DVD Reviews

[w0lf42]

I'm in the market for a solid DVD drive for my computer. As I hardly know anything about them, I was wondering if anyone has advice or could point me to a comparison review.

Thanks in Advance.

 

[dszd0g]

I like the Pioneer slot load drives. Like the 305S (SCSI) or 106S (IDE). Lite-On is very popular on these forums.

CD-R Info did a 3-drive roundup (but didn't include the Pioneer drives):
CD-R Info Roundup

CDR Labs does a lot of review too:
Pioneer 106S Review
LiteOn LTD163 Review

The LiteOn review above compares the two performance wise. They trade off quite a bit, but the LiteOn wins overall.

Check out StorageReview, but their optical drive reviews are a little dated.

EXHardware 106S Review

Wooho, 1000 posts!

 

[Bovinicus]

I like my Toshiba DVD-ROM drive. If I remember correctly, the access time of this drive is better than with most drives. As well, it is extremely quiet. The Pioneer slot load is just so cool though. I was torn between the two until I finally decided on the Toshiba one. Lite-On also makes a good drive if you want to spend as little as possible.

 

[andrey]

While we're on this subject, who makes decent SCSI DVD-ROM drives? I know Pioneer and Toshiba manufactureres several SCSI DVDs, but I havent' seen any reviews of those drives. Are there even any reviews or maybe someone even has one of those and has hands-on experience?

Thanks,
--Andrey

 

[dszd0g]

andrey, I have a Pioneer 303S and a Pioneer 305S (In additon to more). I like them a lot (the 305S is a little quieter and faster).

The only major issue with the Pioneer drives is their DAE (Digital Audio Extraction) performance, and that doesn't matter to me. If it does to you, then don't go with Pioneer.

CDR labs Pioneer 305S Review

They don't have a review of the Toshiba SD-M1401.

Another review of the 305S:

Tweakers

Is this enough to dethrone the Toshiba SD-M1401? We feel it depends on how seriously one takes the DAE issue. In our view, this issue is limited and in many cases may never come into play for most users. We understand the needs of serious audiophiles, though, and cannot recommend the 305S to such folks if they plan to use this drive to extract digital audio. To most others, though, we have no qualms with recommending the DVD-305S over the Toshiba SD-M1401. It is a superior CD, CD-R, and CD-RW reader, and DVD transfer rates are about equal to those of the Toshiba.

 

[bocamojo]

You can't go wrong with a Lite-On DVD-ROM. I don't know what the latest model out is, but I bought a 16X about 6 months ago, and have been very happy with it.