DVD Burner vs DVD Drive

[oogabooga]

Your input please!

I'm looking to get a dvd drive, and am wondering if it's worth it to get just a lite-on 16x for 30 bucks or so off newegg, OR get the NEC 8x dual layer burner for 85ish. I'm trying to decide as my computer doesn't have an upgrade, and it'd be good to have a dvd drive

Is a new format going to comeout relatively soon that would make the burner not practical to buy (by soon i mean 6 months or so).
If i do get the burner, what advantages am i looking at? I'm really kinda lost with the whole dvd burning thing since there are so many formats. Other than just 4.7gb disks [are they 4.7gb disks?]. Can i burn dvd's that'll play on home theater systems? etc?

Sorry to not have done my research completly, but the more i read, the more i just want to be told.

 

[imported_mashimaro]

I recently got in on the I/O magic burner deal from CC. I PMed it to staples, so it cost $81 out the door. After rebate it will cost be $32. This is not a Dual Layer burner of course. The introduction of dual layer burners will push prices of +/- drives down further. I wouldn't be suprise if you can get one free ater rebate soon.

 

[marmasatt]

What you ought to do is head over to the FS/FT forums. For instance, I've had a DVD Burner/CD Burner on sale - Brand new in the box for 2 months. It has dropped from $ 85 - $ 60 which I've just sold it for..........😉

 

[Zepper]

They had a +/- 8x4 burner on special on compgeeks today for under $50. - gone now... Burners will generally burn DVDs that can be played on consumer players. They can also burn CD-Rs and CD-RWs. Very flexible. Not much dual layer media available yet, but that drive should burn most anything else too.
. And remember, the NEC OEM drives don't come with any burning software, so that will be another added expense.
.bh.

 

[EvanAdams]

It is nice to have both if you are dvd burning.

rip with one while burning with another

 

[batmanuel]

Get the NEC 2500A for $70 off of newegg. The way I figure it, by the time the DL media is anywhere close to being affordable, the DL write speeds will be up to 4X and 8X and you'll have to buy a new burner to support the faster speeds anyway.

Plus, with the 2500A, if I'm wrong and you do wind up needing DL in the near future, you can always try flashing it to a 2510A...

 

[50]

The way the market is moving, I'm going to wait until they reach max speeds like cd burners have done. Until DL becomes more practical, I have no major use for DVD's. It's really up to you, if you buy one now it's not like its going to be a huge expense but it will become outdated very quickly (if that's not an issue for you then go for it).

 

[oogabooga]

so for now, would the dvd player only at about 30 bucks be a worthwhile value?
After all this input i think that's the direction i'm going to head.

 

[SickBeast]

Since you don't currently have a DVD-R drive, I am going to reccomend it to you for the extra $50. It's worth the money for the backup purposes alone. The movies are a bonus.

If you're that apprehensive, I'm sure you could get a DVD-R drive for $50-$60; the DL drives are useless at this point IMO as they don't support DVD-R yet and they are far too slow to be practical. Oh, and the media is overpriced and unavailable.

 

[Zim Hosein]

Originally posted by: oogabooga
so for now, would the dvd player only at about 30 bucks be a worthwhile value?
After all this input i think that's the direction i'm going to head.

For around $30.00, I'd definitely pick up a DVD-Rom drive, not only for saving wear and tear on whatever DVD burner you choose in the near future, but having a dual-drive setup saves time on making backup's IMO, I hope this helps 🙂

 

[Tostada]

This is an interesting question. I mean, if you were saying "Do I need a DVD burner?" the answer would obviously be no. If you don't have any use for a DVD burner, don't get one.

But you actually want a DVD reader. Hmm.

Getting a simple DVD-ROM seems like a waste these days, but you really don't need a DVD burner. By the time you do want one you'll probably want dual-layer capability, but that NEC 2510A is still a lot of money (seeing as you have no use for it right now).

I'd get a $40 combo 52X CD-RW / DVD-ROM. That'll get the job done for you, and then when you do want a DVD burner you'll still have a drive that is useful to put in another system.