Should I change LG GSA4167B for BenQ?

Sorry if I don't speak techincal term -still very new to this. I read so many good things about BenQ for burning DVD - should I change my LG (no problem so far)bcos I want the best. Is there really so much difference in the DVDR copy quality?
Quest.2 Orignally I had a Samsung CD writer, was excellent. Then I had to remove it to put the LG DVD becos Samsung ca only burn CD. Since a senior member mention (was it catfreak?) BenQ downside is CD, I'd like the Samsung back if you recomend I chg to Benq (LG don't do CD so great either) Can I put back the Samsung in my top slot which is now a Hitachi DVD Rom drive? Then when I wan to burn CD, the 2nd slot (LG DVD writer) I will put the source CD. Is it like that becos my friend said cannot mix here n there. Pls someone help me with this area. TQ so much

 

It depends alot of people don't mention that BENQ's and Plextor aren't very good at writing in the minus format (DVD-R) however they are far superior with plus format (DVD+R).

LG are actualy a very good brand that I'd be proud to have in my computer set up.

 

Yup, LG gives good burn, never had a proble with it and burns everything that my friends' burner can't. Since I've never used BenQ, just wondering if it's so much better than LG. Does the + or - format give a sharper copy of the movie....just wondering if anyone compared. I normally burn a movie onto each format becos I can't decide from the forums which is actually better. I don't really care becos in my country our players play anything though I am particular about quality of movie copied.

 

Hi,
@paul1085, this statement surprises me.
"It depends alot of people don't mention that BENQ's and Plextor aren't very good at writing in the minus format (DVD-R) however they are far superior with plus format (DVD+R)."
I wouldn't mention it, as it isn't the case for me. Whether BenQ 1620/1640/1650/1655, all are excellent with both + & - media. The only slightly grey area would be CDRs & RWs (both CDR & DVD). The main actual problem in relation to BenQ (1650/1655 in particular)is that when compared to other 'latest' drives, f/w support for DL is somewhat lacking.
My Plextors from 708/712/716 to 760 do favour + media, but in this case I'd say it's so marginal. Not worth worrying about. In fact with these drives using Taiyo Yuden the difference is almost non-existant.
@cynn. The BenQ would prove less fussy about media than the LG. I've had several models, 4163b 4166b & the 4167b. All excellent, although it's rumoured that the reason the H series came out so quick was in response to problems stemming from the 4167 in particular. I've no idea how true this is or what the problems are. But it's fair to say that LG doesn't normally move in new models so quick. In your case if your happy with the LG, stick with it. But I don't think if you change to a BenQ that you regret it.
DVD+ vs DVD- take a look here.
http://www.cdfreaks.com/article/113

 

@Zebadee I beg to differ as it depends on what you class as good results I class a good burn with PIE between 0 and 30000 and PIF between 0 and 200 over a 4.3gig burn, check my burn out on my profile page (picture section) with less than 100 PIF in total and 20000 PIE (Sony rebadged Lite-on), now a Plextor burning Taiyo Yuden 8x DVD-R produces an astonishing 337380 PIE and 700 PIF now the PIF seems OK but the PIE is far too much, try popping that in to your very picky PS2 and watch in amazement at the extremely long loading times.

need proof check third scan down @
http://www.cdfreaks.com/article/265/6

And compare that to the burn I did with the Lite-on.

Plus format beats everything else handsdown if your burner can booktype it to DVD-ROM as this tricks the DVD player into believing it is the same format as legit DVD's however if your burner doesn't have booktyping ability then in my experience plus format offers very little compatability.

The reason I went for a Pioneer and not a BenQ or Plextor is because I had a couple hundred Taiyo Yudens in minus format so there was no point in me getting a BenQ/Plextor and getting unreadable results. If it had been the other way round and at the time I had a couple hundred plus format then I would definatlely have gone for a Plextor or BenQ.

 

@zebadee, that's weird becos I have LG4167B and it can burn all media even the ones that actually has "dents" n comes out great (when the original couldn't play). I wonder why u have probs w LG...

