I'm getting a new burner. The one I have now came with the comp. I see $200 burners and $40 dollar burners with almost the exact same specs. I plan on burning at 2x so I don't really care about the speed that much. So what's the differece. Quality? Durability? Thanks in advance.
They all work pretty good now a days there really isn't a lot of difference to tell the truth. Just go with a brand you are comfortable with. Here are a few brands I would reccomend in no particular order.. LiteOn LG Nec Pioneer Plextor Hp Good luck
i got a lite on it works great. i never head anything bad about em. i got to looking at my lite on and it looks exactly like my memorex cd burner. exactly same style of face plate and door cover. i wouldnt be suprised if most burners and cd rom drive are manufactured by the same company and licened under different names.
A good question! however I can only give you my experiences using the burners I have! A Philips DVDRW885 DL and a Samsung DVD R/RW SH-W08A. Both are a bit old now but still fully functional. These drives are at least a year old have burned many hundreds of DVD's each. I'm sure like most things ya get what ya pay for.. e.g. the more expensive drives I'm sure are better made with more expensive components and will handle all the different media types more comfortably. If your computer system is not too older spec you may want to try burning a 4x (this is about normal for a good quality backup) a new burner of reasonable quality will do the trick too. More money may mean slightly better quality but only if the whole computer system will support it.
GlueEater: You forgot about compatability! The costs between these burners doesn't mean crap. What you want is Quality/Reliability/and if you play your backups on several stand alones,is Compatability. Throw Benq in with bbmayo's list,but I'm not much of an HP fan. You've got another feature to look at: Booktyping. Not all burners support this feature.By booktyping the plus format media to dvd-rom on your backups,the stand alone players have a higher rate of playing them! Works on both my benq 1620,s. Not so lucky on my I/O magic 16x/Khypermedia +8x/and HP 640c. Those benqs kicked their a** when it comes to compatability on stand alones.
I notice that none of you guys mentioned sony. My friend didn't either but I don't know why? I sony a crappy brand or is this just personel experience. I found some sony burners and I'd like the burner to match computer.
The new sonys are rebadged liteys and good drives IMO. The sony DRU-800A is a rebadged lite-on SOHW-1693S and I have heard nothing but good about them. @bbmayo I was gonna say you forgot benq but saugmon beat me to it. @68b_body The 16x memorex dvdrws are rebadged liteys so your cd rom could very well be a rebadged litey. I prefer my litey for ripping due to its SMART-X technology (although its a good burner too just a little picky about media it likes) and my benq for burning. Mort
Yes Sony's are good too.. As stated at the begining of this thread you really can't go wrong with a DVD Writer unless you go get some no name brand writer. They all work pretty good now a days.
Another reason (not previously mentioned) is that, usually buying the drive with a manual and "pre-bundled" software are the "more expensive". (Most of the time, the pre-bundled software it comes with, is just pure horse manure. You will never use it.) I honestly, recommend buying a "OEM" drive, that doesn't contain anything but the drive. Its a heck of alot cheaper. (Then go buy the IDE cables, etc. if you don't already have them.)
Well, prebundled stuff isn't always bad. My pioneer DVR-A09 came with Ulead Movie Factory Suite Deluxe. I don't use it, but if I would not have Nero Ultra with Nero Vision Express I would have used it. However, for DVD movie burning, you are better off with freeware like Decrypter and Shrink. I only use Nero for Data discs and CDs. As for $200 vs $40, there is a good chance the $40 burner will be better. I also had a Plextor PX-716A ($130) and the Pioneer ($70, but now about $50) always produced higher quality burns and more compatible. Even Booktyping did not help the Plextor make the DVD+R more compatible. Now, I only use DVD+R media with code YUDEN000-T02 and those are even more compatible than factory pressed DVDs!!! Basically, if you do not have any burning software, you may consider retail, but OEM is the same in terms of the actual drive. I would highly recommend the Pioneer DVR-109 (oem) or A09 (retail). The DVR-110 seems like a DVR-109 with the latest firmware. If you can find either of these for around $50-$70, get it, you will not be disappointed.
The burner I use is a Pioneer DVR 109, its a dual layer burner and it allows me to fit in excess of 4.7GB also option of PAL or NTSC
I have a Plextor 708A I bought two years ago, still going strong producing excellent burns using Verbatim media.
I would go with Pioneer it is soo safe and comendable... the only probs i get is if the discs are damaged and that is mainly the source disc not the blanks and if that happens i change the program but if it continues i just forget bot that movie on that disc and find another copy of the movie... As I said I like Pioneer...
By the queerie in your other post it appears you have decided on a burner and everyone else is wasting their time...double posts are NOT ALLOWED.
I think there is a difference between burner makers. Avoid the low-end ones like Mad Dog or Pacific Digital (bankrupt?). It'll save you wasted DVDs in the long run. But you can't go wrong with a 16X NEC 3540 at Newegg for $40. I have a Plextor 712A and have had no problems with it. Like someone else said, DVD compatibility is a difference maker. I think Plextor and NEC go out of their way to test different media at different speeds and this info goes into their firmware whereas cheaper makers will just have a default for burning various media. I've heard good things about Pioneer and LiteOn too, and have read problems here with Sony.
