Poll: Which burner and why?

[A-Traveller]

Hi All.

Just wanted to ask everyone:

a) If ALL of your current DVD writers were to fail today (sorry!), which one single burner would you buy tomorrow? (Please try to state the exact model as well and not just the brand name if you can.)

b) Why?

c) What are the top two purposes for which you use your DVD writer (for example, 1. Playing copied DVDs on DVD+RW and 2. Storing audio on DVD-R.)?

Thanks.

[weboneando]

a) I would be tempted by the 760a from plextor but most probably get the dvr-111d from pioneer

b)Plextor is very har to get where I live and Pioneer have worked excellent for me and the prices now a days are ridiculous.

c) backing up audio sessions from Cubase, backing up games and making dvd movies, I never use them for playback.

[A-Traveller]

Thanks for the response weboneando.

Regarding your comment about playback, is there a difference in playback ability/quality between a DVD ROM drive and a DVD R/RW drive?

[PC-GUY]

For what you spend on Plextor you could get 2 Benqs.
I say get a Benq and you will find it money well spent.
BenQ DW1650 = $30.25
PLEXTOR PX-750A = $72.99
The best thing I find about my Benq1640 is it to be media friendly. I can burn cheap media and the best without a problem. With great scans to top it off.
I wouldn't think twice about buying a newer model.
Good luck.

[scarecrow]

My two NEC burners (3500a, 4551a) are working fine, no coasters in sight, so I would buy a NEC- again.

[LTR12101B]

I could be tempted by a recent Liteon - they are making great strides with the "overspeed/hypertuning" firmware, with any luck, going from the drives everyone liked to hack (and, with the poor state of the earlier ones, needed to), to having capabilites to match those given to them by the firmware hackers.

But right now, probably a Pioneer DVR-111 or an NEC, though apparently the NEC4570 has been a bit of a dissapointment, uncertain if it's just poorly developed firmware, or if it's not as good a drive as the 3550/4550 (series with a common basis), mind you, they had a firmware hack community as well, though shaken up by acrimony over the bootflash patch.

[A-Traveller]

Thanks for all the replies!

Naturally, I have also been doing my own research, which has brought up a whole new set of questions (which I hope to post in a separate thread).

PC-GUY, one of my requirements is also that it has to be able to write to and read really cheap media (and good media too). Is the BenQ 1655 as good as the 1640? I came across a review that I think indicates that it could be. Is there any difference between the 1650 and 1655?

I'm slightly confused with the Pioneer DVR-111 which seems to have a different letter at the end of the 111 each time I visit a different website!

Thanks.

[cobo]

The 1655 uses the same chipset as the 1650. It has the same features plus it's capable of burning labels on Lightscribe media. Some who have both the 1650 and 1655 think the 1655 burns some media a little better, some say about as well. Some who have both the 1640 and a 165X think the 1640 produces better quality burns, some say the 165X's burn quality is just as good.The BenQ 165X drives seem to have reached the end of production as they are becoming unavailable at reasonably priced online retailers. The 1650 is still available at a couple of sites but the 1655's have just gone out of stock today at the places I've checked. You might get lucky if you check in frequently at Newegg but they'll probably go out of stock almost instantly if they get any in.

I was getting nearly a third coasters on my new 1650 with lower quality media, but when the burn's successful they quality scan pretty well. I think most of the coasters were due to trying to overspeed the media but someone suggested it could be because my power supply isn't up to snuff. The 1650 draws more +12v current than most burners - 1.8A on the +12v and 1.6 on the +5v.

The Pioneer 111D is as highly recommended as the BenQ 165X's at the cdfreaks forum. The consensus seems to be that it's much less picky about media variations and burns SL media about as well as the BenQ's and DL better and faster. It's not considered reliable at doing quality scans. The 111 can burn DVD-RAM media, the 111L can do bitsetting on DVD+R media and burn DVD-RAM media and Labelflash media, 111D doesn't do bitsetting or burn DVD-RAM or Labelflash media but it cost less and can be crossflashed so it has all those capabilities - http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=189385

The Pioneer can also be run at UDMA4 mode which can give better results in an external enclosure and it has lower +12v draw than most burners - 1.0A on the +12v and 1.6A on the +5v.

[A-Traveller]

Thanks for the very helpful and informative reply cobo!

[The-poacher]

that it has to be able to write to and read really cheap media

not a good criteria bad media = loss of data etc

[A-Traveller]

Thanks The-poacher. I think being able to read cheap media is a good criteria because I'm sure I'll come across many of those.

As for writing to cheap media, I understand your point! As everyone knows, a good burn depends on a million things, so being able to write to cheap media may help with DVDs that are supposed to be good, but turn out not to be.

[slippery]

I started out with a sony dru500a that set me back over $300 when new and it did good for one of the first gen burners. I then graduated to LiteOn's and had several of them, but I think their quality has fallen off a bit in recent times. The last few burners I've had have been NEC, with which I am more than happy. Im currently using the 3520AW (with modded firmware) that has yet to let me down. If I were to be in need of another, I'd have to go NEC. once again.

[A-Traveller]

Thanks Slippery.