Anyway, I'm wondering if anyone has actually used BenQ n LG, do you see a diff in burn quality? Also if I change to BenQ, (which is not good for CD)can I put my CD writer in 1st slot?Or must I have a DVD Rom on 1st slot?

 

It doesn't matte aslong as you remember to change the jumpers so one drive is master and ones slave they will act the same.

 

Hi.
Had problems getting to post this, so it's running a little behind.
Hi,
@paul1085,
Not trying to upset you, just find your posts interesting. In your latest the reason why DVD+ is superior to DVD- is a bit simplistic.
Then when you go to imply that you have more - media, hence the Pioneer. (BTW I would agree that the Pioneer does well with - media, also not bad with DL).
I'm sorry just seems illogical to do that.(Have so much - media that is).
@cynn.
In the long term disc quality is important. In theory BenQ (or Philips) with SolidBurn (or if you've got money to 'burn' Plextor with its AutoStrategy) should give the best results with most media regardless of the +/- aspect. In practice they're getting there, but still some way to go.
BTW The latest Lite-Ons are also entering this area with SmartBurn & HyperTuning etc.
For you it's a case of whether your happy with the LG or not. If you are stick with it. If not in terms of value for money then either the BenQ 1650/1655 or(if CDR is that important) Lite-On SHW-16H6S. Pioneers DVR-111 is also a good allrounder.

 

@paul, what if I want to burn cd 1st slot. Do I then need to change the jumper slave the other way around since my dvd writer is in 2nd slot? Sorry, don't quite understand this.

 

Yes, I burn a lot of CDR so its very important too which is why I hesitant to get benQ unless I can put my Samsung CCD writer back too. Does that me I have to keep changing the jumper n slave each time I burn a cd or dvd since I'm using 2 different writers?

 

Hi.
paul1085.
Anything upto & including a full disc.
PIE acceptable to me = less than 15000 max less than 10 peak
PIF ................ = less than 50 max less than 5 peak
Jitter = less than 10%
QualityScore = 97% or more
Don't have a PS2, only XBox here.
BTW The Plextor link is a review[so snap judgement] with f/w known to be lacking(plus no accounting for AS in this scan).
See this thread post #4. Latest f/w has brought down all figures by around 15% except jitter which remains pretty much the same.

 

Hi,
cynn, take a look here.
http://www.storageupdates.philips.com/files/dvdrw/9305_125_2473_7_how_to.pdf
Although for Philips, the theory is the same for any drive. Pages 8 & 9 of particular interest for you.

 

@ Cynn all you need to do is take one of your writers out and look at the back, pull the pin out where its at master (as this is usually set at default) and put it back in where it says slave (it can be a little hard to get out so use a pair of tweezers or something), then hook them both back upto your computer, basically after this you will have access to both of them at the same time so you won't have to keep on switching it back over.

So just to confirm after this you will have one that has the jumper set at master and the other burners at slave.

Zebadee no amount of firmware updates is going to change the rewrite strategy that much, all I'm saying is if you use a Plextor or BenQ for burning minus format then expect to suffer long loading times if you have a PS2 or XBOX that can be picky at best.

A burn with half the amount PI errors that I showed you would result in long loading times, so at least provide proof to back up your statements ie screenshot, if not then back off!

 

Well for me I agree with paul1085, ive not had very good result's with -R'S T/Y burned using my Ben-Q 1640's are 1655's.I use my NEC's for the -R'S and the Ben-Q's for all the +R'S.Thats what works for me personally.

 

Hi,
paul1085, the latest backup done @ 16x SB/WOPC enabled OS disabled Time taken 6.12 min Media Infiniti branded MCC 03RG20. If I drop speed to 12x PIE (totals to nearer 7000 )& PIF (totals nearer to around 50) will drop. I'm currently reluctant to do this as I'm trying to not affect the learning of SB by changing settings. I will at some time try out differing settings. But to have any significant meaning more than just a few burns are required.
This is because the latest f/w is proving problematic for a lot of users. I believe, the algorithm for SB has been changed/improved. This can/does mean that relatively dramatic changes could be possible via f/w upgrade.

