Well I will start out with the fact that I have both a DVD-rom and DVD burner They are both Lite-On The Burner is :LITE-ON DVDRW SOHW-1693S The DVD-ROM is :LITE-ON DVD SOHD-16P9S Although my burner is quite good I am very unhappy with the reader. It seems "too slow" and has trouble reading some scratched discs. I know I can just use the burner but it's easier to throw in a dvd into the reader and then have it burn automatically with the burner than to check on it to switch the discs... Since Burners generally cost more than the readers and there is nothing wrong with my burner can anyone offer me suggestions as to a really good fast DVD-ROM? If the suggestion is to just get a second burner then also what is good for speed? I have searched through yahoo and many of the posts are outdated Also in the meantime are there any online firmware upgrades etc etc that I can do? Also I use CloneDVD could this be causing the slow speeds as opposed to DVDshrink? I don't like dvd shrink cause I can only seem to disinclude audio/text outputs but not actually delete certain scenes like you can do with clonedvd Thanx for your help....
I'd go with a new DVD-ROM. You can get burners to read faster with hacked firmware but in most cases it is better to read with a ROM. That's what it's designed to do. I currently run a JLMS-166 with hacked firmware for really fast ripping. I can't find them anywhere though. I took a look at this AOpen ROM which looks to be very fast: http://www.wiredzone.com/xq/asp/ic.32002677/qx/itemdesc.htm A few reviews: http://www.sysopt.com/userreviews/dvd/product.php/1458
i have the same lite on reader matched with a nec 3540 burner, my suggestion for you since you have the lite-on reader already go to cdfreaks.com and d/l the patched firmware for this drive. you would be surprised how much success you can get by changing the read/rip settings...
I just went out and got a SONY DVD-ROM DDU1632 and already I can see the difference.... It reads at 16x which is the norm I guess since I couldnt find any higher than that at Best Buy... and scratched discs don't seem to be a problem.... I even had a dvd laser lens cleaner which didnt do much for the other one....
Thats a pretty good unit. I have one in another computer and it is fairly fast. I would check and see if there are any firmware updates available for it. I usually check what firmware is installed in any new unit I get. About half the time they are a one or two versions behind. A search at http://www.rpc1.org will generally get you the latest. http://forum.rpc1.org/dl_firmware.php?download_id=2185
