Choosing between DVD burners

[smithdj]

I am having a hard time determing what features are most important when comparing dvd burners (internal). I would only burn a dvd maybe once a month, so I am not too concerned with write speed, but what would you rather have. A dvd burner with more Cache 2mb vs. 8mb or is Serial ata better than a ide connection? I would like to keep the price at or below $100. Thanks

 

[The Boston Dangler]

I really dig my Plextor. I know it will quickly crank out dependable discs. Every time. I like Fuji 8x DVD+R discs.

8MB cache is a must. There is no speed benefit from SATA, but it's easy to use and as clean as it gets.

WHOA!! Look what I just found!! PLEXTORS FOR SALE!

 

[smithdj]

Thanks for the link, seems like a good deal. I wonder how much of a differnce the seek time makes. I notice Plextor has 100ms for cd and 160ms for dvd, while sony has 110/100. Do you think there is any realworld noticeable difference?

 

[The Boston Dangler]

I highly doubt it. Both drives are much slower than a HDD, so what's a little more here or there?

 

[jae]

man just get a NEC 3520a, BenQ DW1620 or Aopen DUW1616. they are some of the best drives and run around $50. dont buy an overpriced plextor. plextor arent what they use to be :-\

 

[The Boston Dangler]

Well, I have a positive experience with my Plextor. Do you have any experience at all with what you are talking about?

 

[jae]

yes, i have the 3520a, and my brother has the benq and aopen. although he uses the benq more to rip and aopen to burn, they are both good drives. i burn my TY 4x -r discs @ 12x and they work great. i burn my 8x fuji/ty +r and benq/sony -r discs @ 16x with no problems. and the disc work fine in all players ive played them in. smithdj look for reviews of drives you will see the drives i mentioned are great and cheap.

 

[Budman]

Originally posted by: jae
man just get a NEC 3520a,dont buy an overpriced plextor. plextor arent what they use to be :-\

:thumbsup:

 

[smithdj]

Originally posted by: jae
yes, i have the 3520a, and my brother has the benq and aopen. although he uses the benq more to rip and aopen to burn, they are both good drives. i burn my TY 4x -r discs @ 12x and they work great. i burn my 8x fuji/ty +r and benq/sony -r discs @ 16x with no problems. and the disc work fine in all players ive played them in. smithdj look for reviews of drives you will see the drives i mentioned are great and cheap.

I certainly appreciate the info. For some silly reason I like the plextor for its SATA connection, not because of the possible speed increase, but the fact that there are no huge IDE cables in my case. But, I will certainly look at some more reviews, Thanks again

 

[jae]

i understand, im just throwing in my 2 cents. dont see the point of spending extra $40 that ur not going to use that much, or when you can get the same if not better performance for $40 less. Use $15-20 from that left over money to buy some quality media ;-)

 

[wchou]

Originally posted by: jae
i understand, im just throwing in my 2 cents. dont see the point of spending extra $40 that ur not going to use that much, or when you can get the same if not better performance for $40 less. Use $15-20 from that left over money to buy some quality media ;-)

Or use that to buy 100 more media, low quality ones aka generic

 

[Excelsior]

I just got a 3520A today. I updated the firmware from CDFreaks. My first burn with TDK DVD+R 8x media (Code CMC MAG E.01) worked just fine!

 

[jae]

be careful with CMC media, theyre kinda low quality. i preferred to burn them @ 4x after scanning pi errors/failures

 

[wchou]

Originally posted by: jae
be careful with CMC media, theyre kinda low quality. i preferred to burn them @ 4x after scanning pi errors/failures

yea most media are low quality crap that its make you want to pound the hell out of it after a bad burn

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: jae
be careful with CMC media, theyre kinda low quality. i preferred to burn them @ 4x after scanning pi errors/failures

Yeah..I am not expecting much..but for $10 to mess with, I think they will do just fine.

 

[Excelsior]

Here are some results of my disc quality scan on the CMC media.

The graph.

 

[IEC]

Originally posted by: jae
i understand, im just throwing in my 2 cents. dont see the point of spending extra $40 that ur not going to use that much, or when you can get the same if not better performance for $40 less. Use $15-20 from that left over money to buy some quality media ;-)

Or you could spend the extra and buy a LightScribe DVD+RW

Mmm... direct disc labeling sounds goood....

