Well my Pioneer 115 seems like sooner or later it is going to bite the dust. Sometimes the tray opens, some times it doesnt, and beyond that I want to upgrade to a SATA burner. Burn speeds is probably the most important thing to me. Good reading abilities would be a nice but not so much required. Ability to patch to region free is a must. I was going to go for Samsung SH-S203 or Pioneer 215 but it seems there long gone. The Lite-ON IHAS422-08 and the PLEXTOR SATA Model PX-806SA SW seem to be very popular but are they really the best?
First of all, please define what you consider "best". Whatever works and what's cheapest at the time is "best" for me. I go through a DVD writer every year. I have used Pioneer, Sony, Lite-On, Optiarc, Plextor, and LG. They all lasted about a year. I burn between 900-1000 discs per drive in that period of time.
By best, i mean the best; top of the line. I just need CD/DVD burning. I dont need or want blu-ray playback btw.
Opinions vary. My last three were LG (current), Pioneer, and Sony. I experienced little difference between the three. It's not like DVD burners are "feature rich" to begin with. Most all of them burn CDs and DVDs, and all of them read CDs and DVDs. Speed varies slightly among models and some may be lightscribe capable. However, if you don't use Lightscribe (I don't), it's a feature that's irrelevant.
NEC\Optiarc AD-7200S/AD-7240S. I use them as most of my colleges @CDFreaks. Burn On, Russell PS. Use Liggy's firmware for bitsetting.
