PC DVD (re)writer recommendations?

What I am looking for is an internal (IDE) drive that would read and write anything that you throw at it (don't really need DVD-RAM); speed is a secondary consideration - should be reliable in the first place, also with low quality -R/RW and +R/RW blanks. Don't need the double layer capability, as the blanks are way too expensive.

I have seen good things and bad things written about Plextor 708A (e.g. that the drive is, in fact, a NEC-engineered and manufactured unit with a Plextor badge) , and I am also looking at TEAC, ASUS and even LG writers.

Any recommendations?

(I am not sure this belongs in Hardware; please feel free to move)

 

I love my Lite-On dual format DVD writer. I've owned 3 Lite-On writers (2 CD + 1 DVD) and they've all been awesome, rock solid. I've bought all 3 from newegg.com.

 

Lite-On seems to be a wise, low-cost, quality choice.

We own a Lite-On DVD burner and it's on the wife's PC, so I haven't had a whole lot of chances to use it, but it seems solid.

 

HP, Lite On...

...and Sony has a dual-layer drive out, but the media and the drives haven't gained popularity yet....

 

I got a TDK DVD+/-R/RW Indi 880N that rocks recently. It does DVD+-R at 8x, DVD-RW at 4x. CD write is 32x. They also have a faster model.

I still use my Yamaha for CD burning.

However, if I had a choice, I would get the Sony Dual Layer DVD burner (DRU-700A) or the NEC (ND-2510) which is cheaper. For about the same price of drive, you get double the capacity with the right media. The Sony is getting univerally good reviews.

 

The Yamaha F1 is still my #1 choice for CD burns.

Sckott,

HP? You sure? I have had nothing but trouble with them, no matter who makes the drive.

 

Thank you gentlemen.

I have talked to people in the business around here, and in terms of reliability and value for money it is either LG or LiteOn, in their opinion.

As for dual-layer drives, I remember reading that some of the current single layer recorders can be modified (probably by "flashing" the firmware) to burn DL discs... interesting.

 

I just got an LG double layer burner. which was my first ever DVD burner purchase. So far it's doing a great job of buring single layered discs - I haven't tried it on DL yet as you can't get the DL blanks in Australia yet. But at least I'll have that functionality when the discs are available. I am keen to try DVD-RAM as well. This drive was the cheapest of the available DL burners that I could find locally (cheaper than LiteOn and Sony). Have not flashed hardware with cracked RPC1 versions, as I don't need the drive to view movies. Still use my trusty Yamaha F1 to burn CDs.

If I didn't have the Yamaha, I probably would have been sorely tempted by the Plextor 712 DVD burner, which has some nice features, including ability to vary pit length in a similar fashion to the Yamaha F1 CD burner - although the Plextor gives much more variation in control than that provided by Yamaha's "Audio Master Quality".

 

Goto www.anandtech.com they have good reviews in general; Plextor drives are far slower in access times / spin-up-down and such than Sony's ... which can get to the tune of several seconds for Sony and up to 40 seconds for Plextor's...

One thing I always recommend is to get 2 drives (with last generation Sony's @ 8x you can do that for just about $200) it makes life much simpler and is a good way to minimize downtime and increase efficiency...

 

The Tiger Direct catalog came in today. This looks like a good deal for those interested. No, I haven't tried it:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=924345&sku=M199-1008

 

I have a Plextor and its not as you described at all. Actually its very fast at everything and has been incredibly compatible to all different types of blanks, I can’t say that for many of the DVD Players around.

Plextor also has a really nice variable under run buffer, something most others don’t have or if they do they just default to 2X and that’s it!

I use Nero 6 and Roxio 10 and both has special support for the Plextor drives.

I’d buy another one in a flash.

 

I have bought dozens upon dozens of drives for my office over the years and the LiteOn have ALL died well before their time. As far as I am concerned that are crap!

The longest lasting drives have been Sony and Plextor’s.

LG? I have an air conditioner of theirs and I like it but who knows.

 

follow this link and you will see that the Plextor drives consistently underperform in typical disk recognition times compared to Sony, this all ads up quite a bit...

http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_content.asp?id=sonydvddl&page=6

besides, I havent said anything negative about the Plextor's performance, all I am saying is in recognition times they are *slow*

 

Another vote for LiteOn: I bought one a couple of months ago, barebones at the computer show, for $89. No problems!

 

Lite On for me too. Sorry for those who've had drive deth, but I've had a few of them and although the draw motors seem a little slow, they perform well over you would expect in their class and price range. Even just as a reader, they do VERY well.

I've never had a problem with Lite Ons. They just keep on burnin'.

 

It seems like LG just popped out of nowhere here in the US. Can anyone else vouch for their reliability and quality?

 

Not sure of their new drives, as I've heard good things, but their OEM stuff from 3 years ago was el-stinko. Rudy?

 

I have had a Memorex True 8X for a couple of months now and this thing has not made a single coaster in cd-r, dvd-r or dvd+r.

http://www.cdrlabs.com/

http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/

This is a good site for info, homepage and forum.

 

No idea on LG. (I avoided it, since it sounded like a cheap generic brand.) Only other burner I've owned is a TDK. Oh, and my ancient SCSI 2X CD-R from 1996 was a Matsushita. (Still works!) Other CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drives, I don't remember, but they were usually the better-known brands. In the last few computers I've built, I put in the LiteOn CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drives...$69 back when I bought them, and they work fine.

 

I picked up the Lite-On CD/DVD writer last week. Love it. It's my second Lite On drive... the first one is a few years old and still working fine. I'm going to put it in my 2nd PC.

My old Lite-On has outlasted writers from HP, TDK, and Yamaha (between my brother and I).

As for LG, I had a CD/DVD drive (not a writer) that lasted about 3 months.

 

I have decided to go with an '89 LeBaron ... er, LG GSA4081; haven't installed it yet. We'll see how it turns out.

Thanks again for all the recommendations