What is the best all around DVD/CD Burner?

What is the best all around DVD/CD Burner?

I’ve posted questions previously telling you that I’ve burned CD’s & DVD’s with the burner that came with my Gateway GT5056 Personal Computer with Dual Core technology & in it is a TSST corp CD/DVDW TS-H552D DVD/CD Burner. I’ve used all kinds of media including Taiyo Yuden. While most of them have preformed well initially in my Players, still there have been some I’ve made for friends or gone to play for friends, and they haven’t worked. So what, in your opinions (remembering that I’m not made of Money) is the best all around DVD/CD burner combo? One that should be compatible with my Computer and that, for the most part produces or re-produces a quality disk that looks (Video) or sounds (Audio) great and is compatible with most if not all players (CD or DVD) on the market. Also what media do you suggest (CD/DVD) and what speeds do you suggest to burn them to receive the very best results. You guys know so much more than me and I could really use your help. Any tips that you might have to insure good results would be appreciated as well (but if it’s real technical, take it slow & explain, I ain’t that Hep).
Thanks
Uncle Bob

 

Hi Uncle Bob, my favorite dvd/cd burners were the old plextor 716U(external), no longer made(if u can ge one new from ebay-great at a price of about $125 USD). My fav dvd discs are Taiyo Yudens from supermediastore or meritline in the US and burnt at no more than 4x.
BTW being that u know to be a member of AD, makes u a smart one in my book.

 

in order

1. Pioneer
2. Lite-On
3. Samsung
4. NEC
5. LG

Pioneer and Lite-On are my top choices. Plextors are OUT because they don't make there own drives anymore. there Pioneers with an NEC chipset and run 80 to 90 bucks whereas the Pioneers are 30 to 40 bucks

are you going with IDE or Sata ? let me know and i can tell you the models to look at. new drives/burners are 30 to 40 bucks so you're ok there.

the Taiyo Yudens should play on about everything you throw them at as long as you keep you're burn speed at or below 8x max. and if you're using the DVD plus R format booktype them to DVD-ROM or use the DVD dash R format (this is what i use and they play on everything)

 

Lite-On burner. Great burner, good price, and it's been used a lot.

Media - Taiyo Yuden or Verbatim never burned at more than 6x. Them puppies will play in just about anything, and they actually last.

 

LG burners are always a good choice for those who like to shop around for different media. My experience with NEC and Lite-on has been unfavorable.

As far as discs -R is still the best bet for compatability (for SL burns).

 

Hello uncle bob.Plextor and Benq were the top dawgs among dvd burners.

PX 716A,Benq 1640,and Benq 1650 were phenomenal burners. Benq got bought by Liteon. Plextor,not sure what happened there. Thank goodness I am well stocked up on Benqs. Those $40 day benqs from the past may run around $50 + now.

Other peeps having issues with your backups,you gotta get a booktyping drive.Booktyping will cure majority of those No Disc erros.

I'd suggest finding one of those models I listed.Maybe at some odd computer stores that have older remaining stock?

Ebay is where I got my PX 716A and spare 1640,but try to get a lightly used one from an individual and not a major dealer.The major dealers get a hold of refurbished drives. Benq has a utility called Qsuite,which will set the booktype as well as some other great features. Plextor uses a tool called Plextools to set the booktype.

Main thing is a quality booktyping drive. Quality doesn't mean expensive. I'll put my $35 benq 1650 up against the Plextor PX 716A- $120+ drive in its prime. Phenomenal compatability,very low coaster rate.

BTW: I got my plexy from ebay for around $80 after shipping.Be cautious if you go that route.

Nowadays,I'd suggest Lite-on from newegg.com,but not sure what the hottest Model #'s are. Lite-on has their own utility to booktype.

Combine that quality booktyping drive with quality plus format media,and you'll have better results with faster burning of 12x and 16x. I still go 8x max. Taiyo Yuden and Verbatim are very good.If you can locate the japanese maxell in the 8x speed,they'll yield the awesome Hitachi's.

 

TSST-Toshiba Samsung Storage Technology, makes decent drives. If everything is working properly on your PC and standalones, it's obvious the problem is with your friends' players. As Saugmon pointed out, booktyping +R media can help with compatibility. Checking to see what formats the players are supposed to play is a good idea. That info can usually be found online if the owner lost the paperwork. If there is firmware available for the standalone player(s), an update can sometimes help compatibility issues with newer media.

Here's how the lineup went from early DVDs to present. DVD-ROM is the original DVD format for factory DVDs. All players are required to play the format (from the first to the last to be built some time in the future). Then came the recordable formats. -R was first. So, for a while there were players that played DVD-ROM and -R. Then some companies didn't want to pay royalties to the -R syndicate. So, they came up with +R. Then we had players that might play any combination of the 3. Now we have multi-format players that play all the DVD formats and CD, including RW. Occasionally you'll still come across some standalone players with limited format compatibility.

Hope I didn't confuse you further. Simply use the best media you can and don't worry about the other guy's problems so much. I wouldn't buy a burner just to watch a recorded DVD on my buds DVD player occasionally. Take the original and guard it well.

