I need some advice. I've been thinking about getting a dvd burner for a while now...those vcds with my cd burner are starting to seem not worth the effort and time. Anyhow, I was in Bestbuy today and noticed they had a new Sony drive, the DRU-800A, for $70. Seemed like a good deal to me. Was about to buy it, but figured I'd come here and see what you good people thought. Well I couldn't find much about that particular model, but in general I got the impression that Sony drives weren't thought all that highly of. After reading some more, I came across NEC drives at the site below. I'm thinking about this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152052 Any comments or opinions on this drive (or the 3520A, what's the difference?) or any other drives? Not looking to spend a whole lot...that's why I skipped over the Plextors. Also, how hard are these drives to install for the "average" person. I think Bestbuy wanted $40-$50 to do it. Ok one more thing. I also read something about booktyping (bitsetting I think) with these drives. I think I understand what it is (makes the burned dvds more compatible with more players). Are these NEC drives capable of doing that? Thanks in advance for the help. This site is great. John
Nec 3540 is a very fine burner. It does have the booktyping capability. Here's another you may want to check out. I have 2 of these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ategory=0&minPrice=&maxPrice=&Go.x=19&Go.y=29 That benq also has the booktyping capability using dvd plus format only. The overall compatability of my backups on numerous stand alones are near perfect.The dash format is not performing that great in the same stand alones. Some of your software like dvd shrink and dvd decrypter can set both these burners up for booktyping to dvd-rom.Plus format only! Installing a dvd drive is a pc of cake. Just make sure you unplug the tower,ground yourself from static electricity,be gentle with the cables,and set the jumpers correct. Let us know how you want to configure it like,replacing an existing drive,or adding another drive. Also let us know your other drives on your ide ribbon cables.Other pc info would also be handy like if it's a dell/hp/,ram,empty hard drive space,processor speed,and anything else. I see a lot of problems with sony dvd burners in these threads.For those prices,you can't beat an nec or benq!
Thanks for the response. As far as the setup goes, I'll be replacing my CD burner. The other drive I currently have is a DVD-ROM drive. The CD burner is set to the master drive now and I assume I'd set up the DVD burner the same way. As for some specs, I have a HP with an AMD Athlon XP 1800 processor. It has 512 MB of memory and about 65 gigs free of the total 80 gigs of storage. As for what else is on the IDE ribbon cables, per Nero InfoTool: Primary IDE channel is a Samsung SP8004H (not sure what this is) that's set to master. The Secondary IDE channel is a Samsung CD burner (master) and a JLMS DVD-ROM drive (slave) Thanks again.
Your pc specs look pretty good.Having both a dvd rom and a dvd-rw is the way to go. Make sure you turn off the power and ground yourself before you touch anything in the pc. Swap out that cd burner and set the pins "jumpers" in the back to match the old one. Your primary master is your hard drive-samsung.You may have space on that ribbon to add another drive later.It should have a connector in the middle of the ribbon.That's where I have my 200 gig maxtor-as primary slave. Your secondary master should be the new burner.Set pins in back of drive to master,just like the cd burner.The end of the ribbon is the master,middle connector is the cable select or slave.Insert the power cables and make sure they are inserted all the way. Your secondary slave is your dvd-rom.The pins should be already set to slave,but some pc are set at cable select. I had my set up for my rom drive at secondary slave and benq at secondary master.My antec ps hogged my space in the tower so I switched my drives around.Now the rom is master and benq slave, just like my last pc,still ok.I couldn't tell a difference either way I had them,but the jumper pins were set correctly. Swap out that cd drive with the new dvd-rw drive and you should be set. You've got the nero.I believe it has to be 6.0 or higher.The nec and benq come with an oem version of nero and works great. All you need is dvd shrink and dvd decrypter along with quality media and you are set.Media quality is critical. All the guides are on the tab at your disposal for these programs.Click the blue links to download dvd decrypter and dvd shrink for free! Get a couple of dvd rw's to practice with because you will have a few coasters when you start. Good Luck.
My bad. I have a 2200+ processor running at 1.8 GHz. Must have combined those specs in my last post. OS is XP Home. What media do you recommend? Right now for my CD burner I use cd-r from Fuji (made by TY). Works good. I'm assuming I would use dvd-r or dvd+r and not rw media correct? What's the practical difference between -r and +r? What about DL media? Thanks again for all of your help.
