I would like to hear pro and con on a HP840vi drive.Walmart has a good price on it and I really must consider it because of their return policy.
I could not find any info on that exact HP 840vi drive.Google turned up this thread,lol The 840c and e have the dvd-ram and lightscribe capability,so the 840vi should as well? Is this external or internal? HP uses other manufacturers for some of their brand names. Take my HP640c lightscribe. Made by HP,but Benq 1655 makes it for either the HP 640e or 640i.Quite a few different mfgs for that 640 series,and same may apply to the 740 and newer 840 series. How much is it? Do you need the Dvd-ram capability?
It is internal.They want 69.95 for it and from what I can find,it is a rebadged LG 4166..which seems to be a good unit.Now I've complicated things more by going by Sams' Wholesale and seeing that they have an honest to goodness LG 4166 in stock for 66.00.
LG drives are pretty good.I'm not sure about that one.The rebadged LG will probably have a different fw version than the real mckoy. But,some of the dvd-ram drives for a few brand names do have issues. That's why I didn't know if burning Dvd-ram was a high priority for you. If dvd-ram is no biggie,here's a very good lightscribing burner from newegg.com,and $40 including 3 day shipping. It's the benq 1655. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827101642 Sorry I couldn't help you out. I'm no fan of HP burners.You usually pay way more for drives in stores. I got the 640c which I have issues with the backups from it. It does lightscribe and read ok,just don't perform up to my standards for backup burning. I backup using benq drives,then use the lightscribe of that HP when necessary.
We were all newbies at some time, LOL Dvd burning,it's a whole new ballgame.It's not like cd burning. [bold]Backup:[/bold] We refer to backup as to the files we are saving onto disc. Like taking your home movies,and putting them onto dvd.Make a duplicate copy of an original dvd. Those discs you produce are called backup discs.It's not the original,only a copy. With the higher cost of blank dvd-ram, I didn't know if that was your primary reason for purchasing a dvd burner.I see very little possitive feedback on dvd-ram capable drives. Very critical data,you may need the dvd-ram,so then you would be backing something up onto dvd-ram media. Media is what we call blank discs. There can be a huge difference between a dvd-ram capable drive and a regular dvd-rw drive.Example: Benq 1670 is a dvd-ram capable drive,as well as dvd-rw,but not a highly favored drive.Then you have the regular benq 1650,which is a very good dvd-rw drive.Different chip-sets between both those models,enabling the 1670 to write to dvd-ram. That's just the tip of the iceberg.Wait till you backup original dvds and you have trouble with your dvd players being able to play them. That's why I didn't know what exactly you wanted to backup onto dvd/dvd-ram discs.There are some crappy drives out there,and i'd say HP puts out quite a few of them. I'm no HP fan.
Well...what I ended up with is a LG 4166.I'm still learning about the dvd ram thing,but that is only a capability of this unit correct?It functions normally with dvd+r and has booktyping thats supposed to help with player compatability.
2 models with that number: One is 5x dvd ram,and the other is Lightscribe. The dvd-ram says it has bitsetting capability,so it'll booktype. I don't know that actual process it uses to booktype.It may have to have a special utility or certain burn programs like nero/dvd decrypter/etc.When you do get some backups finished,there's free tools that'll tell you if they are actually booktyped. LG's are still very good drives.A quality drive will save you a lot of headaches. Not only compatability,but lifespan/less errors-coasters/and frequent firmware updates to handle the newer media that is being produced.Some of those other brands-HP-Cough/Cough- do suck when it comes to firmware updates. I've been waiting for one for my HP640c lightscribe that totally suck when it comes to burning dvds. It's a great reader/and the lightscribing is ok,just way too many crc errors and burn coasters.A newer update may help that if there was one available. Here's some info for both of the LG 4166: http://www.videohelp.com/dvdwriters...m=&dvdrom=&orderby=Name&hits=25&Search=Search Definitely the plus format,booktyped to dvd-rom should give you the highest compatability rate for your backups.Only the plus format can be booktyped. That means they should play in more stand alone players/ps2/xbox/and pc drives,as apposed to the dash and the plus formats.
