Best Bang For Your Buck DVD Burner?

BranzLS

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Jul 11, 2002
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As the title says, I am looking to buy a DVD burner for my computer.. what's the best one out there for a reasonable price? Also, ease of use? Anyone have great experiences with their products?
 

bluntman

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Aug 18, 2000
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I have an LG GSA 4040B, for not much "buck". It has quite a bit of "bang" since it's a triple format drive, meaning it does "4x +R/W", "4x -R/W" and "DVD RAM". :D

Of course you can go with the old standards, the Pioneer and Sony 4x drives which should be going down in price rather soon since Plextor has just released their 8x DVD burner with the Pioneer and Sony 8x versions coming out very soon.
 

BranzLS

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Jul 11, 2002
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At 4x how long does it take to copy from dvd to dvd-r? Also when doing so, do you get the menus and such or JUST the movie?
 

Z_1

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Nov 30, 1999
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If you can afford it or have your company buy it, hee hee, go for the Plextor 8X. I haven't made a coaster yet with about 12 DVDs burned. I just rechecked the DVDs that the Pioneer A06 burned and it doesn't work, I threw about 6 DVDs away. Checking the disc, I can see spaces between each ring, some didn't have it and wasn't working. I've heard good things about the Pioneer but not sure after that. It burned successfully each time and seemed like the last bunch that I did went bad. I can't say if it was the media or burner but using the same media from the same spindle on the Plextor no coasters yet. I have had Plextor drives before and none has ever let me down and hopefully this one won't either.

I guess things to consider is the type of DVDs you want to use. I would get a dual format so you can use DVD+R and DVD-R disc and not worry about buying the wrong ones. As for use, it's dependent on the programs that are bundled with it. I use Nero Express that came with my Pioneer for my Plextor after ripping the files all you have to do is click on the DVD video then add the whole directory and then burn. Simple as that.

Depending on which program you use to, you can save the menus or rip them out to save space. I use DVDShrink 2.3, haven't tried 3.0 and it's free.
 

bluntman

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Aug 18, 2000
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It takes me around 15 minutes to burn (I use CloneDVD) a DVD. During the ripping process (I use DVD Shrink 2.3) I always extract just the movie and the 5.1 (DD or DTS) soundtrack, I don't bother with the menus. This way the movies automatically start once I insert the disc into my player.

The only downside to the LG drive is that being a brand new drive to the market some brands of media don't always burn at their advertised speed. I've bought several Princo 4x "-R" media and they only burn at 2x. Right now I am sticking to major brand name media, specifically Memorex 4x "+R" media because they burn at 4x, I am not waiting around half an hour or an hour for 2x or 1x media to finish burning. Sticking with the more established Sony or Pioneer burners you can easily get a sense of what works and what doesn't work (through forums like this or over at DVD-R Help) because they've been around a bit longer and they have more "mature" firmware.
 

BranzLS

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Jul 11, 2002
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Originally posted by: bluntman
It takes me around 15 minutes to burn (I use CloneDVD) a DVD. During the ripping process (I use DVD Shrink 2.3) I always extract just the movie and the 5.1 (DD or DTS) soundtrack, I don't bother with the menus. This way the movies automatically start once I insert the disc into my player.

The only downside to the LG drive is that being a brand new drive to the market some brands of media don't always burn at their advertised speed. I've bought several Princo 4x "-R" media and they only burn at 2x. Right now I am sticking to major brand name media, specifically Memorex 4x "+R" media because they burn at 4x, I am not waiting around half an hour or an hour for 2x or 1x media to finish burning. Sticking with the more established Sony or Pioneer burners you can easily get a sense of what works and what doesn't work (through forums like this or over at DVD-R Help) because they've been around a bit longer and they have more "mature" firmware.

Thanks a lot! I just don't wanna go spending my money on this and have it be a POS and waste DVD-R's

 

bluntman

Senior member
Aug 18, 2000
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Now don't be calling my LG a POS! :D

Firmware is the key to CD/DVD burners, there is a "hacked" firmware available that lets older Sony DVD burner that were only meant to run at 2x max. to burn at 4x! With the latest revision comes more full speed compatibility with more and more blank media; my Yamaha F1 CD-Rw is on it's 7th revision!
 

madthumbs

Banned
Oct 1, 2000
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I remember seeing a dvd burner at outpost.com for ~$100. I think it was a Samsung. Anyone know anything about it?
 

rdh

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Apr 10, 2002
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Originally posted by: Z_1
If you can afford it or have your company buy it, hee hee, go for the Plextor 8X. .


IMHO, bad advice. The general trend of CD RW and now DVD RW is:


1x burners come out at $300

THEN

2x burners come out at $300, price on 1x burners drop to $100 to clear them out

THEN

4x burners come out, price on 2x burners drop to clear them out

THEN ( and this is where we are at now )

8x burners come out, price on 4x burners drop to clear them out.


If you need really fast burning today (8 minutes vs. 15 minutes), then buy the Plextor 8x and try to burn 4x media at 8x.
If you can be satisfied with burning in 15 minutes, then buy a $113 (NEC 1300A) or $133 (Optorite) 4x burner today. If you still want the Plextor, pick it up in 6 months for under $150. Thus, you can have BOTH burners (one immediately and one later) within the next year for the price of the single Plextor today.
 

xizor

Platinum Member
Apr 10, 2000
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the optorite is the best bang in my opinion, burning 1.4GB on a CD-R gives massive backup and CD media is a ton cheaper than DVD
 

peterskm

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Jan 24, 2002
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I've read quite a bit on the Optorite, as I am shopping for one, too. This seems to be the best price/value option IMO. I am gonna be picking one up this week.
 

StormRider

Diamond Member
Mar 12, 2000
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I wish it accepts DVD-RAM in cartridge format. It's really strange to see DVD-RAM drives that force you to remove them from their protective cartridges -- it's actually one of the features I like about DVD-RAM but by removing it from the cartridge, you lose a little bit of its reliability.


Originally posted by: bluntman
I have an LG GSA 4040B, for not much "buck". It has quite a bit of "bang" since it's a triple format drive, meaning it does "4x +R/W", "4x -R/W" and "DVD RAM". :D

Of course you can go with the old standards, the Pioneer and Sony 4x drives which should be going down in price rather soon since Plextor has just released their 8x DVD burner with the Pioneer and Sony 8x versions coming out very soon.

 
Apr 3, 2001
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-----> Ricoh 5240 -$104

Seems to be best bang for the buck..

Yeah it isn't a combo drive, and only writes DVD+R & +RW, BUT since it's a ricoh you can change the bitsetting , so you can make a disc 100% compatible with players even if they don't support DVD+, .....something that combo drives and -r drives can't do.