Here's an interesting snippet form Supermediastore's FAQs:

 

in my experience the DVD dash R format is the most compatible using Taiyo Yuden blank media

 

And I find the most compatible to be the DVD +R. That goes to show you'll see praises being sung for both. As the above quote stated, they're both good, but not perfect. The +R does have the ability to booktype to DVD-ROM, mimicing the original player format, for better compatibility with most players. The key ingredient that zosoiv and I agree on is quality media. The Taiyo Yuden mentioned is good and it comes in both -R and +R formats. A personal favorite is Sony +R. In the past that has been made by Taiyo Yuden and Sony Corp. I've had excellent results with both. Verbatim, usually made by TY or MCC, is good. Not to say the media manufactured by others isn't good. I keep forgetting who makes the DL for Verbatim, but it's top of the line. Companies like Memorex and Imation, that sell a lot of CMC manufactured media, are frowned on around the forums.

 

i have:

Pioneer (5/6 years old)
Lite-On DL (2/3 years old)

both still going.

 

Hey Rotary
Long time no see. If you want old, I've got an old Samsung drive from a P2. I've also got one of the old 4X burners from Memorex. It won't burn all formats at 4X and don't think about DL. I hear it's a Pioneer. If you want antiques, they're for sale. LOL Oh yes, I forgot. They still work.

 

Pacman you're probably right using the quality TY media is more of a factor than the format. i see very few problems of compatibility using the DVD dash R format same with the DVD+R booktyped to DVD-ROM . every one in a while i see booktyped media not play on some standalone players not often though.

 

Thanks ZoSoIV. I think I have it right now. Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (MCC) is the parent company of Mitsubishi Kagaku (MKM), and Verbatim is a wholly owned subsidiary of MKM. That makes the DLs another of the in-house products. In Japan the products carry the Mitsubishi label and overseas sales are Verbatim. Those are the premium products. Then Verbatim also buys and sells media made by other manufacturers such as Taiyo Yuden and Ricoh. Those are usually high quality. I don't know the current sales scheme, but in the past I've seen those 2 under the Verbatim brand. I'm not sure if they were on the US market or not, but at one point CMC was being sold under the Verbatim brand. Draw your own conclusions. LOL

 

Rotary do you remember what that old Pioneer cost? They were expensive back in the "old" days!
I like the new Samsung SH-S203B SATA. They also have a litescribe version for a bit more, the SH-S203N SATA.

 

Frank,
Here's a blast from the past. When Pioneer first introduced a consumer DVD recorder in Japan, 1999, it cost 250,000 yen and a DVD RW disc cost 3,000 yen. At today's exchange rate the recorder cost about $2,251.23 and the recordable DVD about $27.01 USD. The yen was stronger against the dollar then. I think 250,000 yen in November of 99 was about $2446.42.
http://pioneer.jp/press/release63.html

In 2001 Pioneer shipped a DVD/CD recordable drive with an MSRP of $995.

http://www.videomaker.com/video-new...s-dvd-r--dvd-rw--cd-r-and-cd-rw-capable-drive

By 2002 the prices for a Pioneer were about $290. http://arstechnica.com/reviews/02q3/dvd-r/pioneer-dvra04-1.html
I think the old Memorex/Pioneer I mentioned cost nearly $300.

Old days? That's been less than 8 years since the $1000 PC DVD RW drive.

 

hey guys alll these peeps i aint seen for ages, big blast from the past of users let alone drives... hehe

yes my pioneer was the 106 the very first drive to do both formats - +, the cost of the beast was £200 <---- WOW !!!! very big price at the time...

but as i remember some thing mad happened and the website refunded my money back over confusion on a g-card, i kept quiet, hehe...

 

It would appear that all Taiwan Verbatims (MCC) are made by CMC.

 

I thought Verbatim had dropped CMC. digitalFAQ.com has CMC, Ricoh, and Ritek listed as previous manufacturers (all 3 are Taiwanese). I don't keep tabs on CMC Mag other than staying away from brands that sell it as much as possible. As for Taiwanese Verbatim, I have some made by Ricohjpn. I've not been to Sam's lately to pick up any Verbatim. That's about the only place I can afford them. I've also seen around the forums where Prodisc manufactured some Verbatim. That's another Taiwan manufacturer. Like I said before, I'm not sure what's current. To do that I'd have to go out and inspect IDs on off-the-shelf media. That's difficult without bringing it home. There doesn't seem to be a database that's kept up to date on the topic of media manufacturers in reference to brand names. The data at digitalFAQ was about the best I could find on cross referencing.

I noticed an interesting item while browsing around Supermediastore. The Verbatim DataLifePlus media has a MCC media code. They don't list the media code for a bunch of the Verbatim that doesn't carry the DataLifePlus brand. Wonder what those are? LOL

 

I think that CMC and Prodisc are now financially intertwined and between the 2 of them have the largest share of the world market.

 

i don't let either brand near my burner !!