Nero won't confirm if a backup has been booktyped,but this free program will: http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/dvd-r_tools/dvd_identifier.cfm Open up dvdidentifier/insert backup disc/select drive-where the backup is placed in/click identify and you'll see this: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unique Disc Identifier : [DVD+R:MCC-004-000] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- [bold]Disc & Book Type : [DVD+R] - [DVD-ROM][/bold] Manufacturer Name : [Mitsubishi Chemical Corp.] Manufacturer ID : [MCC] Media Type ID : [004] Product Revision : [Not Specified] Blank Disc Capacity : [2,295,104 Sectors = 4.70 GB (4.38 GiB)] Recording Speeds : [1x-2.4x , 4x , 6x-8x , 6x-16x] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- [ DVD Identifier - http://DVD.Identifier.CDfreaks.com ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Where it says Disc and Booktype-was a dvd+r,and this confirms it has been set to Dvd-rom. Otherwise,you'll see Dvd+r and booktype saying Dvd+r. It'll even give you the MID code of your media and the firmware of your burner!
Thanx...I appreciate it very much.This will be very useful.I finished installing the software this morning.Looking forward to a test run!
The identifier program works great.The LG definately makes a dvd-rom burn.Tried a disc from the old unit and it was straight dvd+R.Got the same jitters and tileing with King Kong as I did on the old Memorex drive though.That was using 1Click..I will try the Nero that came with it next I guess.Kong just seems to be a problem child!
Different drives-same issues? Here's some things to check: 1) Media quality-crap media 2) Burn speed-usually too fast 3) No multi-tasking during dvd backup process. 4) Fragmented harddrive/s 5) Paper/sticker labels 6) Dirty laser lens-stand alone players. 7) Drive may be worn out-when the stand alone player is the only drive showing those issues. How do you view those backups when the jitters and tiling occurs? Stand alone player or on the pc using the dvd-rw drive that produced that backup? Usually it's the stand alone player/s fault.If the stand alone player shows those issues-also known as pixellation/jumping/and freezing-they are telling you something is wrong with your backup.Usually nothing major. You need to view those backups through your pc using the dvd-rw drive that produced it-to play it.That dvd-rw drive should play it perfect. Those 7 possibilities is just the tip of the iceberg.Also throw in burn program/spyware-malware/heat issues/backup target size/etc.
Verbatum 8x media,drive is defragged,no multitasking,no labels or heat issues[side panel is off right now]I saw the pixellation/jumping/and freezing on the pc when I played it back on the LG drive that recorded it,it was just more pronounced on the stand alone.Can you recomend a good cleaner system?As I will try that and a newer stand alone Ihave in another room.
cleaner system? If issues are because of dirty laser lens,those hard lens cleaning discs are a last resort-before drive replacement. They can help,but also slight possibility of them throwing the laser lens out of alignment. If you got playback issues through both stand alone player and pc dvd-rw drive,then something is definitely wrong. Can still be media. Sometimes a bad batch can get out of the factory. Burn speed is also another factor. How fast did you burn them? It can still be software related as well. Did you try the nero? What are you actually backing up? Original dvds? downloads from your pc/internet like AVI/Jpeg/Mpeg/etc? File transfer software can also contribute to those issues if you are transfering those files .
These were burned at 4x.The movie is King Kong but I also saw alittle bit in The Chronicals Of Narnia which I do not believe needed too much compression.I have not yet tried the Nero.Just thought it was strange that the old Memorex and the new LG had the same problem.
Oh well,new problems have arison that complicate things.I was attempting to play original and copied dvds on a Sony SLVD300P stand alone unit.The copies and original of King Kong and Narnia had extreme pixellation/jumping/and freezing-issues and a squealins sound as I kept hitting next scenes.Also a message came up with something about the parental control had been set on this machine and did I want to proceed.I have the instruction manual here at work to try and search this out.And finally...I played the original "Walk The Line" that I bought...and it played flawless!I am baffled!
Some of the newer encryptions that the studios are putting on their original discs are giving some stand alone players issues. Make sure those discs are clean.
