I currently have a Plextor 716A, but it doesn't want to burn DL disks worth a darn. I've tried Imgburn, dvd decryptor, clone dvd 2, nero, checked all my windows settings, updated my firmware to 1.10, all to no avail. Instead, I'm at the point of setting this drive on fire, and buying a new one. Who makes a DVD drive that will burn Verbatim DVD+R 2x DLs?
See [Videohelp.com's database. Generally, the best drives are in the following order: Benq, Plextor, Pioneer, NEC, Lite-On. All but the NEC can bitset single-layer DVD+R out-of-the-box, but the NEC works great with a hacked firmware from Liggy's and Dee's site. Benqs unfortunately aren't being made anymore, and if you get the Pioneer 111, it's best to flash with the 111L (from The Dangerous Brothers, I think) firmware, which gives bitsetting and DVD-RAM.
What about Pioneer? Are SATA drives still crap, or are they noe finally a viable replacement to EIDE?
DOH! Ok, I deserve a slap for omitting that one. But I don't know if the new 112 is quite as good as the venerable 111. But Pioneer makes pretty good drives. As far as SATA drives go, the scuttlebutt is that there is no real advantage to using them, performance-wise, but not that they're necessarily "bad". Personally, I would only use one if I had a motherboard that didn't support EIDE, especially since the price and selection of EIDE writers is much better.