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: ariafrost

Originally posted by: jae
i understand, im just throwing in my 2 cents. dont see the point of spending extra $40 that ur not going to use that much, or when you can get the same if not better performance for $40 less. Use $15-20 from that left over money to buy some quality media ;-)

Or you could spend the extra and buy a LightScribe DVD+RW

Mmm... direct disc labeling sounds goood....

Isn't the media for that still expensive?

 

[jae]

yep and in my opinion its not worth it. my sharpie > lightscribe

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: jae
yep and in my opinion its not worth it. my sharpie > lightscribe

Word.

 

[WdnUlik2no]

Originally posted by: smithdj
I am having a hard time determing what features are most important when comparing dvd burners (internal). I would only burn a dvd maybe once a month, so I am not too concerned with write speed, but what would you rather have. A dvd burner with more Cache 2mb vs. 8mb or is Serial ata better than a ide connection? I would like to keep the price at or below $100. Thanks

I got a Samsung DVD burner OEM, for $60. I don't like the Nero software very much, but it was able to burn a DVD with no problem. I probally won't do any DVD burning at all, just really wanted a DVD drive for my new PC. But at $60 a DVD burner was a good deal.

 

[Oyeve]

If you want to save money get the NEC burner that a lot of people have recommended. If you want assurance and a quality burner (I am not knocking NEC) get the latest Pioneer burner. Most media uses Pioneer burners as a test-bed. I had a pioneer yrs ago but sold it to get a Sony DRU510. (which, IMO, was Sony's last good drive ). I havent jumped on any DL burners as my current burner is just fine even if it is only 4X. I also have an external Lite-On 8X burner but it hates a few brands of media. I wont be getting a new DVD burner unless my current one dies or when the next gen of media hits, like blu-ray or whatever.

 

[Tostada]

Originally posted by: smithdj
I am having a hard time determing what features are most important when comparing dvd burners (internal). I would only burn a dvd maybe once a month, so I am not too concerned with write speed, but what would you rather have. A dvd burner with more Cache 2mb vs. 8mb or is Serial ata better than a ide connection? I would like to keep the price at or below $100. Thanks

All these guys are only recommending the NEC 3520A because it used to be the best drive for the money. Go to CDRLabs.com and look at the performance of the NEC, the Pioneer 109 and the Plextor 716. They're the best drives out there right now (unless you want LightScribe, then you want the BenQ -- but current LightScribe media cost more than twice what regular media does, and it takes 30 min to burn the label in best quality). If you look at the numbers, it's hard to dispute that the Pioneer is the best drive for the money and the Plextor is the best drive overall. They all get very good burn quality, but the NEC is slower in most things.

It's still a little early to be getting optical SATA drives. Make sure your motherboard can handle one.

 

[wchou]

Originally posted by: Tostada

Originally posted by: smithdj
I am having a hard time determing what features are most important when comparing dvd burners (internal). I would only burn a dvd maybe once a month, so I am not too concerned with write speed, but what would you rather have. A dvd burner with more Cache 2mb vs. 8mb or is Serial ata better than a ide connection? I would like to keep the price at or below $100. Thanks

All these guys are only recommending the NEC 3520A because it used to be the best drive for the money. Go to CDRLabs.com and look at the performance of the NEC, the Pioneer 109 and the Plextor 716. They're the best drives out there right now (unless you want LightScribe, then you want the BenQ -- but current LightScribe media cost more than twice what regular media does, and it takes 30 min to burn the label in best quality). If you look at the numbers, it's hard to dispute that the Pioneer is the best drive for the money and the Plextor is the best drive overall. They all get very good burn quality, but the NEC is slower in most things.

It's still a little early to be getting optical SATA drives. Make sure your motherboard can handle one.

Since money is an issue for most, we'll never know which is best or maybe their is no best?

 

[Tostada]

Originally posted by: wchou
Since money is an issue for most, we'll never know which is best or maybe their is no best?

That makes no sense, unless you're saying the new Pioneer isn't worth paying $3 more than the NEC for the extra features and better ripping speed.