 

Hi,
cynn, I suggest you try your Samsung/LG combination. For connecting & jumper settings see attached. Basically if you have two drives on same cable, 1 must be set to Master the other to Slave. In the diagram 1 is Master, 2 & 3 are Slave.

 

Nicey nice! Decent burns and I'll admit that I was wrong to burst on you like that its just I'v seen so many posts in CDFreaks about BenQ's and Plextors giving horrible results with minus format. I havn't tried many Verbatims yet as I'm too into Taiyo Yuden printables ATM.

So did you say that they are 16x Verbatim as if they are then I'v never seen a quality score that good with Verbatim 16x DVD-R.

To be honest mate don't take offense but I thought you were just trying to influence Cynn into buying a BenQ or Plextor but you've proved beyond a boubt that BenQ can handle minus format well.

PS You know that BenQ's scan in 8 ECC blocks at a time which is why the peaks seem abit higher in your PIF than mine as Sony scan in 1 ECC block at a time and thats why you hardly see the peaks above 2 as its more spread out.

 

I have both the LG 4166B lightscribe and a Benq 1650 and i have better quality burns on the BenQ and actually i havn't used the LG since i got the BenQ. I use Verbatim 16x on the BenQ at 12x burn speed and consistantly get quality scores of 95-99. The Best Being the PIE low 30's and PIF's at 4 or 5. I couldn't tell you which one i think is better out of the 2 i use the Benq so that i can test for quality after the burns and well also seeing that i paid 90 bucks for the LG as to 42 bucks with overnight delivery included for the Benq. Good Luck as both will do you well

 

Hi,
paul1085, as I said earlier I wasn't having a go at you. Just curious.
Yes I'm aware of the 8 EEC/1 EEC & it's implications.
I think that in terms of BenQ(+Philips with the advent of SB) & its capability to produce quality burns across the board. The marker has moved recently. However as we're not sure yet how to make the best of this the user end is full of differing & conflicting results/posts. As you point out a lot of posts are negative. I believe this is the nature of forums to some extent. A certain percentage will report problems but not praise a drive or its f/w. With BenQ/Philips & SB, it becomes a pain to persist long enough & try out options like SB/OS/WOPC enabled/disabled. What speed? Should it be at rated? Quicker/Slower?
I do spend quite a bit of time playing around with f/w & differing ways to flash. All with the end result in mind.
I tend not to post too many scans. I prefer to do this usually to back up some theory or demonstrate affects SB etc can have. If/when I find something of use for others then I'll post & use scans as backup.Anyway it's the w/e now so have a good one.

 

@Zebadee, thks for the diagram, you are very kind. Pls be patient with me, I am very new to this and actually need the computer guy to come open this for me(don't show me how, I can't)so I have to be very sure what instruction I tell him becos it's gonna cost me $80 whether it works or not (they're computer guys but don't know anything-just know how to open up the CPU chg drives etc). Here goes @Paul, @ Zebadee:
I have only 2 slots - 1st slot is Hitachi DVD Rom, 2nd slot is LG 4167B. Since I am seriously looking at BenQ that doesn't do CDR well, I want to put back my Samsung CD Writer which is PERFECT for the job. From what I understand from Paul n Zebadee, I place the Samsung CD writer on first slot (Master) and BenQ (Slave) on the 2nd slot. My concern now, if I burn a DVD, my source is 1st slot which is a CD writer - can this read a DVD? (the computer man said cannot) I thought I needed a DVD Rom/writer for that?
And if I burn a CD, my source will be 2nd slot, which is the BenQand my burning will be 1st slot now. The computer man says he has never seen people put source down and disk to burn on top. It should be vice versa.
Is this all correct? Can my DVD burn without a DVD Rom/writer on 1st slot? I do not have 3 slots. Can my source be under the cdr to burn?
I was not so keen on BenQ because of the DVDR- weakness but now that Paul you say it is not so and @demontic, you find quality better, I am very seriously considering it.
On another note, has anybody got anything as good as benQ but ALSO BURNS cdR EXCELLENTLY - Thks guys