If you're using ty cd media, then use the ty dvd media. Ty is rated among the best. Another fine media is verbatim data life plus. Rw's come in handy to practice with,saving you on coasters.You will make a few coasters until you get the hang of dvd burning,LOL Plus or Dash format. Not much difference between the 2. Plus format media has the capability of being booktyped to dvd-rom.Dvd-rom is the more universal format for those stand alone players. Oh yes, Those stand alones will also tell you which format they will play.It's best to try a small 5/10 pack of maxells in both formats.Just make a few backups and play them in your stand alone player/s. Regular blank dvds are dvd-5.They state holding 4.7 gigs,but actually hold around 4.38 gigs. You can compress 7-8 gigs onto a regular blank dvd or you can just make a 1-1 copy using the Dual Layer blank disc.These discs are more expensive,but the quality of the backups should be near original. Quality media is the most critical part of dvd burning.This isn't cd burning.This is more extreme like compressing a dvd-9 movie onto a dvd-5 disc. Those cheap crappy media just won't cut it.The stand alone players may have more trouble on that cheap media. Good quality burner along with high quality media and you should have fewer issues.It's all about quality! Later
Cool. Thanks. One more question. Any known compatability issues with the DL discs compared to the normal ones as far as dvd players go or are they about the same?
I'm not sure on the difference between the compatability of playing dual layer backups.I haven't tried them yet,but office depot has a sale of them this week.I'll be there either tomorrow or friday to pick them up. I will be finding out when I do.
Should not be any compatibility issues with DL as opposed to dv-5 other than the regular compatability issues with quality and brand
I finally fed my benq one of those verbatim +r dl's and it loved it. No compression used for the 7.8 gig movie and a beautiful playback from my sony player.I'll have to test it out on my other drives and recorders to verify their compatability.Dvd decrypter ISO read and ISO write,pretty simple!
Well I got the NEC 3540 and so far I'm very pleased with it. The grand total came to $50.99 for the retail version from newegg.com, which also included a version of Nero. Not bad. Like was said, it was VERY easy to install. I even flashed the firmware to get bitsetting and that was also simple to do. Now just need to find the right media to go along with it. Probably Verbatim DataLife Plus DVD+Rs. Thanks again for all the help.
Sorry I'm quite the Newb to DVD burners but is the NEC 3540 able to burn dual layer discs? Thank you.
Yes. The 3540 is capable of burning both dvd-r dl and dvd+r dl media. Here are the specs: http://support.necsam.com/oem/cd-rom/ND3540A_specs.asp
Save yourself some loot... The Sony 800A is a rebadged LiteOn 1693S. I am adding it to my arsenal alongside my Pioneer DVR 109... $43 - $48 here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...Category=0&minPrice=&maxPrice=&Go.x=8&Go.y=24
Saugmon, I appreciate both your expertise and willingness to help. I am burning DVDs. Tell me the best drive to use with empasis on no coasters. You seem to like the Bengs. If you suggest the Beng, should I get the Beng DW 1640 or the 1625? If the Plextor is worth the extra money, I would buy it. Thanks again for your help. Orc
Hello ork: I do love both my benqs.Newegg had them,but last I checked they were out of the 1620. The 1640 has some very nice features.My next benq will either be the 1640 or the 1625 with lightscribe. Plextors are said to be the best.They are around $100 or so.They can be set to rip faster,but this will shorten the life of the drive.It also has the booktyping capability for superb compatability on stand alone players,just like my 1620s.. I've got well over 1200+ burns,99+ % success and the plus media booktyped to dvd-rom play in a boatload of stand alones and pc drives on my original benq.I've even played a few backups in some buddy's picky players that would not play the nec 2510 plus format backups.They said their player wouldn't play plus,but since I booktyped them,those players got fooled into playing them. Only 1 burn coaster this year! My new hp460c coastered out 1 of the first 3 backups it did, UGHH! You'll be ok with either one,depending on how much you want to spend. I can't find too many members with the 1640,except 1 thread saying the tray opens and closes slow. I talked mort81 into buying one because his lite-on had a hard time with some ritek media,that new benq 1620 took care of that issue.The only problems I had with it was on dash format verbatim digital movie quality -4x and that's my only burn coaster this year.My spare is well over 300 without a single coaster.Even cmags turn out great when I tinker around with them. I also keep an eye out in the dvd-rw drive room and don't see a lot of benq threads.Mainly members asking how good they are. Good luck on which one you choose!
Saugmon, I'll go with the Beng DW 1640 DVD probably because of my normal overkill approach. The lightscribe isn't that important to me. My main concern is coasters. I am astounded that you have so few. Maybe I should just download your brain, although I am as impressed by the heart. This helping of strangers not only keeps the coasters at bay; it softens my cynicism. Thanks again. I hope my new approach eliminates the coasters: 1clickdvd plus Anydvd plus Beng 1640 plus sacrificing a goat or 2. ORC
