i am looking for a new external dvd-rw burner i am wanting to now what are the basic 'good feattures to have' etc what speed burner 8x 16x etc as much detail as possible would be great
I use 16X external burner and here are some recommendations: 1) I usually burn at 6X: with 8X, sometimes the disk don't play too well on my DVD player. My DVD player is not very new, so if the disks are not perfect it does not like them. In general, though, I would suggest not to burn faster than 8X when connected to an USB port. USB does not guarantee sustained data rate. 2) I use a Memorex DVD burner and I would NOT recommend it. I suggest a NEC or LiteOn which have much better customer support. 3) You don't need to buy an external burner: you can buy an internal one and then a 5 1/4 enclosure (that's what I have), in case you change your mind and want to move the drive internally. Also, internal drives are usually cheaper and if you decide to upgrade or (I hope not) the burner ... burns then you can get a new one in the same enclosure. 4) Good features to have: any recent DVD burner of a good brand will satisfy any standard user. If you have any specific need list them out and we'll see what can be done. If you plan just to burn DVD5 then any 16X burner will do. If you plan on using DVD9 (dual layers) then you may want to make sure you have one that writes at least 4X on dual layers (some older models write at 2.4X only). Newer drives go up to 8X for DVD+R9. I personally don't use dual layers cause the media are more expensive. 5) you definitely want one with buffer-underrun protection. I'm not aware of any new one without it, but you may want to check, just to be sure.
One feature I would look for is the ability to booktype dvd+r media to dvd-rom. Benq's and lite-on's are bitsetting/booktyping ready. NEC's require being flashed with hacked firmware in order to do this with dvd5 media. I would recommend benq. Best bang for the buck. Check out newegg.com or merritline.com for specials.
Its much cheaper to purchase a int one + a enclosure vrs a ext one. I had purchased a MaD Dog (rebadged NEC) & it gave me problems writing. I had the latest firmware as well & had no problems reading/ripping DVD. Basics? All formats (some can not do DVD-R DL) & at least 8x which is pretty much the fastest you will ever want to write at without any problems (I use 4x). Our buddy Yankee pretty much said what needed to be said.
ok so if i were to buy an internal and enclosre how do i hook it up im am no good at opening up my pc at all so i want to avoid that
Spend some bucks, get a good Plextor and don't worry about it. They'll do everything but lightscribe. Hey Mort. What good is booktyping?
I got a Vantec enclousure for my Samsung writer & you do not need to open your computer. Only the enclosure itself.
rooney8 If you only knew how easy it is to install a drive. You'd throw rocks at those techs who charge big bucks for doing an install. The enclosures they're talking about are little boxes, you can put the internal drive in and use it as an external drive. Me, I think it makes more sense to just put the internal inside if you have a free bay.
external benq 16x DL drive $60. http://www.meritline.com/usb2-external-benq-dq60-16x-burner.html You can get 1 with lightscribe for $77. http://www.meritline.com/usb2-external-benq-dw1655-16x-burner.html brobear, if your buying one anyway you might as well get one capable of bitsetting, especially for DL media. My benq has been nothing but outstanding. Why spend twice as much. I agree, if you have an open bay go internal.
The Plex 716 and 740 are on sale at Newegg, so that's about $99 and $61 respectively. Bang for the bucks, the 740 is the deal. I couldn't resist the slot loading 716 though. You can't beat getting a top line 740 for $61 (that is unless you find a better sale, lol). I'd choose the 740 Plex over some of the $100 burners out there. One shouldn't, but there's usually a good sale somewhere. Shop wisely, but try to get the "good stuff".
Hi, I have the Sony DRX-810UL w/Highspeed 2.0 USB. I am very pleased. Only set back is it does not have a book-typing option. I have this on other SONY internal drives. I understand it's a BEN-Q but from what I have read the BEN-Q version does need firmware upgrade or flash to perform like it's Sony counterpart. Mine came with NERO6 and firMware 2.0 To my surprise this burner ripped my Sony 8x blank @ 16x with no visable viewing errors though I don't recommend this. It also has 2 firewire ports. No coasters. I paid 118.00 (Before Tax) at Best Buy.
See what I mean when I say the internal 740 Plextor at $61 is a steal. I don't consider it a big deal, but the Plex does booktype among it's other features. I think the ability to run complete media tests with Plextools is more important (at least to me). The DVD ROM booktype appears to be for a niche group with players having compatibility issues. I've got some rather old players as well as a new multi format unit. The old ones play + and - and the newer one handles just about anything round and shiny.
But the 740 Plex is really a rebadged BenQ and will not booktype unless you use a program like DVD InfoPro, also it does not have the PlexTools because it is not a true Plex. I had this drive for a while, and my PlexTools would not even recognize it. The BenQ Suite will not recognize it unless it is flashed with BenQ fw, so you are kind of in limbo. It is a nice drive but if you compare it to the 716 there is a definite difference. I returned mine and got another 716.
It doesn't matter whether you turn on booktyping with Nero, DVDInfopro, Plextools, or another; the function is the same. I believe I turned mine on with Nero. There's even more apps that will turn on the feature; such as some of the DVDIdle apps.
@brobear The 740 does not work with PlexTools, yes it will booktype if you set it with a program like Nero. However, if you choose to burn with Clone it will not do this. The only way is using DVD InfoPro to set it and leave it. I tried with many programs using this drive.
This is just my opinion and preferance. My set top player will play any format I throw at it but just in case one of my friends or family members want to borrow one of my backups I always use +r media and booktype them dvd-rom. Since I never know for absolute certainty what method and burn utility I'm going to use to make the backup, I prefer to have a dvdrw drive that is supported by its own booktyping utility eg. beng: benq booktype management utility or qsuite, lite-on: lite-on booktype utility, genuine plextors not the px-740A: plextools, sony DRU-700A thru DRU-800A: lite-on booktype utility. Set it and forget it.
I agree on the set it and forget it, otherwise I have to remember everytime to do this if the program supports setting it is fine, but in the case of Clone it does not, nor does CopytoDVD. I have 2 players and my daughter one that does not support +R so if I use this media I have to booktype.
Sounds like the problem is with Clone. I haven't noticed, does the 716 booktype with Clone? Or does the 716 do the booktype with Clone because you set it with another app? Plextools is merely a set of utilities. I can use parts of the app with my HP burner on the same system. Since the HP won't booktype, then I can't use Plextools for that. DVDInfoPro doesnt have full function with the HP either. The 716 I got didn't come bundled with Plextools Pro, that was an additional acquisition; only instead of being adware like DVDInfoPro, it was retail. A lot of people don't keep Plextools on their system because the utilities are often repeated by other popular software.
My 716 will booktype with Clone but it is set to automatic in PlexTools. The HP 640c that I had also automatically booktyped but this was also a bitset utility that came with the drive.
Plextools sets the eeprom in the drive to booktype to dvd-rom just like the lite-on booktype utility does for liteys and benq booktype management utility or qsuite does for benqs. Since the setting is in the drives eeprom it will work with all burn utilities automatically.
