Rom to burn audio CDs and have had a 100% success rate with the 200e. The drive supports overburning so you can burn 85 minutes of music onto an 80 minute CD-R (maybe more, but I stop at 85 minutes). The hp dvd200 burns CD-Rs better and faster than my Sony CD-RW drive. I've abandoned my CD-RW and use the HP dvd200 exclusively now. Although I use the HP RecordNow software for burning data disks, I have not used it to burn audio disks. I assume it works well, but I've always used Nero and didn't want to change.

I use Adobe Premiere and Pinnicle Studio for video editing. I never even bothered to try the video editing software that ships with the hp drive.

It is very important that you upgrade the firmware on the hp dvd200, which is simply a software download from the hp website. Nothing difficult, but follow the directions -- if you use firewire (1394) to connect the drive to your computer, you temporarily have to connect with USB to run the upgrade, then reconnect to firewire aftewards. Not a problem.

I had none of the problems with installation or compatability that others here have reported. Just follow the directions on setting up the drive and the software, all of which are very simple. HP has good technical support if you have any problems (at least my experience has been good).

Before getting the HP drive, I tried the Que dvd burner. I found the HP drive to be superior.

I hope this helps.